Journey's End

I have just finished the final volume of Philip Pullman's epic The Book of Dust trilogy. It has been 30 years since Pullman introduced the world to heroine Lyra Bellaqua (aka Lyra Silvertongue) in the His Dark Materials series. Now, with The Rose Field (2025), Lyra's journey has come to an end. While I am saddened that no more books will be written in this series, I feel tremendously satisfied with this story and was utterly gripped by its conclusion.

Picking up where volume two - The Secret Commonwealth (2019) - ended, Lyra is travelling East in search of her daemon Pantalaimon who is heading towards the Blue Hotel in the desert of Karamakan. Earlier Pan and Lyra had a disagreement, which saw Pan depart in search of Lyra's imagination. Lyra is assisted in her journey by her knowledgable and wily guide, Abdel Ionides. Pan, for the most part, is bravely travelling alone. 

For Lyra and Ionides, the journey is an arduous one in which the travel by land, sea and air. Along the way they meet witches, angels, and gryphons, while being tracked by both Olivier Bonneville and Marcel Delamare, the head of the Magisterium. Oakley Street agent and friend Malcolm Polstead is also on his way. Everyone is racing to get to gateway to another universe which houses the Rusakov Field. Will Pan and Lyra find one another? Will Delamare succeed in his ruthless ambition to rule the world with a global theocracy? Will they ever get home again?

Pullman is such a creative writer, having set this series in a world that mostly resembles our own, but with subtle differences. He offers a rebuke of authoritarianism, capitalism and colonialism, and there are times this reads as a cautionary tale.

I know some readers have criticised the ending for not tying all the threads up in a neat, shiny bow. But I loved this, as Pan's whole quest was to find Lyra's imagination, her childlike wonder and free-thinking mind. Pullman is encouraging his readers to do the same and use our imaginations to continue this story. He has played his last Myriorama card, and now it is our turn to chose the next one.

As with the previous two volumes, I power-read this alongside Michael Sheen's audiobook narration. I absolutely loved Sheen's storytelling as he is able to voice different characters/accents, and he alters her tone and pace to drive the story forward. Highly recommend listening to the audiobook! 

Farewell Lyra and Pan. Thank you - and Mr Pullman - for an incredible adventure that has brought me such joy over the past thirty years. 

My reviews of the previous books in this trilogy are available on this blog:

• La Belle Sauvage (2017) 
• The Secret Commonwealth (2019) 

I don't have reviews of Pullman's earlier His Dark Materials trilogy - Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass) (1995) The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000) - as I read these long before I started this blog. Perhaps it is time to revisit....