First things first, let's get the rating out of the way. I give this book four stars simply because it isn't long enough. And I was disappointed when I'd finished it because I didn't want it to stop. But, thinking about the reasons for that is what gives the book the four stars in the first place. The title should give things away a little; this is essentially a western short story. And a good one too, because this is the tale of how Lee Scoresby the aeronaut and the bear Iorek Byrnison first met. The events take place a full thirty-five years before the climax of His Dark Materials, when Lee is but a young man of 24 and newly introduced to his balloon. Lee and Hester arrive in the town of Novy Odense and become involved in a stand-off between a put-upon sailor and the power of corporate privilege. After meeting a shady figure from his past, Lee decides he must choose a side, which is where he comes across the bear. As you'd expect from Pullman, the book reads with an effortless grace and is beautifully and finely observed and constructed. The extras, like Lyra's Oxford before it are in turn intriguing and useful, including documents and artefacts connected to the story itself, as well as a board game, Peril At The Pole. The last couple of pages are especially curious and relate to Lyra. As with Lyra's Oxford, the slight disappointment is that there isn't more to read but it seems as if, for the moment, this is the way Pullman will realise this world: in fits and starts, and I suppose this is better by far than nothing at all. An essential purchase for fans of His Dark Materials.