Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a world that appears, here more than ever, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along unfamiliar and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from states, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the coffers of corporations, the control of crowds. "Something is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the Silk Roads from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were secure and durable are deteriorating and giving way."
Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path
Precisely what that element might be, and ways to oppose it, is the question that propels The Rose Field, which picks up where its predecessor concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's concluding venture into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting realm he first unveiled in the distant past, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose terrain maps on to that of this world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and reason and behave like us, but are paired by external spirits, beings in creature form; where the heavens are populated with witches and legendary creatures, but underneath, transports are caught and drinks is sipped, and older scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a child in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the prequel, the prequel with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the spiky and persistent protagonist of the previous installments, but more mature, more sorrowful, warier, less certain. This limitation is heightened by her separation from her soul companion, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
The daemon's resolve to go off in pursuit of that youthful part of her which she seems to have lost (an aspect which he represents as her "imagination"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, meeting with marvel and peril on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in play, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the religious ruling body, and the author's brilliantly sinister representation of austere, procedural malice – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's uncle, who faults her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of leader of the church's governing body, and is determined on using his fresh power to extend the institution's rule. A key character, who rescued young Lyra to security along a swollen Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in spycraft: he is assigned to a key location to learn more about his plans. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the uncommon and valuable rose oil which seems mysteriously to be the origin of a societal and financial crisis emanating out from that area. The extract is viewed by some as a tradeable commodity, by different parties as a research-based or spiritual phenomenon, and by yet others – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of evil; an insult that must be obliterated. The question of its source, its meaning, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to the first series, Lyra's deeds, and her fate, are shown to be deeply connected with the future of the universe
In the previous volume, these plots ran mostly in tandem. In the conclusion, they merge. As in His Dark Materials, Lyra's actions and her fate are unveiled to be inseparably linked with the destiny of the universe. Her personal mission to reunite with her soul and recover her creativity becomes the primary conflict in a broader conflict with an oppressive regime which, as these systems typically do, is seeking to suppress freedom of thought, innovation and culture: all the inner, resistant ways in which individuals can be independent.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The book begins with the finding of a collection of strange fissures in the makeup of the Earth's air: gateways that seem to open into alternate realities. A particular window manifests to be the point of the much debated botanical substance. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its head, labels these openings as a problem to the institution's beliefs and sets out to destroy them. As Lyra begins to turn away from strict reason and return to intuition, nevertheless, her belief that these locations must be defended – that their meaning and what they provide is somehow crucial – grows. "Dust, or the substance, or the imagination, or the Rose Field, or whatever we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a poetic conflict between innocence and knowledge is set.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
