Things are falling apart in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that appears, in this volume especially, as a intense and tilted version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or reassembling themselves along new and troubling lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from states, and gathering in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of conglomerates, the control of rioters. "An element is at work, very quietly, gradually", says merchant a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the Silk Roads from his seat in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and solid are deteriorating and giving way."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Just what that something might be, and ways to oppose it, is the question that animates the concluding book, which resumes where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, according to many, the author's last venture into the intricately constructed, endlessly enchanting world he first introduced three decades past, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose landscape corresponds to that of the real world, but whose history veers and changes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and act like us, but are joined by external spirits, beings in beast form; where the skies are filled with witches and legendary creatures, but underneath, buses are caught and tea is sipped, and older academics carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the prickly and determined protagonist of the earlier books, but aged, sadder, more careful, less sure. This circumscription is heightened by her split from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
His choice to leave in pursuit of that innocent part of her which she seems to have lost (an quality which he represents as her "creativity"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of the prior book, which saw Lyra undertake a wandering voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, encountering with amazement and peril on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in play, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the church's ruling body, and the author's brilliantly sinister incarnation of austere, administrative wickedness – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's family member, who blames her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the role of leader of the church's ruling assembly, and is set on using his fresh authority to broaden the institution's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who carried baby Lyra to security along a overflowing Thames as an young boy in the first book, is now an university scholar with a sideline in intelligence work: he is sent to Geneva to learn more about Delamare's intentions. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and valuable rose oil which manifests in some way to be the origin of a societal and financial disturbance spreading out from that area. The extract is regarded by various factions as a tradeable good, by different parties as a scientific or mystical phenomenon, and by others still – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a source of darkness; an insult that must be eradicated. The issue of its source, its meaning, and if it should be eliminated or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
Similar to the original trilogy, Lyra's deeds, and her future, are shown to be deeply linked with the destiny of the realm
In its predecessor, these storylines ran largely in side by side. In this final book, they merge. As in the original series, her actions and her path are revealed to be inextricably linked with the fate of the realm. Her private quest to rejoin with her daemon and recover her imagination becomes the central battleground in a wider conflict with an controlling system which, as such authorities often attempt, is attempting to stifle independence of thought, creativity and art: all the internal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The book starts with the finding of a collection of curious openings in the makeup of the planet's air: gateways that seem to give on to other worlds. A particular opening appears to be the point of the highly contested botanical substance. The Magisterium, with its leader at its leadership, classifies these portals as a threat to the religion's orthodoxy and aims to eradicate them. As the heroine begins to turn away from rigid logic and return to instinct, yet, her belief that these places must be protected – that what they stand for and what they provide is in some way crucial – increases. "Dust, or the substance, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a Blakean tussle between naivety and experience is set.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
