Pullman's style is excellent. As a Christian myself, I'm not sure what the fuss is about the spiritual component at this point, but according to him, this is the least offensive of his books--hence why they made only one into a movie (which I haven't seen).

Thoughts before reading the entire series:
*I'm interested in Pullman's binding of science and religion. I know we see more of this later.
*Sometimes the way he builds mystery is weak, but it's still made me want to keep reading! :)
*The book seems to be a fantasy novel, but all the characters are flawed--but not tragically so. They are quite real characters, which may step a little outside what is typical of the genre, but I don't think this is bad having finished the series. I think this is his intention, and he these characters are real and memorable.
*The movie may have been geared for children, but I feel this book is geared more towards young adults. As a rebuttal to Narnia (and I like to think he chose his wording ardently like he seems to choose his wording in his novels) I may not have seen the parallels if I wasn't expecting them ahead of time.
*I'm unsure if it's actually Pullman's intention to "offend" (which is where the conservative Christian hype seemed to go). From the few interviews I've read with Pullman, it seems that maybe it wasn't--but controversy sells. More research is needed, though.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series! Really enjoying all of the characters, and Pullman's descriptions are fantastic (there are a few that are sloppy, but they are few).