Things are collapsing in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a realm that manifests, now more than ever, as a intense and tilted version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is draining from states, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the vaults of corporations, the grasp of crowds. "Some force is at work, silently, very subtly", says merchant a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his post in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and durable are weakening and failing."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Precisely what that element might be, and ways to oppose it, is the inquiry that drives The Rose Field, which continues where its predecessor concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final excursion into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting world he first revealed 30 years ago, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a world whose terrain aligns with that of this world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals look and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, souls in animal form; where the skies are populated with witches and mythical beasts, but underneath, vehicles are taken and tea is consumed, and middle-aged scholars carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first met as a young girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a infant in the first volume, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a adult: still distinctly the prickly and persistent protagonist of the previous installments, but more mature, melancholic, more cautious, more doubtful. This restraint is heightened by her split from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to depart in quest of that innocent part of her which she seems to have lost (an trait which he epitomises as her "imagination"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which followed the protagonist undertake a picaresque trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, meeting with wonder and danger on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in motion, and malevolent elements at work. The religious council – the religious governing authority, and Pullman's masterfully eerie representation of rigid, bureaucratic evil – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's relative, who faults her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the office of president of the authority's High Council, and is intent on using his recently acquired influence to expand the institution's control. A key character, who saved baby the heroine to security along a overflowing Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a sideline in espionage: he is sent to the city to find out more about his plans. And underlying all of this is the mystery surrounding the scarce and valuable rose oil which manifests mysteriously to be the source of a social and economic crisis spreading out from that area. The extract is seen by certain groups as a commercial commodity, by alternate groups as a scientific or spiritual miracle, and by yet others – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of evil; an insult that must be destroyed. The issue of its origins, what it stands for, and whether it should be eliminated or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in the first series, our protagonist's decisions, and her future, are demonstrated to be inseparably linked with the future of the universe
In the previous volume, these storylines ran largely in parallel. In The Rose Field, they come together. Similar to the first trilogy, her movements and her destiny are shown to be deeply linked with the fate of the realm. Her personal mission to rejoin with her companion and recover her creativity becomes the primary conflict in a wider war with an authoritarian system which, as these systems typically do, is attempting to suppress freedom of thinking, creativity and expression: all the internal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The novel starts with the unveiling of a collection of curious openings in the makeup of the planet's atmosphere: windows that appear to lead to alternate realities. A particular opening manifests to be the point of the highly contested mystical extract. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its head, labels these openings as a threat to the church's doctrine and endeavors to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to move from rigid rationalism and back to feeling, yet, her certainty that these locations must be defended – that their significance and their value is somehow essential – increases. "The substance, or the substance, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a poetic conflict between innocence and knowledge is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
