Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a world that manifests, in this volume especially, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Institutions are failing, or reassembling themselves along new and troubling lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is draining from authorities, and gathering in the offices of theocrats, the coffers of corporations, the control of mobs. "Some force is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and solid are faltering and giving way."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that drives this final volume, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, reportedly, Pullman's concluding excursion into the intricately constructed, endlessly enchanting realm he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose terrain maps on to that of the real world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the people look and reason and act like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, essences in creature form; where the air are filled with witches and mythical beasts, but beneath those skies, transports are taken and beverages is consumed, and older scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in La Belle Sauvage, the introductory book with which the author began this trilogy, is now a young woman: still distinctly the prickly and tenacious main character of the previous installments, but more mature, more sorrowful, more cautious, less certain. This limitation is intensified by her division from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to depart in pursuit of that childlike part of her which she appears to have shed (an quality which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw Lyra undertake a wandering voyage across Europe and into the mountain region, encountering with wonder and peril on the way. But from the beginning, underlying forces were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The religious council – the church's ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister incarnation of austere, bureaucratic malice – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's family member, who faults her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of leader of the authority's High Council, and is intent on using his newfound power to expand the institution's control. Another protagonist, who saved infant the heroine to safety along a flooded river as an child in the prequel, is now an academic with a additional duty in espionage: he is assigned to the city to learn more about his aims. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and precious essential oil which appears mysteriously to be the origin of a social and financial upheaval rippling out from the region. The extract is seen by certain groups as a tradeable good, by different parties as a scientific or mystical phenomenon, and by yet others – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of evil; an challenge that must be eradicated. The issue of its source, what it stands for, and if it should be removed or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
As in His Dark Materials, our protagonist's actions, and her fate, are demonstrated to be deeply connected with the fate of the world
In the previous volume, these narratives ran broadly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they merge. Similar to the original series, the protagonist's actions and her destiny are revealed to be deeply entwined with the destiny of the realm. Her individual mission to rejoin with her daemon and regain her creativity becomes the key battleground in a wider battle with an controlling system which, as these systems always have, is attempting to quell independence of thought, creativity and expression: all the personal, defiant ways in which humans can be independent.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The story starts with the finding of a collection of unusual cracks in the structure of the planet's sky: portals that appear to open into different dimensions. A particular window seems to be the source of the highly contested botanical substance. The church, with Delamare at its leadership, labels these openings as a problem to the institution's doctrine and sets out to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to move from inflexible logic and revert to feeling, however, her belief that these places must be preserved – that their meaning and what they offer is somehow vital – strengthens. "The substance, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or whatever we label it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a poetic tussle between naivety and knowledge is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
