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Things are falling apart in the final volume of The Book of Dust, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a world that seems, now more than ever, as a charged and skewed version of our own. Establishments are failing, or reassembling themselves along new and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from authorities, and pooling in the halls of religious leaders, the vaults of conglomerates, the control of rioters. "An element is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and solid are deteriorating and giving way."

The Central Mystery and Her Quest

Exactly what that force might be, and ways to oppose it, is the question that drives The Rose Field, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, according to many, the author's last excursion into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating realm he first introduced three decades past, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose terrain corresponds to that of the real world, but whose history veers and changes with ours; where the individuals appear and think and act like us, but are paired by external spirits, souls in animal form; where the skies are populated with sorceresses and mythical beasts, but below, buses are taken and drinks is sipped, and mature academics carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in La Belle Sauvage, the prequel with which the author began the series, is now a young woman: still distinctly the sharp and tenacious main character of the previous installments, but aged, more sorrowful, more careful, less sure. This restraint is amplified by her division from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.

Interwoven Plots

His choice to leave in quest of that youthful part of her which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he epitomises as her "imagination"), and her journey to rejoin with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous trek across the continent and into the Caucasus, meeting with wonder and peril on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The religious council – the religious ruling body, and Pullman's deliciously chilling representation of austere, procedural malice – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's family member, who blames her for his sibling's death – has positioned himself into the position of president of the Magisterium's governing body, and is set on using his recently acquired authority to expand the institution's control. Malcolm Polstead, who saved infant the heroine to security along a flooded Thames as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in espionage: he is dispatched to the city to learn more about his intentions. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and precious botanical extract which appears mysteriously to be the source of a societal and economic upheaval rippling out from that area. The oil is regarded by various factions as a commercial commodity, by different parties as a scientific or spiritual wonder, and by others still – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of darkness; an insult that must be eradicated. The dilemma of its origins, its significance, and whether it should be destroyed or protected is becoming urgent.

As in His Dark Materials, Lyra's decisions, and her destiny, are shown to be deeply connected with the destiny of the world

In its predecessor, these narratives ran mostly in parallel. In The Rose Field, they come together. As in His Dark Materials, her actions and her path are revealed to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the universe. Her private mission to reconnect with her companion and regain her vision becomes the key struggle in a wider conflict with an controlling government which, as such authorities typically do, is striving to stifle freedom of thinking, creativity and art: all the internal, resistant ways in which people can be free.

Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles

The book opens with the unveiling of a series of strange cracks in the fabric of the world's atmosphere: gateways that seem to lead to different dimensions. One such window manifests to be the source of the highly contested mystical extract. The church, with the antagonist at its leadership, labels these openings as a challenge to the institution's orthodoxy and aims to destroy them. As Lyra begins to shift from inflexible reason and revert to intuition, nevertheless, her certainty that these places must be protected – that what they stand for and what they offer is somehow crucial – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a poetic conflict between naivety and maturity is prepared.

Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth

At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the