This incredible novel, set ten years prior to the events in The Golden Compass, is riveting from start to finish. I listened to the audio book, impeccably narrated by Michael Sheen, and frequently found myself shouting in my car and/or sitting in my driveway as I waited for an intense scene to end. Malcolm is an entirely likable, earnest, and devoted character, and each of the side characters (some making the first appearances in the series, others who will be familiar to readers of the earlier novels) is also given voices and personalities as unique and deep as their characters. It is rare that a series improves steadily over its course, but like the original trilogy, Pullman has somehow improved on his own work yet again, producing easily my favorite read of 2018 thus far.