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Things are collapsing in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the next of the author's grand trilogies set in a realm that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is draining from governments, and pooling in the chambers of religious leaders, the vaults of conglomerates, the grasp of crowds. "Some force is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says trader a trader character, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and strong are deteriorating and giving way."

Key Puzzle and Her Quest

Precisely what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that drives The Rose Field, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, by all accounts, the author's last foray into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling world he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a realm whose landscape aligns with that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans appear and think and behave like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, beings in creature form; where the air are populated with sorceresses and gryphons, but below, buses are caught and tea is drunk, and middle-aged professors carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a child in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the prequel, the introductory book with which Pullman began The Book of Dust, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the spiky and determined heroine of the prior volumes, but more mature, melancholic, more careful, more doubtful. This restraint is amplified by her division from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the cause which led him to leave her in the first place.

Interwoven Plots

His choice to leave in quest of that innocent part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an quality which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her quest to reunite with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed Lyra undertake a picaresque voyage across the continent and into the Caucasus, facing with marvel and peril on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in action, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the church's controlling power, and the author's deliciously chilling incarnation of austere, bureaucratic evil – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's relative, who faults her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the role of leader of the Magisterium's governing body, and is intent on using his fresh power to broaden the religion's dominium. A key character, who rescued baby Lyra to security along a overflowing river as an young boy in the prequel, is now an academic with a secondary role in spycraft: he is assigned to a key location to find out more about Delamare's plans. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the uncommon and precious essential oil which manifests mysteriously to be the origin of a societal and economic disturbance spreading out from the region. The substance is seen by certain groups as a tradeable product, by others as a research-based or esoteric wonder, and by further factions – the fanatical "men from the mountains" – as a source of evil; an affront that must be destroyed. The issue of where it comes from, its significance, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is becoming urgent.

Like the first series, Lyra's actions, and her fate, are demonstrated to be inseparably linked with the destiny of the universe

In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran mostly in side by side. In the conclusion, they come together. Similar to the first trilogy, Lyra's actions and her path are unveiled to be inseparably woven with the future of the realm. Her individual quest to rejoin with her soul and recover her vision becomes the central conflict in a broader war with an controlling system which, as such authorities always have, is seeking to suppress independence of thought, innovation and expression: all the inner, defiant ways in which humans can be independent.

Cosmic Openings and Moral Battles

The book opens with the unveiling of a collection of unusual cracks in the structure of the Earth's atmosphere: portals that seem to give on to different dimensions. An example of a portal manifests to be the origin of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its leadership, labels these windows as a challenge to the religion's doctrine and aims to eliminate them. As the heroine begins to move from rigid logic and revert to feeling, nevertheless, her belief that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and what they provide is mysteriously vital – grows. "Dust, or the substance, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we require it." The stage for a philosophical tussle between naivety and maturity is set.

Story Tempo and Character Development

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