Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the next of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a realm that seems, here more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Organizations are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from governments, and pooling in the offices of religious leaders, the vaults of corporations, the hands of rioters. "Some force is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the trade routes from his seat in an city cafe. "Things we thought were stable and durable are faltering and failing."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Precisely what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that propels The Rose Field, which resumes where the previous book left off. This is, reportedly, the author's final foray into the elaborately built, endlessly enchanting world he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography maps on to that of our world, but whose past diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals look and reason and act like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, essences in creature form; where the skies are filled with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, vehicles are taken and tea is consumed, and older academics carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in La Belle Sauvage, the introductory book with which Pullman began the series, is now a mature individual: still clearly the spiky and persistent protagonist of the earlier books, but more mature, melancholic, more careful, more doubtful. This circumscription is intensified by her separation from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
The daemon's resolve to depart in quest of that youthful part of her which she appears to have shed (an aspect which he represents as her "vision"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of its predecessor, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, encountering with wonder and danger on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in play, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the religious controlling power, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister representation of rigid, procedural malice – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's uncle, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the role of president of the Magisterium's High Council, and is intent on using his newfound influence to expand the church's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who carried baby the heroine to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an academic with a secondary role in intelligence work: he is sent to Geneva to learn more about Delamare's aims. And underlying all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and precious rose oil which seems in some way to be the origin of a social and financial crisis spreading out from the region. The substance is viewed by various factions as a marketable product, by different parties as a research-based or esoteric phenomenon, and by others still – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a wellspring of evil; an challenge that must be eradicated. The issue of its origins, its meaning, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is becoming urgent.
Like His Dark Materials, the heroine's actions, and her destiny, are revealed to be deeply connected with the destiny of the world
In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran broadly in tandem. In The Rose Field, they converge. As in His Dark Materials, the protagonist's choices and her fate are unveiled to be deeply linked with the future of the world. Her individual journey to reconnect with her soul and rediscover her creativity becomes the key conflict in a larger battle with an oppressive regime which, as such authorities always have, is striving to suppress autonomy of thinking, innovation and art: all the personal, defiant ways in which humans can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The book begins with the finding of a set of curious cracks in the fabric of the Earth's air: gateways that appear to open into other worlds. A particular window appears to be the point of the highly contested mystical extract. The church, with the antagonist at its helm, designates these windows as a challenge to the church's orthodoxy and endeavors to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid rationalism and return to intuition, yet, her belief that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is mysteriously vital – strengthens. "Dust, or the substance, or the imagination, or the Rose Field, or whatever we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a poetic conflict between purity and knowledge is set.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
