His Dark Materials

There's the movie coming out soon, and I was wondering if they are worth reading. What is Anon's opinion on them?

I read book 2 then 1 then 3... not because my numbers are fucked up, but because my school's (yeah this years and years ago) library only had the second, which was more interesting and had a badarse knife. The first one was better after reading the second, IMO. I read the trilogy in order subsequently. It's good but the ending pissed me off.