Things are collapsing in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a universe that seems, in this volume especially, as a charged and skewed version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along new and troubling lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is shifting from governments, and pooling in the offices of religious leaders, the vaults of business empires, the grasp of rioters. "An element is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and durable are deteriorating and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Just what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that drives The Rose Field, which resumes where its predecessor left off. This is, reportedly, the author's last excursion into the elaborately built, endlessly enchanting world he first introduced in the distant past, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose geography aligns with that of this world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and think and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, beings in creature form; where the air are populated with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but below, vehicles are ridden and drinks is sipped, and middle-aged scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a child in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a adult: still recognisably the prickly and tenacious heroine of the earlier books, but more mature, melancholic, more cautious, less certain. This limitation is intensified by her split from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to leave in quest of that youthful part of Lyra which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled Lyra undertake a picaresque journey across Europe and into the mountain region, encountering with wonder and risk on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in motion, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the religious controlling power, and the author's masterfully eerie representation of rigid, procedural evil – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's relative, who blames her for his family member's death – has worked himself into the role of head of the Magisterium's governing body, and is determined on using his fresh influence to expand the religion's rule. Another protagonist, who saved young the heroine to refuge along a swollen Thames as an child in the first book, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in spycraft: he is dispatched to the city to learn more about the antagonist's plans. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and costly botanical extract which appears mysteriously to be the source of a social and economic crisis rippling out from that area. The oil is seen by various factions as a commercial commodity, by others as a empirical or mystical wonder, and by others still – the extremist "men from the mountains" – as a origin of malevolence; an insult that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its source, what it stands for, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is escalating in importance.
Like the first series, our protagonist's actions, and her destiny, are revealed to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the world
In its predecessor, these narratives ran broadly in tandem. In this final book, they merge. Like His Dark Materials, her actions and her fate are unveiled to be deeply entwined with the fate of the universe. Her private journey to reconnect with her soul and regain her vision becomes the key conflict in a wider war with an authoritarian regime which, as such regimes typically do, is attempting to suppress freedom of thought, originality and art: all the personal, rebellious ways in which humans can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Ideological Conflicts
The novel starts with the finding of a collection of strange openings in the structure of the world's sky: portals that seem to open into alternate realities. An example of a window seems to be the source of the highly contested rose oil. The authority, with its leader at its helm, labels these windows as a challenge to the religion's orthodoxy and endeavors to destroy them. As Lyra begins to turn away from strict logic and return to intuition, yet, her conviction that these locations must be preserved – that their significance and what they provide is mysteriously crucial – increases. "The substance, or the extract, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a philosophical conflict between purity and maturity is established.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
