Tings are collapsing in the last installment of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a universe that manifests, in this volume especially, as a intense and tilted version of our own. Establishments are failing, or restructuring themselves along new and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from states, and accumulating in the halls of theocrats, the vaults of conglomerates, the hands of crowds. "Some force is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and durable are weakening and collapsing."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Just what that element might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that drives The Rose Field, which resumes where its predecessor left off. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's last foray into the elaborately built, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced three decades past, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose landscape corresponds to that of the real world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the people look and reason and act like us, but are paired by animal souls, beings in beast form; where the skies are populated with witches and legendary creatures, but below, vehicles are taken and drinks is drunk, and mature scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a infant in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the prickly and determined protagonist of the earlier books, but older, sadder, more cautious, less certain. This limitation is intensified by her separation from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to depart in pursuit of that innocent part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an quality which he epitomises as her "imagination"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a picaresque journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, encountering with wonder and risk on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The church authority – the religious controlling power, and the author's brilliantly sinister representation of rigid, procedural wickedness – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – our protagonist's family member, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of leader of the authority's governing body, and is set on using his newfound power to broaden the institution's control. Another protagonist, who carried young the heroine to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an child in the first book, is now an university scholar with a sideline in spycraft: he is sent to a key location to learn more about Delamare's aims. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the uncommon and valuable essential oil which appears mysteriously to be the cause of a social and economic upheaval rippling out from that area. The extract is seen by various factions as a tradeable good, by different parties as a research-based or mystical phenomenon, and by others still – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of darkness; an affront that must be eradicated. The question of its origins, its significance, and whether it should be destroyed or protected is escalating in importance.
As in the original trilogy, Lyra's deeds, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inextricably entwined with the fate of the realm
In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran broadly in parallel. In this final book, they come together. Similar to His Dark Materials, Lyra's movements and her path are revealed to be deeply woven with the destiny of the universe. Her private mission to reconnect with her companion and rediscover her vision becomes the central battleground in a broader war with an oppressive regime which, as such authorities always have, is attempting to quell independence of thought, originality and expression: all the personal, resistant ways in which humans can be independent.
Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles
The story begins with the discovery of a series of unusual cracks in the fabric of the planet's air: gateways that look to lead to different dimensions. An example of a opening appears to be the source of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its head, classifies these portals as a threat to the institution's doctrine and aims to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from inflexible rationalism and back to intuition, however, her belief that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and their value is mysteriously vital – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or the substance, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a Blakean struggle between purity and experience is established.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
