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Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that manifests, in this volume especially, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along new and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the treasuries of corporations, the control of rioters. "Some force is at work, silently, very subtly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an city cafe. "Things we thought were stable and durable are deteriorating and giving way."

Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path

Precisely what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that propels The Rose Field, which picks up where its predecessor left off. This is, according to many, the author's last foray into the elaborately built, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced three decades past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography maps on to that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the people appear and reason and behave like us, but are joined by animal souls, beings in creature form; where the skies are filled with sorceresses and mythical beasts, but underneath, vehicles are ridden and tea is drunk, and older academics carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a infant in the first volume, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still clearly the sharp and persistent protagonist of the earlier books, but more mature, sadder, warier, more doubtful. This restraint is amplified by her division from her soul companion, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.

Interwoven Plots

The daemon's resolve to depart in quest of that youthful part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an trait which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her mission to rejoin with him, were the catalysts of the prior book, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, meeting with marvel and danger on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in motion, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the church's controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of strict, administrative malice – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. The antagonist – the heroine's relative, who blames her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of leader of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is set on using his fresh power to extend the church's dominium. A key character, who saved infant Lyra to refuge along a flooded river as an young boy in the prequel, is now an academic with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is assigned to a key location to discover more about Delamare's plans. And underlying all of this is the mystery surrounding the uncommon and costly botanical extract which seems somehow to be the source of a societal and economic upheaval emanating out from that area. The oil is regarded by certain groups as a tradeable good, by others as a scientific or esoteric miracle, and by others still – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of evil; an insult that must be destroyed. The dilemma of where it comes from, its meaning, and whether it should be destroyed or preserved is becoming urgent.

As in the original trilogy, the heroine's deeds, and her future, are shown to be inseparably connected with the destiny of the world

In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran mostly in side by side. In the conclusion, they come together. Similar to the original series, her choices and her path are unveiled to be inseparably woven with the fate of the world. Her private quest to rejoin with her companion and rediscover her imagination becomes the central struggle in a larger conflict with an controlling system which, as such authorities always have, is attempting to suppress independence of thought, creativity and culture: all the internal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be free.

Dimensional Rifts and Ideological Conflicts

The novel starts with the unveiling of a series of unusual cracks in the makeup of the world's atmosphere: gateways that look to lead to alternate realities. One such window manifests to be the origin of the highly contested botanical substance. The church, with Delamare at its head, labels these portals as a threat to the institution's orthodoxy and sets out to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from inflexible logic and return to instinct, however, her conviction that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is mysteriously essential – grows. "Dust, or rose oil, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we label it," she says, "we require it." The stage for a poetic tussle between naivety and maturity is prepared.

Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth

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