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Things are collapsing in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of the author's masterful trilogies set in a realm that seems, in this volume especially, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reassembling themselves along new and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from governments, and gathering in the offices of religious leaders, the vaults of corporations, the control of mobs. "Something is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says trader a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his place in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and strong are weakening and failing."

Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey

Just what that something might be, and ways to oppose it, is the inquiry that drives this final volume, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's last excursion into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling world he first revealed three decades past, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a world whose landscape maps on to that of the real world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, souls in beast form; where the skies are teeming with witches and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, buses are taken and tea is consumed, and older academics carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in La Belle Sauvage, the prequel with which the author began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the sharp and determined heroine of the prior volumes, but aged, melancholic, more careful, less sure. This circumscription is heightened by her split from her daemon, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which led him to leave her in the first place.

Merging Narratives

The daemon's resolve to go off in search of that innocent part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an trait which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, encountering with amazement and risk on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in play, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the religious governing authority, and the author's masterfully eerie incarnation of rigid, procedural evil – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's relative, who blames her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the role of head of the church's High Council, and is determined on using his fresh authority to broaden the church's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued baby the heroine to safety along a swollen Thames as an young boy in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a secondary role in spycraft: he is assigned to Geneva to discover more about his plans. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and valuable botanical extract which manifests in some way to be the origin of a social and financial disturbance emanating out from Central Asia. The substance is seen by various factions as a marketable product, by others as a scientific or mystical wonder, and by others still – the zealous "highland figures" – as a wellspring of evil; an insult that must be destroyed. The dilemma of where it comes from, what it stands for, and if it should be removed or safeguarded is escalating in importance.

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

In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran largely in tandem. In the conclusion, they merge. Similar to the first trilogy, the protagonist's choices and her destiny are revealed to be inextricably linked with the future of the world. Her private mission to reconnect with her daemon and recover her creativity becomes the central struggle in a wider battle with an authoritarian regime which, as such regimes always have, is seeking to stifle independence of thinking, innovation and expression: all the personal, resistant ways in which people can be liberated.

Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles

The story opens with the finding of a set of curious cracks in the structure of the world's air: windows that appear to give on to alternate realities. An example of a opening seems to be the source of the much debated mystical extract. The authority, with Delamare at its leadership, labels these windows as a problem to the institution's doctrine and endeavors to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to move from rigid rationalism and back to intuition, however, her belief that these locations must be defended – that their meaning and what they offer is in some way vital – grows. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or whatever we label it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a poetic conflict between naivety and maturity is prepared.

Plot Rhythm and Character Development

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