His Dark Materials

I liked it less and less as it went on. The first book, I was in, because it focused on one character's quest, and had a sense of discovery as Lyra learned about the rules of the world. There are many strange mysteries, and they all tie into her quest.

By the third book, the world-building and multiple plotlines have gotten so complex that it feels like the characters need to explain what's going on to each other in every other chapter. Lyra spends a third of it asleep, and she's the only character I ever really cared about. (Will is okay, but too brooding.) I found myself rushing through whole sequences, just to get back to her story.

Some subplots I found unsatisfying:
- The war against the Authority doesn't amount to much. We simply haven't seen the Authority do anything to make us want him to lose.
- The assassin sent to kill Mary because she was going to tempt Lyra... he gets killed without the confrontation ever happening.