the long wait ends at last - the Book of Dust Vol. 3

The Rose Field is the third and final instalment of Phillip Pullman's Book of Dust trilogy - the prequel/sequel to His Dark Materials. And it's finally out in the world!

It's a prequel because the first book in the trilogy takes place when Lyra, the main character of His Dark Materials, is a baby.

It's a sequel because the following two books take place when Lyra is a young woman, ten years after the events of The Amber Spyglass. If you're confused, I've made a timeline below.

I'm a huge fan of both His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust.

The second book in The Book of Dust, aka The Secret Commonwealth, was one of my favourite books that year. It starts when Lyra is twenty years old, and Malcom, the boy who saved her as a young baby in La Belle Sauvage, is now a professor at Oxford University. So the tone is more adult, which, after literally growing up with Lyra, is thrilling. It feels like the reader has grown up as well. And I suppose we have. I'm in my late thirties now, and I remember reading The Northern Lights when I was a pre-teen. Getting an adult book about a beloved children's series is a rare treat.

Which is one of the reasons why I'm so excited for the release of The Rose Field, because it's the culmination of a nearly thirty-year reading journey.

But also, The Secret Commonwealth was just so good. It's a quest story, with a train adventure and an alternate-universe Oxford. It's like something that exists both out of time and deep in history—the kind of story that you don't get very often, one that leaves an impression.

I'll post a book review when I finally read The Rose Field. I'm thinking of rereading all the books in chronological order, because it's been a while since I read the original trilogy, and all I have are fragments of scenes (more vibes than plot). If there's one thing I'm good at as a reader, it's ignoring my previously established to-be-read pile for a new fancy.

If anyone else is as excited for this book as I am, can you please let me know? I need someone to jump up and down with.