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Tings are falling apart in the last installment of The Book of Dust, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a realm that seems, in this volume especially, as a intense and skewed version of our own. Institutions are failing, or restructuring themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is draining from authorities, and pooling in the halls of theocrats, the vaults of conglomerates, the control of rioters. "An element is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were firm and solid are weakening and failing."

Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey

Exactly what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that propels The Rose Field, which resumes where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final excursion into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating world he first revealed 30 years ago, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose terrain maps on to that of this world, but whose chronicles veers and changes with ours; where the people appear and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, essences in creature form; where the heavens are populated with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but underneath, buses are ridden and drinks is drunk, and middle-aged scholars carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in La Belle Sauvage, the origin story with which the author began the series, is now a adult: still recognisably the prickly and determined protagonist of the prior volumes, but older, melancholic, more cautious, less sure. This circumscription is amplified by her split from her soul companion, her daemon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the trigger which made him desert her in the first place.

Interwoven Plots

The daemon's resolve to leave in search of that childlike part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an trait which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed Lyra undertake a adventurous journey across Europe and into the mountain region, facing with wonder and risk on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in play, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the religious ruling body, and Pullman's masterfully eerie embodiment of austere, administrative malice – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's uncle, who holds responsible her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the position of president of the church's ruling assembly, and is set on using his fresh influence to broaden the church's control. Another protagonist, who rescued baby Lyra to security along a flooded river as an child in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a sideline in espionage: he is sent to the city to discover more about Delamare's intentions. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and costly botanical extract which appears in some way to be the cause of a social and financial upheaval emanating out from the region. The oil is viewed by some as a marketable product, by alternate groups as a research-based or mystical phenomenon, and by yet others – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a origin of malevolence; an affront that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its source, its significance, and whether it should be eliminated or preserved is escalating in importance.

Similar to His Dark Materials, the heroine's deeds, and her fate, are shown to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the universe

In The Secret Commonwealth, these plots ran mostly in parallel. In The Rose Field, they converge. As in the first trilogy, her choices and her destiny are shown to be inextricably linked with the fate of the universe. Her private mission to rejoin with her companion and regain her imagination becomes the central conflict in a larger battle with an oppressive system which, as such regimes typically do, is attempting to stifle freedom of thought, innovation and expression: all the inner, rebellious ways in which people can be free.

Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles

The story starts with the discovery of a collection of unusual cracks in the makeup of the planet's sky: windows that seem to open into alternate realities. One such opening seems to be the source of the highly contested rose oil. The church, with Delamare at its leadership, designates these openings as a threat to the religion's orthodoxy and endeavors to eliminate them. As the heroine begins to move from strict rationalism and back to instinct, yet, her certainty that these locations must be protected – that their significance and what they provide is somehow crucial – increases. "The substance, or the extract, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a poetic conflict between purity and experience is set.

Narrative Pacing and Protagonist Growth

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