THE BOOK OF DUST La Belle Sauvage

There’s something pleasingly old-fashioned about Michael Sheen’s narration, which is matched by the pleasure of returning to Pullman’s world of daemons and Dust. Sheen fully inhabits the text, and he’s utterly believable as 11-year-old Malcolm Polstead, who meets baby Lyra (heroine of Pullman’s His Dark Materials series) and embarks on a perilous adventure to protect her from the myriad forces that have designs on her. Sheen ramps up the tense urgency during frightening action sequences, making palpable all of the danger and terror, and his rendition of the eerie, alarming laugh of a hyena daemon is sure to unnerve listeners. It’s a rip-roaring start to Pullman’s new trilogy, and fans will be impatient to dive into the next installment. J.M.D. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2017]