The concluding volume of Philip Pullman's Book of Dust trilogy and the final novel in the His Dark Materials universe. Lyra Silvertongue - travelling under the alias Tatiana Iorekova - journeys through Central Asia in search of her estranged dæmon Pantalaimon, separated from her since the events of The Secret Commonwealth. Their paths converge on a mysterious red building at the heart of the desert, where the secret of the Rose Field - the fundamental force once known as the Rusakov Field, the phenomenon called Dust - may finally be understood. Pursuing Lyra are the forces of the Magisterium, led by a new and ruthless leader, alongside allies and enemies old and new: witches, scholars, spies, and the enigmatic Malcolm Polstead. A story about imagination, growing up, and holding on to the capacity for wonder that childhood gives and adulthood erodes.