Tings are unraveling in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's masterful trilogies set in a realm that manifests, in this volume especially, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or restructuring themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Authority is flowing away from authorities, and accumulating in the offices of religious leaders, the vaults of business empires, the hands of rioters. "Something is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his post in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and durable are deteriorating and failing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Just what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that propels The Rose Field, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, reportedly, the author's last excursion into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating world he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography maps on to that of our world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals look and think and act like us, but are paired by external spirits, essences in animal form; where the heavens are populated with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, vehicles are caught and tea is consumed, and mature professors carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the prequel, the prequel with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the prickly and determined protagonist of the earlier books, but more mature, sadder, more cautious, more doubtful. This circumscription is heightened by her division from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to depart in pursuit of that innocent part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an quality which he epitomises as her "vision"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which chronicled Lyra undertake a adventurous journey across Europe and into the mountain region, facing with marvel and peril on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in play, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the church's controlling power, and Pullman's masterfully eerie incarnation of strict, bureaucratic wickedness – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's relative, who blames her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the role of leader of the authority's High Council, and is set on using his newfound influence to broaden the institution's rule. Another protagonist, who saved infant Lyra to safety along a overflowing river as an child in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a additional duty in spycraft: he is sent to the city to find out more about Delamare's aims. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and precious rose oil which appears in some way to be the cause of a social and economic crisis rippling out from Central Asia. The extract is regarded by some as a tradeable commodity, by others as a research-based or esoteric phenomenon, and by yet others – the extremist "highland figures" – as a wellspring of darkness; an insult that must be destroyed. The issue of its source, what it stands for, and whether it should be eliminated or preserved is escalating in importance.
As in the original trilogy, the heroine's actions, and her destiny, are shown to be deeply connected with the destiny of the realm
In the previous volume, these plots ran mostly in parallel. In the conclusion, they come together. As in the original series, Lyra's actions and her path are revealed to be inseparably linked with the destiny of the world. Her personal quest to reunite with her soul and recover her imagination becomes the key battleground in a larger war with an authoritarian government which, as such authorities typically do, is seeking to stifle independence of thought, originality and culture: all the inner, rebellious ways in which individuals can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The story opens with the unveiling of a series of strange fissures in the fabric of the Earth's air: gateways that appear to open into alternate realities. An example of a portal seems to be the origin of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The Magisterium, with its leader at its leadership, designates these windows as a problem to the religion's beliefs and endeavors to destroy them. As Lyra begins to shift from rigid logic and back to intuition, however, her conviction that these locations must be defended – that their significance and what they provide is in some way vital – increases. "The substance, or the substance, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or whatever we call it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a Blakean tussle between purity and maturity is set.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
