Tings are unraveling in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the next of the author's masterful trilogies set in a universe that manifests, in this volume especially, as a intense and skewed version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along novel and troubling lines. An invisible force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is flowing away from governments, and gathering in the halls of religious leaders, the vaults of conglomerates, the control of crowds. "An element is at work, silently, very subtly", says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Things we thought were stable and durable are faltering and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path
Just what that force might be, and ways to oppose it, is the question that drives The Rose Field, which continues where its predecessor ended. This is, according to many, Pullman's last venture into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating world he first introduced 30 years ago, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a world whose landscape corresponds to that of the real world, but whose history veers and changes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, essences in animal form; where the heavens are teeming with sorceresses and mythical beasts, but below, buses are ridden and tea is sipped, and middle-aged professors carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a young girl in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a baby in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still clearly the prickly and persistent main character of the prior volumes, but more mature, more sorrowful, more careful, less certain. This limitation is amplified by her split from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to leave in quest of that innocent part of her which she seems to have lost (an aspect which he symbolizes as her "imagination"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, meeting with amazement and peril on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in action, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the religious governing authority, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of austere, procedural wickedness – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. The antagonist – the heroine's family member, who blames her for his sibling's death – has positioned himself into the office of leader of the authority's governing body, and is set on using his recently acquired power to extend the institution's rule. Another protagonist, who rescued infant the heroine to refuge along a overflowing river as an young boy in the prequel, is now an academic with a sideline in espionage: he is sent to a key location to learn more about the antagonist's aims. And beneath all of this is the mystery surrounding the scarce and valuable rose oil which seems mysteriously to be the origin of a societal and economic crisis emanating out from that area. The substance is regarded by some as a marketable product, by different parties as a scientific or mystical wonder, and by further factions – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an affront that must be obliterated. The dilemma of where it comes from, what it stands for, and whether it should be eliminated or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
Like His Dark Materials, our protagonist's deeds, and her future, are revealed to be deeply linked with the destiny of the world
In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran largely in side by side. In the conclusion, they converge. Like His Dark Materials, her movements and her destiny are shown to be inextricably entwined with the future of the world. Her private mission to reunite with her daemon and recover her creativity becomes the primary battleground in a larger battle with an oppressive government which, as these systems always have, is attempting to stifle freedom of thought, originality and expression: all the internal, rebellious ways in which humans can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The story starts with the finding of a set of unusual fissures in the structure of the world's air: portals that look to lead to different dimensions. A particular opening seems to be the origin of the fiercely disputed botanical substance. The authority, with its leader at its leadership, classifies these portals as a problem to the institution's doctrine and endeavors to destroy them. As the heroine begins to move from rigid rationalism and back to intuition, yet, her certainty that these places must be preserved – that their meaning and what they offer is somehow crucial – grows. "Dust, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a philosophical conflict between purity and experience is established.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
