Things are falling apart in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the second of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a realm that appears, in this volume especially, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Organizations are crumbling, or restructuring themselves along new and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is flowing away from authorities, and accumulating in the halls of religious leaders, the treasuries of corporations, the hands of mobs. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and strong are weakening and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that propels The Rose Field, which continues where its predecessor ended. This is, reportedly, Pullman's concluding excursion into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating universe he first unveiled in the distant past, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose terrain maps on to that of the real world, but whose chronicles veers and changes with ours; where the humans appear and reason and behave like us, but are paired by external spirits, souls in beast form; where the air are filled with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, buses are taken and tea is consumed, and middle-aged scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first introduced to as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in La Belle Sauvage, the prequel with which Pullman began the series, is now a adult: still distinctly the prickly and determined heroine of the prior volumes, but aged, melancholic, more careful, less certain. This limitation is amplified by her separation from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to go off in search of that childlike part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an trait which he represents as her "imagination"), and her mission to rejoin with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a wandering journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with amazement and risk on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in action, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's deliciously chilling embodiment of strict, administrative malice – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – our protagonist's uncle, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of president of the church's High Council, and is intent on using his fresh power to broaden the institution's dominium. A key character, who saved infant Lyra to refuge along a swollen Thames as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an academic with a additional duty in spycraft: he is dispatched to Geneva to find out more about his intentions. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and costly botanical extract which manifests mysteriously to be the origin of a social and economic crisis rippling out from that area. The extract is seen by various factions as a commercial commodity, by different parties as a empirical or spiritual wonder, and by others still – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of darkness; an affront that must be eradicated. The dilemma of its source, its meaning, and whether it should be eliminated or preserved is escalating in importance.
Like the original trilogy, Lyra's deeds, and her future, are demonstrated to be inseparably entwined with the future of the realm
In The Secret Commonwealth, these plots ran broadly in parallel. In this final book, they come together. As in the original series, her movements and her fate are revealed to be inextricably linked with the fate of the realm. Her personal mission to reunite with her soul and regain her creativity becomes the key battleground in a larger war with an oppressive system which, as such authorities often attempt, is attempting to quell freedom of thought, originality and expression: all the inner, resistant ways in which humans can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The story starts with the finding of a series of curious fissures in the makeup of the world's atmosphere: gateways that look to give on to other worlds. An example of a portal manifests to be the point of the much debated botanical substance. The authority, with the antagonist at its helm, classifies these windows as a threat to the religion's doctrine and sets out to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to move from strict logic and return to intuition, nevertheless, her belief that these places must be preserved – that their meaning and what they offer is mysteriously essential – grows. "Dust, or the extract, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a poetic conflict between innocence and maturity is established.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
