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Tings are unraveling in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a world that seems, here more than ever, as a charged and skewed version of our own. Organizations are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along new and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from states, and pooling in the offices of theocrats, the vaults of conglomerates, the hands of rioters. "Some force is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and durable are weakening and giving way."

Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path

Just what that element might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that animates the concluding book, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, by all accounts, the author's concluding venture into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating universe he first revealed three decades past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose terrain maps on to that of the real world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, souls in creature form; where the heavens are teeming with witches and gryphons, but beneath those skies, buses are taken and tea is drunk, and older academics carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in the first volume, the origin story with which Pullman began the series, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the sharp and tenacious protagonist of the prior volumes, but older, more sorrowful, more cautious, less certain. This restraint is amplified by her division from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.

Converging Storylines

Pan's decision to depart in search of that innocent part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he represents as her "vision"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of the prior book, which followed Lyra undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the mountain region, encountering with amazement and peril on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in play, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the church's ruling body, and the author's brilliantly sinister embodiment of strict, administrative wickedness – is under recent guidance, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's family member, who blames her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of president of the Magisterium's High Council, and is intent on using his fresh power to extend the church's control. A key character, who saved baby the heroine to safety along a flooded Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in spycraft: he is assigned to Geneva to learn more about Delamare's intentions. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and valuable rose oil which appears in some way to be the cause of a social and financial disturbance spreading out from Central Asia. The oil is regarded by various factions as a tradeable product, by different parties as a research-based or esoteric wonder, and by others still – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of darkness; an insult that must be destroyed. The issue of where it comes from, its significance, and if it should be destroyed or safeguarded is becoming urgent.

Similar to the first series, the heroine's deeds, and her fate, are shown to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the realm

In its predecessor, these narratives ran broadly in tandem. In The Rose Field, they merge. Similar to the original series, the protagonist's movements and her path are shown to be inextricably linked with the future of the world. Her personal journey to reunite with her daemon and recover her creativity becomes the key conflict in a broader war with an authoritarian system which, as such authorities typically do, is seeking to quell autonomy of thinking, innovation and culture: all the internal, rebellious ways in which people can be free.

Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles

The book starts with the discovery of a series of unusual fissures in the fabric of the planet's atmosphere: windows that appear to give on to other worlds. A particular portal seems to be the origin of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its helm, classifies these windows as a challenge to the religion's beliefs and aims to eradicate them. As our protagonist begins to move from inflexible logic and back to feeling, nevertheless, her conviction that these places must be preserved – that what they stand for and what they offer is somehow vital – grows. "Dust, or rose oil, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we label it," she says, "we require it." The setting for a poetic struggle between purity and experience is established.

Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution

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