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Things are unraveling in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a universe that seems, in this volume especially, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reassembling themselves along new and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Authority is shifting from governments, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the treasuries of conglomerates, the grasp of mobs. "Some force is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says merchant a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and strong are deteriorating and giving way."

Key Puzzle and Her Quest

Precisely what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that drives this final volume, which picks up where the previous book left off. This is, reportedly, Pullman's last foray into the elaborately built, deeply captivating realm he first introduced in the distant past, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose terrain maps on to that of the real world, but whose past diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by daemons, essences in creature form; where the heavens are populated with enchantresses and gryphons, but beneath those skies, buses are caught and tea is sipped, and older scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first met as a young girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in La Belle Sauvage, the prequel with which Pullman began the series, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the prickly and determined heroine of the previous installments, but older, melancholic, warier, more doubtful. This restraint is heightened by her division from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.

Merging Narratives

Pan's decision to leave in search of that youthful part of the heroine which she may have forgotten (an quality which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed Lyra undertake a picaresque journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with marvel and danger on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in motion, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the religious controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling representation of strict, bureaucratic wickedness – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. Marcel Delamare – our protagonist's family member, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of leader of the authority's governing body, and is intent on using his recently acquired influence to extend the religion's dominium. Another protagonist, who carried infant the heroine to refuge along a overflowing river as an young boy in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a additional duty in spycraft: he is assigned to Geneva to learn more about his plans. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the scarce and valuable rose oil which appears in some way to be the cause of a societal and financial crisis spreading out from that area. The extract is viewed by some as a commercial commodity, by others as a research-based or esoteric wonder, and by others still – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a source of malevolence; an affront that must be eradicated. The question of its source, what it stands for, and whether it should be destroyed or safeguarded is becoming urgent.

Like the first series, our protagonist's decisions, and her destiny, are shown to be deeply connected with the future of the universe

In the previous volume, these narratives ran broadly in side by side. In this final book, they merge. Similar to the original series, Lyra's actions and her destiny are shown to be inseparably linked with the future of the realm. Her private journey to rejoin with her daemon and regain her creativity becomes the primary struggle in a wider war with an oppressive government which, as such authorities always have, is striving to suppress independence of reason, innovation and culture: all the personal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.

Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts

The story begins with the discovery of a set of strange fissures in the structure of the Earth's sky: windows that seem to give on to alternate realities. An example of a opening seems to be the origin of the much debated botanical substance. The church, with Delamare at its leadership, classifies these portals as a threat to the religion's beliefs and aims to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to move from rigid reason and return to instinct, however, her certainty that these sites must be preserved – that their significance and their value is in some way crucial – increases. "The substance, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a philosophical tussle between innocence and knowledge is prepared.

Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution

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