It would seem to me that all the comparisons with Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia are actually flawed. Rather than Narnia, the better comparison both in thought and plot would be Lewis’ Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Peralandra, and That Hideous Strength. Central to both is not the “other worlds” but rather the hubris of humankind to reach and “pull down deep heaven upon their heads.”