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Tings are falling apart in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a world that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or restructuring themselves along new and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is draining from authorities, and accumulating in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of conglomerates, the hands of rioters. "Some force is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were firm and durable are weakening and failing."

Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey

Exactly what that element might be, and ways to oppose it, is the mystery that animates The Rose Field, which continues where its predecessor concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's last foray into the elaborately built, endlessly enchanting realm he first introduced 30 years ago, with the launch of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose geography aligns with that of the real world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans look and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, essences in beast form; where the air are populated with witches and gryphons, but below, vehicles are caught and drinks is consumed, and older academics carry Harrods shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a infant in the first volume, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a young woman: still distinctly the prickly and determined protagonist of the prior volumes, but older, more sorrowful, warier, less sure. This restraint is intensified by her division from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.

Merging Narratives

Pan's decision to go off 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 rejoin with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which chronicled Lyra undertake a picaresque trek across the continent and into the Caucasus, facing with wonder and peril on the way. But from the beginning, underlying forces were in motion, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the faith's ruling body, and the author's deliciously chilling representation of austere, bureaucratic malice – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's relative, who holds responsible her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the position of president of the Magisterium's governing body, and is intent on using his newfound power to broaden the institution's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who carried young Lyra to security along a swollen river as an young boy in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in spycraft: he is sent to the city to learn more about his plans. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and valuable botanical extract which manifests in some way to be the source of a social and financial crisis rippling out from the region. The substance is viewed by some as a commercial good, by different parties as a empirical or mystical phenomenon, and by others still – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an affront that must be eradicated. The issue of where it comes from, what it stands for, and if it should be eliminated or safeguarded is escalating in importance.

As in His Dark Materials, the heroine's actions, and her destiny, are shown to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the universe

In The Secret Commonwealth, these plots ran largely in tandem. In the conclusion, they converge. Similar to the original series, her actions and her destiny are revealed to be inextricably linked with the fate of the world. Her private quest to reunite with her soul and regain her vision becomes the central struggle in a wider war with an authoritarian regime which, as such regimes often attempt, is striving to quell freedom of thought, innovation and culture: all the personal, rebellious ways in which humans can be independent.

Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles

The story begins with the discovery of a collection of unusual openings in the makeup of the world's air: gateways that look to give on to other worlds. A particular opening manifests to be the source of the highly contested mystical extract. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its leadership, designates these openings as a problem to the religion's doctrine and endeavors to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from strict rationalism and revert to feeling, however, her conviction that these places must be defended – that their significance and their value is in some way essential – grows. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or whatever we name it," she says, "we require it." The stage for a Blakean tussle between purity and experience is established.

Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution

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