As I listened to this and the first one as an audiobook, read by the immensely talented Michael Sheen, I think the length bothered me much less than other people.

While it wasn’t always the sort of thing I’d listen to for hours on end at a time, I was interested with where Philip Pullman was taking me and learning more about this world, even if I thought some of his creative choices were strange.

Interested for the next one, which I will definitely get as an audiobook.