Tings are falling apart in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a realm that appears, in this volume especially, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or restructuring themselves along new and troubling lines. An invisible force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from authorities, and accumulating in the halls of religious leaders, the treasuries of corporations, the control of rioters. "Something is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and durable are weakening and giving way."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Just what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that drives this final volume, which resumes where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, reportedly, Pullman's last excursion into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating universe he first unveiled in the distant past, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose terrain corresponds to that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the people appear and think and behave like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, essences in creature form; where the skies are filled with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but beneath those skies, transports are caught and beverages is drunk, and middle-aged scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a adult: still clearly the spiky and tenacious heroine of the previous installments, but more mature, melancholic, warier, less sure. This circumscription is amplified by her split from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which led him to leave her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to go off in search of that childlike part of the heroine which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of the prior book, which followed the protagonist undertake a wandering journey across the continent and into the Caucasus, meeting with marvel and danger on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the church's ruling body, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of rigid, procedural malice – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's uncle, who faults her for his family member's death – has worked himself into the role of head of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is set on using his recently acquired influence to expand the religion's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who carried infant the heroine to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an young boy in La Belle Sauvage, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in spycraft: he is sent to a key location to learn more about his intentions. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the scarce and valuable rose oil which seems in some way to be the cause of a social and financial disturbance emanating out from Central Asia. The extract is viewed by various factions as a tradeable commodity, by others as a empirical or spiritual miracle, and by others still – the extremist "highland figures" – as a wellspring of darkness; an challenge that must be destroyed. The question of where it comes from, its meaning, and if it should be destroyed or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in the original trilogy, our protagonist's decisions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inextricably linked with the fate of the world
In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In the conclusion, they come together. Similar to the original series, her movements and her path are revealed to be deeply entwined with the future of the world. Her personal quest to reunite with her companion and recover her vision becomes the key conflict in a larger conflict with an authoritarian system which, as these systems always have, is seeking to suppress independence of reason, creativity and expression: all the inner, rebellious ways in which humans can be independent.
Cosmic Openings and Moral Battles
The story begins with the finding of a collection of curious fissures in the makeup of the planet's sky: windows that seem to give on to alternate realities. A particular window seems to be the origin of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The church, with the antagonist at its helm, labels these windows as a threat to the institution's doctrine and sets out to destroy them. As Lyra begins to shift from inflexible logic and revert to intuition, nevertheless, her certainty that these sites must be preserved – that what they stand for and what they provide is mysteriously crucial – strengthens. "Dust, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or whatever we call it," she says, "we need it." The stage for a poetic conflict between naivety and experience is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
