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Tings are falling apart in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of the author's grand trilogies set in a universe that seems, in this volume especially, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is flowing away from states, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of corporations, the hands of crowds. "An element is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says merchant a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the Silk Roads from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and durable are deteriorating and failing."

Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey

Just what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that propels the concluding book, which picks up where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final foray into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced 30 years ago, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography aligns with that of our world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and reason and act like us, but are joined by animal souls, beings in beast form; where the heavens are populated with witches and legendary creatures, but below, vehicles are taken and drinks is sipped, and older scholars carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a child in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a infant in the prequel, the origin story with which the author began the series, is now a young woman: still clearly the sharp and tenacious heroine of the previous installments, but more mature, sadder, more cautious, less sure. This restraint is amplified by her separation from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, unexpectedly, the cause which made him desert her in the first place.

Converging Storylines

The daemon's resolve to go off in pursuit of that innocent part of her which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "imagination"), and her mission to rejoin with him, were the driving forces of its predecessor, which saw the protagonist undertake a picaresque journey across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with marvel and peril on the way. But from the beginning, underlying forces were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the faith's controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling embodiment of strict, procedural malice – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's family member, who blames her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the office of head of the authority's ruling assembly, and is set on using his newfound power to broaden the institution's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued baby Lyra to safety along a flooded river as an young boy in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in espionage: he is sent to the city to learn more about the antagonist's intentions. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and precious rose oil which seems in some way to be the origin of a societal and financial crisis rippling out from the region. The substance is regarded by certain groups as a tradeable product, by alternate groups as a research-based or spiritual miracle, and by further factions – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of malevolence; an affront that must be eradicated. The dilemma of its source, its significance, and whether it should be eliminated or safeguarded is escalating in importance.

Similar to the first series, our protagonist's actions, and her future, are demonstrated to be inseparably connected with the fate of the universe

In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran largely in parallel. In this final book, they converge. Like His Dark Materials, her actions and her destiny are shown to be deeply woven with the destiny of the universe. Her individual mission to rejoin with her companion and recover her vision becomes the primary battleground in a broader battle with an oppressive government which, as such authorities often attempt, is striving to quell freedom of thinking, originality and expression: all the personal, rebellious ways in which people can be independent.

Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts

The story opens with the discovery of a series of strange fissures in the fabric of the Earth's sky: gateways that look to lead to alternate realities. One such opening manifests to be the source of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The church, with the antagonist at its leadership, labels these portals as a problem to the church's beliefs and aims to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to move from inflexible reason and back to intuition, nevertheless, her belief that these locations must be defended – that their significance and what they provide is in some way essential – increases. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or whatever we label it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a poetic struggle between purity and knowledge is prepared.

Story Tempo and Personal Evolution

At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the