<b><b><b><b><b><i>***** </i>THE BOOK OF DUST, <i> the long-awaited new novel from Philip Pullman set in the world of His Dark Materials, has been<b><b><i><b><b><b><i> hailed by the </i></b></b></b></i></b></b></i><b><b><b><b><b>New York Times </b></b></b></b></b><i><b><b><i><b><b><b><i>as "a stunning achievement."*****</i></b></b></b></i></b></b></i></b></b></b></b><br></b><br>In this prequel episode from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials universe, Lee Scoresby--Texan aeronaut and future friend to Lyra Belacqua--is just 24 years old, and he's recently won his hot-air balloon in a poker game. He finds himself floating North to the windswept Arctic island of Novy Odense, where he and his hare daemon Hester are quickly tangled in a deadly plot involving oil magnate Larsen Manganese, corrupt mayoral candidate Ivan Poliakov, and Lee's longtime nemesis from the Dakota Country: Pierre McConville, a hired killer with at least twenty murders to his name. <p>It's only after Lee forms an alliance with one of the island's reviled armored bears that he can fight to break up the conspiracy in a gun-twirling classic western shoot out--and battle of wits. This exquisite clothbound volume features the illustrations of John Lawrence, a removable board game--Peril of the Pole--on the inside back cover, and a glimpse for Pullman fans into the first friendship of two of the most beloved characters in the His Dark Materials trilogy: Lee Scoresby and armored bear Iorek Byrnison.