I was going to recommend
Northern Lights/The Golden Compass but found that it had already been done.
Just to chime in on the Pullman vs. Lewis and Tolkien thing, I think that it doesn't really matter, in this case, what spirit His Dark Materials was written in, since it's an excellently written story. As a Tolkien fan, just reading a book that I had no idea was written in that spirit (supposedly), I found nothing even remotely insulting to LOTR or Narnia in it. LOTR is the better book, of course, but The Golden Compass was still an excellent read. I strongly prefer the first book over the other two, though.
I think that if you, out of loyalty to Tolkien, or whatever, decide not to read it, all you're doing is denying yourself a very interesting (if dark) story--any money Pullman is going to make off you buying the book is probably water under the bridge at this point, anyway, particularly with that new movie coming out. If you really care that strongly about it, why not check it out of the library? Most libraries have it, at least that I've seen. You might have to hunt through the children's or young adult's sections to find it, though.
I on the whole like Tolkien better as a person. He seems to have been far less offensive...but who can blame Pullman for being opinionated? Let's face it, most of us are, these days.
And for the record, I absolutely see where Pullman is coming from with Narnia. I loved the books as a child. I read them with my mom, and felt really grown-up, because made it through so many big long books (I was probably about 6 years old), and because I wasn't nearly as upset over the Stone Table thing as she thought I would be/was herself. We did discuss the lion-as-Jesus thing, but I somehow missed the Narnia-as-Heaven thing. I was a kid. I wasn't particularly interested in religion, and had no concept of allegory. Nowadays, I agree with Tolkien: I dislike allegory--I much prefer applicability. I recently read Narnia again, prior to the movie release. I noticed the full allegory this time around. I kind of feel like it was symbolism with a sledgehammer. I resent anything, really, that pushes ideas on me without encouraging independent thought, and that's kind of what Narnia became. I still am upset by Susan losing Narnia because she started liking boys and wearing lipstick. I guess I'm going to hell, too.
I did enjoy the movie, though, to be fair. There was no way to get around the Jesus thing, but on the whole, I didn't find it offensive. And Tilda Swinton stole the whole movie without even appearing to try.
Anyway...I guess that before I went off on that tangent, I was going to say that I don't really care what Pullman's opinions are on religion and/or Narnia. I didn't see much of that coming through in The Golden Compass, at least. I haven't read the second two in a very long time, so I could be missing something. There is no trace of anything offensive at all in any of the books, at least as far as I can remember.
As to other fantasy, I will admit that I read (and enjoy) Harry Potter, though it is not remotely Tolkien-esque. And that's actually about it, in terms of fantasy. I find too much of the rest of it all just reads the same and seems to lack originality. My younger brother really enjoys the many books by David Eddings. I read a few and I don't think he's even close to as complex as Tolkien, and he has a much more modern feel. I think they make ok summer reading...nothing special, and I got sick of them after about 3 books or so. They're not horrid, though, the way some fantasy is.
I wouldn't bother with Terry Brooks and Sword of Shannara. I was hoping for something Tolkienesque with that book, and I found it to be not much more than a rewrite of LOTR using different place names and character names.
I don't think Tolkien has an equal, but as I sad before, Pullman was the first name to spring to mind.