Things are falling apart in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that appears, here more than ever, as a intense and skewed version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is draining from authorities, and accumulating in the chambers of theocrats, the coffers of conglomerates, the grasp of rioters. "Some force is at work, very quietly, gradually", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and solid are weakening and failing."
The Central Mystery and Her Quest
Precisely what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that animates The Rose Field, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final venture into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating universe he first revealed three decades past, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a world whose landscape maps on to that of the real world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the people appear and think and behave like us, but are paired by animal souls, souls in beast form; where the heavens are filled with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but below, buses are ridden and beverages is sipped, and older academics carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the prequel, the introductory book with which Pullman began The Book of Dust, is now a adult: still clearly the prickly and persistent heroine of the prior volumes, but more mature, more sorrowful, more cautious, more doubtful. This limitation is amplified by her division from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to depart in quest of that childlike part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he represents as her "vision"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of the prior book, which followed Lyra undertake a picaresque trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with amazement and peril on the way. But from the beginning, underlying forces were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The church authority – the religious controlling power, and Pullman's masterfully eerie representation of austere, bureaucratic evil – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's family member, who holds responsible her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of president of the Magisterium's High Council, and is intent on using his recently acquired influence to broaden the institution's rule. A key character, who saved young the heroine to safety along a swollen river as an child in La Belle Sauvage, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in espionage: he is assigned to a key location to learn more about Delamare's intentions. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the uncommon and precious rose oil which seems mysteriously to be the origin of a societal and economic upheaval emanating out from Central Asia. The substance is viewed by some as a commercial commodity, by different parties as a empirical or mystical wonder, and by further factions – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an challenge that must be obliterated. The dilemma of its origins, its significance, and whether it should be removed or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
Like the original trilogy, the heroine's deeds, and her destiny, are revealed to be inseparably linked with the destiny of the universe
In the previous volume, these storylines ran mostly in side by side. In this final book, they come together. Similar to the first trilogy, the protagonist's movements and her destiny are shown to be inseparably woven with the future of the universe. Her private quest to reconnect with her companion and regain her imagination becomes the primary conflict in a broader conflict with an controlling government which, as these systems always have, is seeking to suppress independence of thought, innovation and art: all the personal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be free.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The novel opens with the discovery of a collection of strange cracks in the fabric of the planet's air: gateways that look to lead to different dimensions. A particular portal appears to be the origin of the much debated botanical substance. The authority, with Delamare at its head, designates these portals as a threat to the institution's beliefs and sets out to eliminate them. As the heroine begins to move from inflexible rationalism and revert to intuition, nevertheless, her certainty that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and their value is mysteriously vital – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or whatever we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a poetic tussle between naivety and knowledge is set.
Story Tempo and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
