Angel’s Reviews > The Rose Field > Status Update

Would absolutely love to hear what you think when you have finished. I still don't know anyone else who has read it yet and I need to pick someones brain about it x

Beth it was amazing but not how I expected it! 😭 i enjoyed it but it didn’t tie up at the end in any kind of way that gave me answers! Lyra can cut through worlds now but we didn’t see her reunite with Will!! She wants to make new windows which goes against the end of HDM! But we need them to keep allowing dust/imagination to flow through all the worlds. Farder Coram has a witch daughter but we didn’t see them reunite. Pan and the witch interactions I really enjoyed that, them flying together, him falling off the pine branch! 😂 When she embraced him despite the taboo, I found that so beautiful! I enjoyed the witches alliance with the gryphons and wish we saw more of that. I thought the gryphons were amazing. Malcolm the artifice from the land of gold!! I was glad him and Lyra didn’t end up together though 😂 the idea of putting him and Alice together I did like. I found the book referencing a lot in our world and critiquing capitalism, greed, money, religion, defending imagination, creativity, telling stories! The rose field being destroyed for roads and new developments. That was disappointing that they came through the red building, only to not find them? But felt real world. The elderly couple getting kicked out of their house that was going to be knocked down! I reckon that because the rose oil is to do with dust, the lack of it, is what makes peoples daemons sick and die! I’m glad that consciousness was mentioned, as it makes sense from what we learned in the amber spyglass. Abdel Ionides was one of my favourite characters!

A really wonderful breakdown Angel! Thank you for responding I've felt like bursting as I haven't anyone to talk about it with. Yesz call me a cliché romantic but I'm also disappointed with the lack of reconnection with Lyra and Will. However, think how much they both have been through and entirely in different worlds. Literally! Would this have changed them into leading different life paths to eachother now? The sacrifice they made for everyone, truth and the universe has far more weight than if they where able to connect again. I loved the character of Malcolm however the age gap is quite uncomfortable to put it lightly. Especially as he knew her as a baby! Just felt icky. I think this would have been ok if they hadn't known eachother in such intimate situations throughout the Bellsavage etc as it feels like a breach of trust and safety. I understand that Lyra is incredibly mature emotionally in a lot of ways but even if she doesn't see an issue with this herself if she still in the grips of some kind of levels of emotional grooming, whilst engulfed in a life threatening quest with the weight of the functioning of the universe on her shoulders! Not surprising really that she needed comfort and some form of stability and emotional rock for support. With the lack of Pan in her life too as another brutal add on. I agree with the relationship between Pan and the witches deamon. Think there was more humour in this book too which I feel helps balance and bring out the importance of having a laugh to get you through difficult situations but also fir bonding purposes. The tapestry of bringing spirituality, religion, contiousness, political struggle etc into this series is so well needed and then linked in with looking after the world's and eachother is exactly what we need right now. The link of the rose field, deforestation here are brilliant and feeling detached from nature, elderly couple being ripped from their home are emotional. Agreed there are plot holes which is very frustrating however in a way it's nice to still have questions and be left wondering a little. Life isn't perfect and not is the series. However I can't wait to read it again as I'm sure there is far more to understand and pick apart x

You’re welcome! forgot to reply Beth sorry! 😂 oh don’t get me wrong I am SO disappointed that Lyra and Will didn’t reunite, I assumed he would be through the window into the roses world via the red building!! But now Lyra has taught herself how to cut into other worlds!! Endless possibilities. In our imaginations of course. Because there’s no more books!! 😭 and yes I thought that too, they’re grown and be through so much. I’m kind of glad Pullman doesn’t pay fan service as imagine if he had put them up to meeting again but we’d be devastated as they’d be such completely different people and not connect like they did as kids. I don’t feel like she’s moved on fully but I wonder if he has? Will is a surgeon now, I had joy in reading ‘The imagination chamber’ recently with little snippets of different worlds. It mentioned him in his medical studies as a student (quoted directly from the book) “During his education, he often had to make wrong diagnoses when he knew the correct one to avoid looking supernatural. Once he was qualified, he felt able to go directly to the right answer”. Isn’t that incredible his use of the subtle knife came in handy as an adult!! I often wonder about Will and why we didn’t get his own book!! And I thought about Lyra with broken alethiometer, she could get Malcolm to make her a proper knife out of the remaining metal! I half wish there was one final chapter of the book to tie up loose ends. 😂 Yes the Malcolm thing I was finding it quite icky with the age gap and him knowing her as a baby. And the witch saying to Lyra you are older than him. All a bit weird. Maybe if he hadn’t known her from childhood, it would have been less weird!! Definitely agree there emotionally mature in some ways that even Malcolm or any adult may not be, but the mild emotional grooming yes I see it. Saving the universe but without her Will this time around, it’s Malcolm being her rock. And I thought about how much Pan loved Malcolm, but maybe not like that! Yes the humour was brilliant and made it balanced for sure. I agree it really is exactly what we needed right now and it fits so close into global situations ongoing currently. Floored at how Pullman made the story feel so relevant to the now! Incredible! Yes it made me feel a lot the deforestation losing touch from nature which made them lose their imagination. Could be a pointer to the rising use of AI ChatGPT for creativity. The elderly couple were so so sweet and it was awful when they were torn from their home! I loved that Lyra gave them her crown that Malcolm made for her. Yes the plot holes make you fill in the gaps though don’t they? It is yes because it’s thought provoking and that’s the point Pullman’s writing makes you think a lot about things. The book feels really close to home the way he’s woven in the critique of religion, modernisation, deforestation destroying nature, our humanity, lack of imagination/growing up in a world that tells us to not use or reduces the need to use your imagination, refugees fleeing conflict and violence, and how people treat them, travelling in shame without a daemon (kind of like a disability) and how people help you or shun you. I’m going to listen to the audiobook for my second read. Michael Sheen narrates the series beautifully! X