Things are collapsing in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a world that manifests, now more than ever, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Institutions are failing, or restructuring themselves along new and troubling lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is draining from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the treasuries of business empires, the hands of mobs. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his place in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and strong are weakening and giving way."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Precisely what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that propels The Rose Field, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's last venture into the elaborately built, deeply captivating universe he first revealed three decades past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose geography aligns with that of this world, but whose chronicles veers and changes with ours; where the individuals look and think and behave like us, but are paired by daemons, souls in animal form; where the air are populated with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but below, buses are ridden and tea is consumed, and middle-aged professors carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the first trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in La Belle Sauvage, the introductory book with which the author began this trilogy, is now a adult: still recognisably the prickly and determined protagonist of the earlier books, but older, sadder, more cautious, less certain. This circumscription is amplified by her separation from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the cause which led him to leave her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to leave in search of that innocent part of her which she seems to have lost (an quality which he represents as her "imagination"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of its predecessor, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering journey across the continent and into the mountain region, facing with wonder and risk on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in play, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the church's ruling body, and the author's masterfully eerie embodiment of austere, administrative malice – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's uncle, who blames her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the office of leader of the church's High Council, and is intent on using his fresh power to expand the institution's rule. Another protagonist, who saved baby the heroine to refuge along a swollen river as an child in La Belle Sauvage, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is dispatched to a key location to discover more about his intentions. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and costly essential oil which appears mysteriously to be the cause of a societal and financial disturbance spreading out from Central Asia. The substance is viewed by certain groups as a tradeable commodity, by alternate groups as a research-based or spiritual phenomenon, and by yet others – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a source of malevolence; an insult that must be obliterated. The issue of its origins, what it stands for, and whether it should be destroyed or safeguarded is becoming urgent.
Similar to the original trilogy, our protagonist's deeds, and her future, are shown to be inextricably linked with the destiny of the universe
In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran largely in parallel. In this final book, they come together. Like His Dark Materials, Lyra's choices and her destiny are unveiled to be inseparably entwined with the fate of the universe. Her individual mission to reconnect with her soul and regain her vision becomes the key struggle in a broader war with an oppressive government which, as these systems always have, is attempting to suppress autonomy of thought, innovation and culture: all the inner, rebellious ways in which individuals can be free.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The book starts with the unveiling of a set of strange fissures in the structure of the planet's air: gateways that seem to lead to alternate realities. An example of a portal manifests to be the source of the highly contested botanical substance. The Magisterium, with its leader at its head, labels these openings as a problem to the religion's doctrine and endeavors to destroy them. As Lyra begins to shift from strict rationalism and back to instinct, nevertheless, her certainty that these places must be protected – that their meaning and their value is somehow essential – increases. "The substance, or the extract, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or whatever we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a Blakean tussle between naivety and maturity is established.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
