What a good competition - books are lovely

The last books I read were Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy (I couldnt possibly choose which 1 of the 3 to review!), which follow 2 children in their journey through parallel universes. The plot is an absolute masterpiece, and I wouldnt want to give any of it away, so shan't talk about it any more than that. What I liked about it was that it deals with such complex themes, all within a book that is essentially meant for children. I think that's it's main appeal; that it is so accessible - on one level it's a book for children about the adventure of someone around their age, but on a deeper level than that it all links to religion, sin, morality, life, death, the soul, pretty much everything. So that's what I love about it, that it has high ambitions for the themes and morals of the book- so refreshing to have a children's book from an atheist perspective! The characters are genuinely likeable, and some of the concepts are so original it's just superb, like the idea of people in some universes having an outer representation of their soul as an animal. It creates so many different universes that are clearly imaginable, all within the pages of a book, so I find it to be amazing escapism in that sense - it becomes possible to step into any number of different worlds just from reading a book, and you're often left not wanting to leave.