Things are falling apart in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a world that manifests, in this volume especially, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Establishments are failing, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from states, and accumulating in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of business empires, the grasp of rioters. "An element is at work, silently, very subtly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were stable and durable are weakening and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and Her Quest
Exactly what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that propels The Rose Field, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final venture into the elaborately built, deeply captivating world he first revealed in the distant past, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose landscape corresponds to that of this world, but whose past diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and reason and behave like us, but are paired by animal souls, essences in creature form; where the skies are filled with witches and mythical beasts, but underneath, transports are caught and tea is drunk, and older scholars carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first introduced to as a child in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the first volume, the origin story with which Pullman began the series, is now a adult: still clearly the spiky and determined heroine of the previous installments, but more mature, more sorrowful, more careful, less sure. This restraint is amplified by her division from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to leave in quest of that innocent part of the heroine which she seems to have lost (an quality which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw Lyra undertake a picaresque trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with amazement and risk on the way. But from the outset, deeper currents were in motion, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the religious controlling power, and the author's deliciously chilling representation of rigid, administrative malice – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's relative, who blames her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the role of head of the church's High Council, and is determined on using his fresh influence to extend the religion's dominium. A key character, who carried infant the heroine to safety along a swollen river as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a additional duty in spycraft: he is sent to Geneva to find out more about the antagonist's intentions. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and precious botanical extract which manifests mysteriously to be the cause of a societal and economic upheaval rippling out from that area. The oil is viewed by some as a marketable product, by others as a research-based or spiritual wonder, and by further factions – the extremist "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of darkness; an challenge that must be eradicated. The dilemma of its origins, its meaning, and if it should be removed or preserved is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in the first series, the heroine's deeds, and her future, are revealed to be inextricably connected with the future of the world
In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In the conclusion, they come together. Similar to His Dark Materials, Lyra's choices and her path are shown to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the universe. Her private mission to rejoin with her daemon and recover her vision becomes the central conflict in a larger battle with an authoritarian regime which, as such authorities often attempt, is attempting to stifle freedom of thinking, innovation and art: all the personal, defiant ways in which humans can be free.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The novel opens with the unveiling of a collection of unusual fissures in the makeup of the world's atmosphere: gateways that seem to open into other worlds. One such portal manifests to be the source of the highly contested mystical extract. The church, with its leader at its leadership, classifies these portals as a challenge to the church's orthodoxy and endeavors to eradicate them. As the heroine begins to shift from inflexible logic and return to feeling, yet, her certainty that these sites must be preserved – that what they stand for and what they offer is in some way vital – strengthens. "The substance, or the extract, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a Blakean tussle between innocence and knowledge is established.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
