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Tings are falling apart in the final volume of The Book of Dust, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a universe that appears, now more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is draining from authorities, and accumulating in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of conglomerates, the control of rioters. "An element is at work, silently, very subtly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the trade routes from his place in an city cafe. "Things we thought were stable and solid are faltering and giving way."

Core Enigma and Her Quest

Exactly what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that propels The Rose Field, which picks up where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, the author's concluding excursion into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling realm he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose terrain corresponds to that of this world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals look and reason and act like us, but are joined by daemons, beings in beast form; where the air are teeming with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but underneath, transports are ridden and tea is drunk, and mature scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a child in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the prequel, the origin story with which Pullman began The Book of Dust, is now a mature individual: still clearly the sharp and persistent protagonist of the earlier books, but older, melancholic, more careful, less sure. This restraint is heightened by her division from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.

Converging Storylines

The daemon's resolve to depart in quest of that innocent part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an aspect which he represents as her "creativity"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the catalysts of the prior book, which chronicled Lyra undertake a adventurous journey across Europe and into the mountain region, facing with amazement and danger on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in play, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister representation of strict, bureaucratic evil – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. The antagonist – our protagonist's uncle, who blames her for his family member's death – has worked himself into the office of head of the Magisterium's High Council, and is set on using his fresh authority to broaden the church's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued young Lyra to safety along a overflowing river as an young boy in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a sideline in intelligence work: he is dispatched to Geneva to discover more about Delamare's aims. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and precious essential oil which appears somehow to be the origin of a social and financial crisis emanating out from the region. The extract is viewed by certain groups as a commercial good, by different parties as a research-based or spiritual miracle, and by yet others – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of darkness; an challenge that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its origins, its meaning, and whether it should be eliminated or preserved is coming rapidly to the fore.

As in the original trilogy, our protagonist's actions, and her fate, are revealed to be deeply connected with the future of the realm

In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they merge. Like the original series, her movements and her destiny are shown to be deeply entwined with the destiny of the world. Her personal quest to reconnect with her companion and regain her imagination becomes the primary conflict in a wider war with an oppressive system which, as these systems often attempt, is attempting to suppress independence of reason, originality and expression: all the personal, defiant ways in which individuals can be liberated.

Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles

The book begins with the unveiling of a series of unusual openings in the structure of the Earth's sky: portals that look to open into different dimensions. A particular opening manifests to be the point of the much debated rose oil. The church, with Delamare at its head, classifies these openings as a threat to the institution's beliefs and endeavors to eradicate them. As our protagonist begins to move from rigid logic and back to feeling, yet, her conviction that these locations must be defended – that their significance and what they offer is in some way vital – strengthens. "The substance, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we need it." The stage for a philosophical tussle between innocence and experience is prepared.

Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth

At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the