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Tings are collapsing in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that manifests, now more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or reorganizing themselves along new and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is draining from governments, and pooling in the halls of theocrats, the coffers of conglomerates, the grasp of mobs. "An element is at work, silently, gradually", says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and durable are deteriorating and collapsing."

The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey

Precisely what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that animates this final volume, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's concluding excursion into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling world he first introduced three decades past, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose terrain corresponds to that of this world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals look and reason and act like us, but are joined by daemons, essences in beast form; where the air are populated with witches and gryphons, but beneath those skies, vehicles are ridden and tea is sipped, and older academics carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in the first volume, the origin story with which the author began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the sharp and persistent protagonist of the earlier books, but more mature, sadder, more careful, more doubtful. This restraint is amplified by her split from her daemon, Pan – 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 may have forgotten (an aspect which he represents as her "creativity"), and her quest to reunite with him, were the driving forces of its predecessor, which saw the protagonist undertake a adventurous trek across the continent and into the mountain region, meeting with marvel and peril on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in action, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the faith's governing authority, and Pullman's deliciously chilling embodiment of rigid, procedural wickedness – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's relative, who faults her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the office of president of the authority's ruling assembly, and is determined on using his recently acquired authority to extend the institution's rule. Another protagonist, who carried infant Lyra to refuge along a swollen Thames as an young boy in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in spycraft: he is assigned to the city to learn more about his intentions. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the scarce and precious rose oil which appears in some way to be the origin of a societal and economic upheaval emanating out from Central Asia. The oil is viewed by some as a commercial product, by different parties as a research-based or spiritual wonder, and by further factions – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of darkness; an affront that must be obliterated. The issue of its source, its meaning, and if it should be eliminated or protected is escalating in importance.

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

In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran broadly in parallel. In The Rose Field, they converge. Like the original series, the protagonist's movements and her destiny are revealed to be inextricably linked with the future of the realm. Her personal quest to rejoin with her daemon and regain her vision becomes the key battleground in a wider battle with an oppressive regime which, as such regimes often attempt, is attempting to stifle independence of thinking, innovation and art: all the internal, defiant ways in which humans can be independent.

Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts

The story starts with the discovery of a set of strange fissures in the structure of the world's air: windows that appear to give on to different dimensions. An example of a portal seems to be the source of the much debated botanical substance. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its helm, labels these portals as a challenge to the institution's beliefs and aims to destroy them. As the heroine begins to turn away from inflexible logic and revert to intuition, yet, her belief that these locations must be defended – that their significance and what they offer is in some way crucial – increases. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we name it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a philosophical conflict between innocence and experience is prepared.

Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth

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