The Book of Dust series is drawing to a close.
Phillip Pullman, author of the celebrated series, announced on April 29 the third and final book in the trilogy, The Rose Field. The beloved heroine Lyra Silvertongue — first introduced to readers 30 years ago in the debut of the His Dark Materials series — encounters all kinds of mystical foes and obstacles as she seeks out her daemon, Pantalaimon.
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The Rose Field begins where the second book, The Secret Commonwealth leaves off: Lyra alone in a city full of daemons, or physical projections of a person’s soul, looking for Pantalaimon as her mentor, Malcolm Polstead, searches for her. The two are “racing along the ancient Silk Roads toward the desert of Karamakan, following the trail of roses said to hold the secret of Dust,” a particle related to consciousness.
Random House
The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage.
“Their allies and enemies are converging on the mysterious red building at the heart of the desert: Marcel Delamare and the military might of the Magisterium; the radical Men from the Mountains; rogue scientists, scholars and spies; troops of witches and other people of the air,” a synopsis reads.”And awaiting them all is a previously unseen and chilling new threat that will change everything.”
“The intertwining odysseys of Malcolm and Lyra, their journeys both internal and external, will test their limits and challenge even their most dearly held beliefs,” the synopsis concludes.
The Rose Field comes after the first two volumes of The Book of Dust series: La Belle Sauvage and The Secret Commonwealth. It’s set years before the original series first introduced readers to Pullman’s imagination-capturing world in His Dark Materials.
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Pullman sees themes of change and growth — psychological, moral and emotional — at the center of The Rose Field, a book he calls “partly a thriller” and partly a tale of coming-of-age and discovery.
Random House
The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth.
“Over a long and dangerous journey searching for her dæmon Pan and with him her lost imagination, Lyra comes to discover a new understanding of the world: that this change affects everything, from the way roads are built to the relationship people have with their deepest selves,” the author said in a press release shared with PEOPLE.
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Pullman’s books gained international acclaim, starting with the very first: The Golden Compass. Between the two series, over 49 million copies have been sold worldwide. His Dark Materials, has been adapted into a television show on HBO Max, and the author himself was knighted in 2019 for his contributions to literature.
The Rose Field will be available Oct. 23, 2025 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.
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