If you haven’t seen it, already, please take a look at the new trailer for The Golden Compass by clicking here. As a fan of the book, I can’t help but be excited by seeing glimpses of so many of my favorite scenes brought to life in such a vivid and faithful manner.

The Golden Compass is an adaptation of the first book in Philip Pullman’s spectacularly subersive children’s fantasy series, His Dark Materials. I read a lot of fantasy every year, and in my view, His Dark Materials is second only to George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Not only does it offer an imaginative take on alternate worlds, tremendous characters (Lyra is probably the most complex and best-written young female heroine in the history of children’s books), but it is also filled with a heavy atheist subtext. It’s always surprised me that Harry Potter drew so much fire from religious groups, because at its core it is infused with Christian values and themes. His Dark Materials, however, makes its central conceit that God and the Church are both a sham and a corrupt endeavor bent on controlling people’s lives. Pretty weighty material for children’s fiction.

Though the series has been largely free of protests, book burnings and the like, I suspect that will change once the movie is released and people begin reading the books. But beyond the potential for rabble rousing, His Dark Materials is a very entertaining story — and without that aspect to drive it, the subtext would be rendered meaningless.