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Things are unraveling in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a universe that appears, here more than ever, as a intense and tilted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along new and troubling lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is draining from states, and accumulating in the halls of religious leaders, the treasuries of business empires, the grasp of crowds. "Something is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the Silk Roads from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and solid are weakening and failing."

The Central Mystery and The Protagonist's Path

Just what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that drives The Rose Field, which continues where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's last foray into the intricately constructed, endlessly enchanting world he first revealed 30 years ago, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a world whose terrain maps on to that of our world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the people look and think and behave like us, but are paired by external spirits, beings in animal form; where the air are populated with enchantresses and gryphons, but below, vehicles are taken and tea is sipped, and mature scholars carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a young woman: still clearly the spiky and tenacious protagonist of the previous installments, but older, melancholic, more cautious, less sure. This circumscription is heightened by her division from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.

Interwoven Plots

Pan's decision to go off in pursuit of that innocent part of her which she seems to have lost (an quality which he represents as her "imagination"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of the prior book, which saw the protagonist undertake a picaresque trek across Europe and into the mountain region, encountering with wonder and risk on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in play, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the faith's controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling representation of austere, bureaucratic wickedness – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's uncle, who blames her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of president of the Magisterium's High Council, and is set on using his newfound influence to broaden the institution's rule. A key character, who rescued baby the heroine to refuge along a flooded river as an child in the prequel, is now an academic with a secondary role in intelligence work: he is assigned to Geneva to learn more about the antagonist's aims. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and costly rose oil which appears mysteriously to be the cause of a social and financial disturbance emanating out from Central Asia. The substance is regarded by certain groups as a commercial commodity, by alternate groups as a scientific or mystical wonder, and by yet others – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a source of darkness; an insult that must be eradicated. The issue of its origins, its significance, and if it should be removed or preserved is escalating in importance.

Like His Dark Materials, the heroine's decisions, and her future, are demonstrated to be inextricably linked with the fate of the realm

In the previous volume, these plots ran largely in side by side. In The Rose Field, they come together. Similar to His Dark Materials, her actions and her path are shown to be deeply woven with the destiny of the world. Her personal mission to reconnect with her daemon and rediscover her imagination becomes the central conflict in a larger battle with an controlling regime which, as such authorities often attempt, is seeking to quell independence of thought, originality and culture: all the inner, resistant ways in which humans can be free.

Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles

The book opens with the unveiling of a set of curious openings in the structure of the planet's atmosphere: gateways that seem to open into different dimensions. One such portal manifests to be the source of the much debated botanical substance. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its helm, classifies these portals as a challenge to the religion's orthodoxy and aims to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to move from inflexible logic and revert to intuition, nevertheless, her belief that these sites must be defended – that their meaning and what they provide is mysteriously crucial – strengthens. "Dust, or the extract, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or whatever we label it," she says, "we need it." The stage for a poetic struggle between purity and maturity is established.

Narrative Pacing and Character Development

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