In these books about -- to focus on one continuing character --
the adventures of Lyra Silvertongue
or whatever name she goes by at the moment:

it has been interesting to see Pullman taking on
not just organized church/religion and such,
but the patriarchy, especially within those organizations.
It's getting to be a list of confrontations there:

the Ancient of Days,
the head of the Magisterium (male of course),
the kabbalistic being Metatron (also male) ...
and these latest Book of Dust installments are now
moving the action from western Europe
into the middle East and further into the Orient.

Not only dust, but desert oases.
A big change from waterfalls in the south of France,
which set one of the climactic scenes in His Dark Materials.

I'm really curious about the next chapter/episode/book,
although it seems we have to wait a while for it.