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Things are collapsing in the final volume of The Book of Dust, the next of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that manifests, now more than ever, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is draining from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the coffers of business empires, the control of mobs. "Something is at work, silently, gradually", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his seat in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and strong are weakening and failing."

Key Puzzle and Her Quest

Exactly what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that propels this final volume, which continues where its predecessor left off. This is, reportedly, the author's concluding foray into the elaborately built, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced three decades past, with the launch of Northern Lights. It's a world whose geography maps on to that of our world, but whose past diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans look and think and act like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, beings in creature form; where the skies are teeming with witches and gryphons, but beneath those skies, transports are caught and drinks is drunk, and older academics carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the prequel, the origin story with which the author began the series, is now a adult: still recognisably the sharp and tenacious main character of the earlier books, but more mature, sadder, warier, more doubtful. This limitation is intensified by her separation from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which led him to leave her in the first place.

Interwoven Plots

Pan's decision to go off in quest of that innocent part of her which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her quest to rejoin with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with wonder and peril on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in play, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the faith's governing authority, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister incarnation of rigid, procedural wickedness – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's relative, who blames her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of head of the church's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his newfound authority to broaden the institution's control. A key character, who saved baby Lyra to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an academic with a sideline in intelligence work: he is assigned to Geneva to learn more about his plans. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the scarce and costly essential oil which seems somehow to be the source of a societal and economic disturbance spreading out from that area. The substance is viewed by various factions as a commercial commodity, by alternate groups as a research-based or mystical phenomenon, and by further factions – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of darkness; an challenge that must be eradicated. The dilemma of where it comes from, what it stands for, and if it should be destroyed or preserved is escalating in importance.

Similar to the first series, our protagonist's deeds, and her future, are shown to be inextricably entwined with the future of the universe

In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran mostly in tandem. In this final book, they converge. Similar to His Dark Materials, her choices and her destiny are shown to be inseparably woven with the future of the universe. Her private quest to reunite with her daemon and rediscover her creativity becomes the primary conflict in a larger battle with an authoritarian regime which, as such authorities typically do, is attempting to quell autonomy of reason, innovation and culture: all the personal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.

Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles

The novel starts with the discovery of a set of curious openings in the makeup of the Earth's sky: portals that look to open into alternate realities. A particular opening seems to be the point of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The authority, with Delamare at its leadership, labels these windows as a threat to the religion's orthodoxy and sets out to destroy them. As the heroine begins to turn away from inflexible logic and back to instinct, yet, her conviction that these places must be preserved – that what they stand for and their value is in some way essential – grows. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a poetic struggle between naivety and experience is established.

Narrative Pacing and Protagonist Growth

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