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Things are falling apart in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a realm that manifests, in this volume especially, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Organizations are weakening, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is draining from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the coffers of corporations, the grasp of mobs. "An element is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and strong are deteriorating and giving way."

Core Enigma and The Protagonist's Path

Exactly what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that drives the concluding book, which picks up where the previous book left off. This is, reportedly, Pullman's last excursion into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling universe he first revealed three decades past, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose geography maps on to that of the real world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the people look and think and act like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, essences in beast form; where the heavens are filled with sorceresses and gryphons, but below, buses are caught and tea is consumed, and mature academics carry Harrods shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a child in the original trilogy, and then met once more as a baby in the prequel, the prequel with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still clearly the sharp and tenacious heroine of the earlier books, but more mature, sadder, warier, less sure. This restraint is intensified by her separation from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.

Converging Storylines

The daemon's resolve to depart in quest of that innocent part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an trait which he epitomises as her "vision"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across the continent and into the mountain region, meeting with amazement and risk on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in action, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the church's controlling power, and the author's brilliantly sinister representation of austere, administrative wickedness – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's relative, who faults her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of leader of the church's governing body, and is determined on using his fresh power to broaden the church's rule. Another protagonist, who carried infant Lyra to safety along a overflowing Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in spycraft: he is sent to a key location to learn more about the antagonist's plans. And beneath all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and precious rose oil which manifests mysteriously to be the source of a societal and economic disturbance emanating out from the region. The extract is viewed by certain groups as a commercial good, by different parties as a scientific or mystical miracle, and by yet others – the fanatical "men from the mountains" – as a source of evil; an challenge that must be destroyed. The issue of its source, its meaning, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is escalating in importance.

Similar to His Dark Materials, the heroine's decisions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inseparably connected with the future of the realm

In The Secret Commonwealth, these plots ran mostly in tandem. In this final book, they come together. As in the first trilogy, Lyra's actions and her path are revealed to be inextricably woven with the fate of the realm. Her individual mission to rejoin with her daemon and recover her vision becomes the primary battleground in a larger war with an oppressive regime which, as such regimes often attempt, is striving to suppress freedom of reason, innovation and art: all the inner, rebellious ways in which humans can be independent.

Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles

The story begins with the discovery of a series of curious fissures in the makeup of the Earth's sky: portals that appear to lead to different dimensions. A particular opening appears to be the origin of the much debated botanical substance. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its helm, designates these openings as a challenge to the religion's doctrine and sets out to destroy them. As the heroine begins to shift from rigid rationalism and revert to intuition, yet, her certainty that these places must be defended – that their meaning and what they offer is mysteriously vital – grows. "Dust, or the substance, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or whatever we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a poetic conflict between naivety and experience is prepared.

Story Tempo and Personal Evolution

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