Things are collapsing in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a realm that seems, in this volume especially, as a intense and tilted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reassembling themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Authority is shifting from states, and gathering in the halls of religious leaders, the coffers of conglomerates, the control of rioters. "Some force is at work, very quietly, gradually", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the Silk Roads from his post in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and strong are faltering and failing."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Precisely what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that propels The Rose Field, which continues where its predecessor ended. This is, by all accounts, the author's concluding excursion into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating world he first unveiled in the distant past, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a realm whose geography aligns with that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and think and behave like us, but are paired by external spirits, essences in creature form; where the skies are teeming with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, transports are taken and drinks is sipped, and middle-aged academics carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a baby in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a adult: still clearly the prickly and determined heroine of the earlier books, but older, melancholic, more careful, less certain. This limitation is heightened by her division from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to depart in quest of that youthful part of her which she seems to have lost (an quality which he represents as her "imagination"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which chronicled Lyra undertake a picaresque journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, meeting with marvel and peril on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The religious council – the religious governing authority, and the author's masterfully eerie embodiment of strict, procedural evil – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's uncle, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the position of president of the church's governing body, and is determined on using his fresh power to expand the institution's rule. A key character, who carried young the heroine to safety along a overflowing Thames as an young boy in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a secondary role in spycraft: he is assigned to a key location to learn more about Delamare's plans. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the uncommon and valuable botanical extract which seems in some way to be the source of a social and financial crisis spreading out from the region. The substance is viewed by certain groups as a tradeable commodity, by others as a scientific or esoteric wonder, and by yet others – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a source of darkness; an insult that must be obliterated. The dilemma of where it comes from, what it stands for, and if it should be removed or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to His Dark Materials, Lyra's deeds, and her destiny, are shown to be inseparably linked with the destiny of the world
In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran mostly in side by side. In this final book, they merge. Similar to the original series, Lyra's choices and her fate are unveiled to be deeply entwined with the future of the universe. Her private mission to reunite with her companion and rediscover her vision becomes the central battleground in a broader war with an authoritarian system which, as such regimes typically do, is attempting to suppress freedom of thinking, innovation and art: all the internal, defiant ways in which humans can be independent.
Dimensional Rifts and Moral Battles
The novel begins with the unveiling of a collection of unusual fissures in the fabric of the world's atmosphere: portals that appear to lead to different dimensions. A particular opening seems to be the source of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The authority, with its leader at its helm, designates these openings as a problem to the church's orthodoxy and endeavors to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to move from inflexible reason and back to feeling, nevertheless, her belief that these locations must be protected – that what they stand for and their value is in some way vital – strengthens. "Dust, or the extract, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or whatever we label it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a poetic struggle between purity and knowledge is prepared.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
