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Tings are falling apart in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a realm that appears, here more than ever, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An hidden force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Authority is flowing away from governments, and accumulating in the halls of religious leaders, the coffers of business empires, the grasp of mobs. "Something is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his post in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and durable are deteriorating and failing."

Core Enigma and Her Quest

Precisely what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that propels this final volume, which resumes where its predecessor ended. This is, according to many, the author's final foray into the elaborately built, infinitely beguiling realm he first unveiled in the distant past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography aligns with that of our world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and behave like us, but are joined by animal souls, beings in beast form; where the heavens are filled with witches and mythical beasts, but below, vehicles are taken and beverages is consumed, and older academics carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the sharp and tenacious protagonist of the earlier books, but aged, sadder, more cautious, more doubtful. This limitation is intensified by her split from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which led him to leave her in the first place.

Converging Storylines

The daemon's resolve to go off in search of that childlike part of the heroine which she seems to have lost (an trait which he represents as her "imagination"), and her quest to rejoin with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed Lyra undertake a wandering voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, meeting with amazement and risk on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in motion, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the religious ruling body, and the author's deliciously chilling incarnation of austere, bureaucratic malice – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. The antagonist – the heroine's family member, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the role of head of the Magisterium's High Council, and is intent on using his recently acquired power to broaden the religion's dominium. Another protagonist, who saved young Lyra to refuge along a overflowing river as an young boy in the first book, is now an university scholar with a sideline in espionage: he is assigned to the city to learn more about Delamare's intentions. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the uncommon and precious essential oil which appears mysteriously to be the origin of a societal and financial crisis emanating out from the region. The substance is seen by various factions as a marketable good, by alternate groups as a scientific or esoteric phenomenon, and by others still – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a origin of malevolence; an challenge that must be destroyed. The issue of its source, its meaning, and if it should be destroyed or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.

As in His Dark Materials, Lyra's actions, and her destiny, are revealed to be inextricably linked with the destiny of the universe

In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in tandem. In the conclusion, they come together. Like the first trilogy, her actions and her path are unveiled to be inseparably linked with the fate of the universe. Her private journey to reconnect with her soul and rediscover her creativity becomes the key struggle in a larger conflict with an authoritarian regime which, as these systems often attempt, is attempting to stifle independence of reason, creativity and art: all the internal, defiant ways in which humans can be free.

Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles

The novel begins with the unveiling of a collection of curious fissures in the makeup of the Earth's air: gateways that look to open into alternate realities. One such opening appears to be the origin of the fiercely disputed botanical substance. The authority, with the antagonist at its leadership, designates these openings as a challenge to the religion's doctrine and endeavors to eliminate them. As Lyra begins to turn away from strict rationalism and return to feeling, nevertheless, her belief that these locations must be protected – that their meaning and their value is mysteriously essential – increases. "The substance, or the substance, or the imagination, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a philosophical struggle between purity and maturity is prepared.

Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution

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