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Tings are collapsing in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a realm that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is draining from governments, and accumulating in the halls of theocrats, the coffers of corporations, the control of rioters. "Some force is at work, silently, gradually", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and strong are faltering and collapsing."

Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path

Precisely what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the question that drives this final volume, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, according to many, the author's final foray into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling world he first revealed in the distant past, with the publication of Northern Lights. It's a world whose landscape corresponds to that of the real world, but whose chronicles veers and changes with ours; where the people look and reason and act like us, but are accompanied by daemons, souls in animal form; where the skies are filled with witches and mythical beasts, but underneath, vehicles are taken and drinks is drunk, and mature professors carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in La Belle Sauvage, the prequel with which the author began this trilogy, is now a young woman: still distinctly the sharp and persistent protagonist of the earlier books, but aged, sadder, warier, more doubtful. This restraint is amplified by her separation from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which made him desert her in the first place.

Converging Storylines

Pan's decision to go off in pursuit of that childlike part of her which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he symbolizes as her "imagination"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of its predecessor, which followed the protagonist undertake a wandering journey across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with marvel and risk on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in motion, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the religious controlling power, and the author's deliciously chilling embodiment of austere, procedural wickedness – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's relative, who holds responsible her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the position of leader of the Magisterium's governing body, and is determined on using his recently acquired authority to expand the church's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued baby the heroine to safety along a swollen river as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in espionage: he is sent to Geneva to learn more about his intentions. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and costly essential oil which appears in some way to be the origin of a social and economic upheaval emanating out from that area. The substance is regarded by various factions as a tradeable product, by alternate groups as a empirical or esoteric wonder, and by yet others – the extremist "highland figures" – as a origin of darkness; an affront that must be eradicated. The issue of where it comes from, its significance, and if it should be eliminated or protected is becoming urgent.

As in the original trilogy, the heroine's actions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be deeply connected with the future of the universe

In the previous volume, these plots ran broadly in tandem. In the conclusion, they come together. Similar to His Dark Materials, Lyra's actions and her path are unveiled to be inseparably linked with the fate of the universe. Her individual mission to reunite with her soul and regain her creativity becomes the central conflict in a larger conflict with an controlling regime which, as such authorities often attempt, is attempting to quell independence of thinking, creativity and art: all the internal, defiant ways in which people can be free.

Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts

The story opens with the discovery of a collection of strange openings in the makeup of the Earth's sky: portals that appear to lead to different dimensions. One such opening seems to be the origin of the much debated botanical substance. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its leadership, designates these portals as a threat to the institution's doctrine and sets out to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to move from inflexible logic and revert to intuition, nevertheless, her belief that these sites must be protected – that their significance and what they provide is mysteriously vital – grows. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the botanical realm, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a poetic tussle between innocence and knowledge is prepared.

Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution

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