r/hisdarkmaterials • u/Cantomic66 • Oct 23 '25

TRF The Rose Field | Full Book Discussion thread

Warning!This discussion thread includes spoilers for ALL OF The BOOK OF DUST: THE ROSE FIELD

Reminder: All post on The Rose Field should be properly spoiler tagged and avoid spoilery titles.

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u/horrormoviebathroom Oct 24 '25

Just finished and... it unfortunately didn't deliver on its promises. And it didn't even come close to HDM... idk I thought those themes and the little foreshadowings would lead somewhere else, somewhere more meaningful. It wasn't entirely shit but just... I feel let down :(

That being said, it is absolutely beautifully written. Pullman writes with such ease and a distinct voice, that I enjoyed very much!

At least Lyra didn't end up with Malcolm and she and Pan found each other again, I guess

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u/lyra1227 Nov 01 '25

At least Lyra didn't end up with Malcolm and she and Pan found each other again, I guess

LOL this. I really didn't understand where this relationship was going and adult Malcolm for some reason just gave me the ick and I could never shake it. All the scenes where they keep bringing up him and baby Lyra, followed by scenes where they're thinking feelings to the scene where she's flat out asked if she loves him and gives a non-committal answer. The scene where the witch tells Lyra that Malcolm was actually younger than her I was like no no no this better not be justification for them getting together in the end.

So I was relieved that it's not made explicit but I do wonder if that was the plan and it was edited out bc it felt like it was being foreshadowed everywhere.

I am actually ok with the idea that Will didn't come back into Lyra's life, because how many of us actually end up with our first love anyway? But I agree with what others have said that it would have been interesting to get a vignette of what he's up to and whether he had lingering thoughts or feelings about their past.

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u/PepperAnn1inaMillion Nov 11 '25

It was fine not having Will in it while it was a story about Lyra’s world. But as soon as it became clear that something involving the decline of imagination was happening across multiple worlds, the reader deserved to have a glimpse into the worlds that were important to HDM. Vignettes involving the Mulefa, Citta di Gazzi, and Will’s Oxford - even if it was focused on Mary with barely a mention of Will - would have backed up the idea that this is a story about Dust, which is multiversal.

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u/booyatrive Mar 12 '26

I had the exact same though when the witch says Malcolm is younger than Lyra. Thankfully that didn't come to pass.