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Things are collapsing in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a universe that seems, in this volume especially, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Establishments are failing, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from states, and gathering in the offices of theocrats, the vaults of conglomerates, the grasp of crowds. "Some force is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were secure and solid are weakening and giving way."

Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path

Precisely what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that drives this final volume, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, according to many, Pullman's last foray into the elaborately built, deeply captivating world he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose geography maps on to that of our world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals look and think and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, essences in animal form; where the air are teeming with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but beneath those skies, transports are taken and tea is consumed, and middle-aged scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a child in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a young woman: still distinctly the prickly and persistent protagonist of the previous installments, but older, melancholic, more cautious, more doubtful. This circumscription is intensified by her division from her daemon, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which led him to leave her in the first place.

Merging Narratives

His choice to go off in search of that childlike part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which followed the protagonist undertake a wandering voyage across Europe and into the mountain region, facing with marvel and peril on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in play, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the faith's ruling body, and the author's deliciously chilling embodiment of strict, procedural malice – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's family member, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the office of president of the church's ruling assembly, and is set on using his recently acquired power to expand the church's control. A key character, who carried infant Lyra to refuge along a swollen river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an academic with a secondary role in intelligence work: he is dispatched to the city to discover more about his plans. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and valuable botanical extract which appears in some way to be the cause of a societal and financial upheaval rippling out from the region. The oil is viewed by certain groups as a tradeable product, by others as a empirical or esoteric wonder, and by others still – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of malevolence; an affront that must be obliterated. The dilemma of its source, its meaning, and if it should be eliminated or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.

Similar to His Dark Materials, our protagonist's decisions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inseparably entwined with the fate of the universe

In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in parallel. In The Rose Field, they converge. As in the original series, her movements and her destiny are shown to be deeply entwined with the fate of the world. Her personal quest to reconnect with her daemon and rediscover her imagination becomes the key battleground in a wider conflict with an oppressive system which, as such regimes always have, is attempting to suppress freedom of thought, innovation and culture: all the inner, defiant ways in which humans can be independent.

Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts

The book begins with the discovery of a collection of unusual openings in the makeup of the world's air: portals that appear to give on to other worlds. One such window appears to be the point of the much debated mystical extract. The Magisterium, with its leader at its helm, designates these portals as a problem to the church's orthodoxy and sets out to eradicate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid rationalism and return to feeling, nevertheless, her certainty that these places must be defended – that what they stand for and their value is somehow essential – strengthens. "The substance, or the substance, or the vision, or the field of roses, or no matter what we name it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a philosophical conflict between purity and maturity is set.

Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution

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