Tings are collapsing in the last installment of The Dust Trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a world that seems, now more than ever, as a charged and skewed version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is draining from authorities, and accumulating in the offices of religious leaders, the treasuries of corporations, the hands of mobs. "An element is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and solid are weakening and failing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Precisely what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that animates The Rose Field, which picks up where the previous book left off. This is, reportedly, Pullman's last foray into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating realm he first introduced in the distant past, with the publication of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose landscape aligns with that of the real world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans look and think and act like us, but are paired by daemons, beings in beast form; where the air are populated with sorceresses and mythical beasts, but below, buses are ridden and tea is sipped, and middle-aged scholars carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the prequel, the origin story with which the author began this trilogy, is now a young woman: still distinctly the sharp and determined heroine of the prior volumes, but older, more sorrowful, more cautious, less sure. This circumscription is heightened by her separation from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
His choice to leave in search of that innocent part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an trait which he represents as her "imagination"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which saw Lyra undertake a adventurous voyage across Europe and into the mountain region, meeting with marvel and peril on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in motion, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the religious ruling body, and the author's brilliantly sinister embodiment of strict, procedural evil – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. The antagonist – our protagonist's family member, who blames her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of president of the church's ruling assembly, and is set on using his fresh authority to broaden the religion's dominium. Another protagonist, who carried infant Lyra to security along a overflowing river as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in spycraft: he is assigned to Geneva to learn more about Delamare's plans. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and precious botanical extract which manifests somehow to be the origin of a societal and financial crisis rippling out from that area. The oil is seen by certain groups as a commercial product, by others as a research-based or mystical wonder, and by yet others – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a source of malevolence; an challenge that must be obliterated. The dilemma of where it comes from, what it stands for, and if it should be removed or protected is becoming urgent.
Similar to the first series, our protagonist's actions, and her destiny, are shown to be inextricably entwined with the fate of the realm
In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran largely in tandem. In The Rose Field, they come together. As in His Dark Materials, Lyra's choices and her fate are shown to be inextricably linked with the fate of the realm. Her personal mission to reunite with her daemon and rediscover her vision becomes the key battleground in a broader conflict with an controlling government which, as such authorities typically do, is striving to suppress autonomy of reason, originality and expression: all the personal, resistant ways in which people can be free.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The novel begins with the unveiling of a set of unusual openings in the makeup of the world's sky: gateways that appear to lead to different dimensions. One such opening seems to be the source of the much debated rose oil. The church, with the antagonist at its leadership, classifies these openings as a problem to the church's beliefs and sets out to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to move from rigid reason and revert to instinct, yet, her conviction that these places must be protected – that their significance and what they offer is in some way vital – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or the substance, or the imagination, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we require it." The setting for a philosophical struggle between purity and experience is prepared.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
