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Tings are unraveling in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a realm that manifests, here more than ever, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is draining from states, and accumulating in the chambers of religious leaders, the coffers of business empires, the grasp of mobs. "Some force is at work, silently, very subtly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his place in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and durable are weakening and giving way."

The Central Mystery and Her Quest

Exactly what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the question that animates The Rose Field, which resumes where its predecessor concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's final foray into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced 30 years ago, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose terrain aligns with that of our world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the people look and think and act like us, but are joined by daemons, essences in creature form; where the heavens are populated with enchantresses and gryphons, but underneath, transports are taken and beverages is consumed, and older academics carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in La Belle Sauvage, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the sharp and determined heroine of the prior volumes, but more mature, more sorrowful, more cautious, more doubtful. This restraint is amplified by her split from her soul companion, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.

Converging Storylines

The daemon's resolve to depart in pursuit of that innocent part of her which she may have forgotten (an trait which he represents as her "vision"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which followed the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with amazement and danger on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The religious council – the church's ruling body, and Pullman's masterfully eerie incarnation of strict, procedural evil – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's relative, who blames her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the office of leader of the authority's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his fresh influence to expand the institution's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who saved young Lyra to refuge along a overflowing river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a sideline in espionage: he is assigned to Geneva to learn more about his intentions. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and precious rose oil which seems in some way to be the origin of a societal and economic crisis emanating out from Central Asia. The substance is seen by various factions as a commercial commodity, by others as a research-based or esoteric miracle, and by further factions – the zealous "highland figures" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an challenge that must be obliterated. The issue of its origins, what it stands for, and whether it should be destroyed or protected is escalating in importance.

Like the first series, Lyra's deeds, and her future, are shown to be inseparably entwined with the fate of the universe

In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran largely in side by side. In the conclusion, they merge. Similar to the original series, Lyra's movements and her path are unveiled to be inseparably woven with the destiny of the world. Her individual mission to rejoin with her soul and recover her creativity becomes the key conflict in a wider battle with an oppressive regime which, as such regimes always have, is attempting to suppress freedom of thinking, creativity and expression: all the internal, rebellious ways in which people can be liberated.

Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles

The book begins with the unveiling of a series of unusual openings in the fabric of the Earth's atmosphere: windows that seem to open into different dimensions. An example of a portal appears to be the source of the much debated botanical substance. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its head, labels these windows as a problem to the religion's doctrine and sets out to eliminate them. As the heroine begins to move from strict rationalism and revert to instinct, however, her belief that these places must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is in some way essential – grows. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or whatever we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a philosophical struggle between naivety and knowledge is established.

Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth

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