The Rose Field by Philip Pullman, a book review

It has taken me nearly a month to read this book but now I can put it as my first book of 2026 rather than my last of 2025. It’s the final in the series of The Book of Dust which was the follow on series from His Dark Materials.

The Rose Field

The Blurb

When readers left Lyra in The Secret Commonwealth she was alone, in the ruins of a deserted city. Pantalaimon had run from her – part of himself – in search of her imagination, which he believed she had lost. Lyra travelled across the world from her Oxford home in search of her dæmon. And Malcolm, loyal Malcolm, too journeyed far from home, towards the Silk Roads in search of Lyra . . .

In The Rose Field, their quests converge in the most dangerous, breathtaking and world-changing ways. They must take help from spies and thieves, gryphons and witches, old friends and new, learning all the while the depth and surprising truths of the alethiometer. All around them, the world is aflame – made terrifying by fear, power and greed.

As they move East, towards the red building that will reunite them and give them answers – on Dust, on the special roses, on imagination – so too does the Magisterium, at war against all that Lyra holds dear.

My Review of The Rose Field

I have now read the entire series of the story of Lyra. I waited 5 years for this book to be published. I will write about the entire series soon as I think it’s worth the journey, but the books are in fact meant for children 12-17 yrs. The stories are imaginative and defy belief but they are also compulsive story telling.

The Rose Field finds Lyra on her search for her daemon Pantalaiman, Pan for short. In Lyra’s world their daemons are part of them, more like their souls and they are not supposed to separate but Lyra had to part from Pan on her journey to the land of the dead and now there is a feeling of betrayal.

Her search takes her to many places and she is desperate to re-connect with Pan, she misses him so much. In the meantime there are many other story lines. We have Malcom who has been kidnapped by the Gryphons who believe he is a special ‘gold’ person.

Lyra connects again with Malcolm and after a few other setbacks they are finally on their way to the rose field. But they are still finding out what it all means, just as they think they have discovered the meaning of dust.

We have chases, bombs, fires, battles, witches and many other creatures. The book is full of fantasy. To be honest, I’m still trying to figure out the meaning behind it all but the threads all connect in the end. It’s pure fantasy, full of energy, and certainly thought provoking. I’m sad it took me so long to read, I wish I’d saved it until after the holidays because I picked it up to read thinking I’d have a nice relaxing time, but it was not to be.

This is the last of six books which began in 1995 and a child Lyra embarking on her adventure. It’s taken us all around the world and through many other worlds too.