Things are collapsing in the last installment of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that manifests, here more than ever, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from authorities, and pooling in the halls of theocrats, the vaults of business empires, the control of crowds. "Some force is at work, stealthily, gradually", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his seat in an city cafe. "Things we thought were stable and strong are weakening and giving way."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Just what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that animates The Rose Field, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, reportedly, the author's last foray into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling world he first introduced 30 years ago, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a world whose geography aligns with that of the real world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the people appear and reason and behave like us, but are joined by animal souls, souls in beast form; where the skies are teeming with sorceresses and mythical beasts, but below, transports are taken and tea is consumed, and mature academics carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a infant in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the sharp and persistent heroine of the previous installments, but aged, sadder, warier, less sure. This restraint is amplified by her separation from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to leave in quest of that youthful part of her which she seems to have lost (an trait which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her quest to reunite with him, were the driving forces of the prior book, which followed Lyra undertake a wandering journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with marvel and danger on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in motion, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the faith's governing authority, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of strict, procedural wickedness – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. The antagonist – the heroine's relative, who faults her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of president of the church's High Council, and is intent on using his newfound power to broaden the church's rule. A key character, who carried young the heroine to safety along a overflowing Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an academic with a sideline in espionage: he is sent to Geneva to find out more about his intentions. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the scarce and valuable rose oil which appears in some way to be the origin of a social and financial crisis spreading out from that area. The substance is seen by certain groups as a marketable product, by alternate groups as a scientific or spiritual phenomenon, and by further factions – the fanatical "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of evil; an affront that must be obliterated. The question of its origins, its meaning, and if it should be destroyed or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
As in the original trilogy, Lyra's actions, and her fate, are shown to be deeply entwined with the fate of the universe
In the previous volume, these narratives ran largely in tandem. In this final book, they come together. Like His Dark Materials, her movements and her destiny are revealed to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the world. Her individual quest to reunite with her companion and recover her creativity becomes the primary battleground in a larger conflict with an controlling system which, as such regimes typically do, is attempting to stifle autonomy of reason, creativity and art: all the inner, resistant ways in which humans can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles
The novel begins with the discovery of a series of unusual fissures in the structure of the planet's air: windows that look to give on to alternate realities. A particular opening appears to be the source of the much debated mystical extract. The church, with its leader at its head, classifies these windows as a threat to the church's beliefs and endeavors to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to move from strict reason and back to intuition, nevertheless, her conviction that these sites must be preserved – that their meaning and what they provide is in some way essential – grows. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a Blakean conflict between innocence and knowledge is set.
Narrative Pacing and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
