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Tings are unraveling in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a realm that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reorganizing themselves along new and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is draining from governments, and pooling in the offices of religious leaders, the vaults of conglomerates, the control of rioters. "Something is at work, silently, gradually", says businessman a trader character, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and durable are weakening and giving way."

Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path

Exactly what that something might be, and ways to oppose it, is the question that drives The Rose Field, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, according to many, Pullman's last venture into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling realm he first revealed in the distant past, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a world whose terrain maps on to that of the real world, but whose history veers and changes with ours; where the humans appear and think and act like us, but are paired by animal souls, essences in creature form; where the air are filled with witches and gryphons, but beneath those skies, transports are ridden and beverages is sipped, and middle-aged academics carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first introduced to as a child in the His Dark Materials 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 recognisably the spiky and determined protagonist of the earlier books, but more mature, sadder, more cautious, more doubtful. This circumscription is intensified by her division from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.

Merging Narratives

Pan's decision to leave in pursuit of that innocent part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an aspect which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the driving forces of its predecessor, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous trek across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with wonder and peril on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in play, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the religious ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister representation of austere, administrative wickedness – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. Marcel Delamare – our protagonist's uncle, who blames her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the office of leader of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is set on using his recently acquired influence to broaden the church's rule. Another protagonist, who carried baby the heroine to safety along a flooded river as an child in the first book, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in espionage: he is dispatched to Geneva to find out more about his intentions. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and precious botanical extract which appears in some way to be the cause of a societal and financial upheaval rippling out from that area. The extract is viewed by certain groups as a marketable product, by different parties as a scientific or mystical miracle, and by others still – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a origin of malevolence; an challenge that must be destroyed. The dilemma of where it comes from, what it stands for, and whether it should be destroyed or preserved is becoming urgent.

Similar to the first series, the heroine's deeds, and her future, are shown to be deeply linked with the fate of the universe

In the previous volume, these plots ran broadly in parallel. In this final book, they converge. Similar to the original series, the protagonist's choices and her destiny are shown to be deeply linked with the destiny of the universe. Her personal mission to rejoin with her soul and recover her imagination becomes the key conflict in a larger battle with an oppressive regime which, as such regimes typically do, is attempting to suppress autonomy of thought, originality and expression: all the personal, rebellious ways in which humans can be independent.

Dimensional Rifts and Moral Battles

The story starts with the discovery of a collection of curious cracks in the structure of the world's sky: gateways that appear to open into different dimensions. One such opening manifests to be the origin of the highly contested botanical substance. The church, with its leader at its helm, labels these openings as a challenge to the religion's beliefs and aims to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid rationalism and back to instinct, however, her belief that these locations must be preserved – that what they stand for and their value is mysteriously vital – grows. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a poetic struggle between purity and knowledge is prepared.

Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution

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