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Things are collapsing in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a world that manifests, now more than ever, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reorganizing themselves along unfamiliar and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from governments, and accumulating in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of corporations, the grasp of rioters. "An element is at work, silently, very subtly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his place in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and strong are faltering and failing."

Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey

Just what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that propels The Rose Field, which resumes where the previous book left off. This is, reportedly, the author's final venture into the elaborately built, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced three decades past, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose landscape corresponds to that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and think and behave like us, but are joined by daemons, souls in creature form; where the heavens are teeming with witches and legendary creatures, but below, transports are caught and tea is consumed, and middle-aged academics carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a child in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the first volume, the origin story with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still clearly the prickly and tenacious protagonist of the prior volumes, but more mature, more sorrowful, more cautious, less certain. This limitation is heightened by her division from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.

Merging Narratives

The daemon's resolve to leave in quest of that innocent part of her which she appears to have shed (an quality which he represents as her "imagination"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled Lyra undertake a adventurous journey across the continent and into the Caucasus, encountering with marvel and risk on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in play, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the religious ruling body, and the author's masterfully eerie representation of strict, procedural malice – is under recent guidance, and flexing its muscles. The antagonist – our protagonist's relative, who blames her for his family member's death – has worked himself into the position of head of the church's High Council, and is set on using his fresh power to expand the institution's dominium. A key character, who rescued baby Lyra to safety along a flooded river as an young boy in the first book, is now an university scholar with a sideline in espionage: he is sent to a key location to discover more about his intentions. And underlying all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and precious rose oil which appears mysteriously to be the origin of a social and economic disturbance emanating out from that area. The substance is regarded by certain groups as a marketable product, by different parties as a research-based or spiritual wonder, and by further factions – the fanatical "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an insult that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its origins, what it stands for, and if it should be eliminated or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.

Similar to the first series, the heroine's actions, and her fate, are revealed to be inextricably connected with the fate of the world

In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran largely in tandem. In The Rose Field, they converge. Like His Dark Materials, her choices and her destiny are revealed to be inextricably woven with the future of the universe. Her personal journey to rejoin with her soul and recover her creativity becomes the primary struggle in a wider war with an authoritarian government which, as these systems often attempt, is striving to quell independence of reason, creativity and art: all the personal, defiant ways in which humans can be liberated.

Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles

The book begins with the unveiling of a collection of unusual openings in the makeup of the world's air: portals that seem to open into other worlds. One such window manifests to be the point of the much debated mystical extract. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its leadership, labels these portals as a problem to the religion's beliefs and sets out to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid logic and revert to feeling, yet, her belief that these locations must be defended – that their meaning and what they provide is mysteriously essential – increases. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the vision, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a poetic conflict between purity and knowledge is set.

Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution

At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the