At first (I haven't finished yet, but don't mind spoilers) I was quite pleased that Pullman was making it clear that Lyra had a sex life, but then we had the slightly odd clarifying-after-the-fact that she didn't actually have sex with Will (which felt like speaking to his audience not necessarily within the world of the book), and then the skeevy Polstead stuff, which is like every middle-aged man who admires the "spark of life" that comes with being a much younger woman, and to which the only apparent response is lust.