Things are unraveling in the final volume of The Book of Dust, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that seems, now more than ever, as a intense and skewed version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along new and troubling lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the coffers of corporations, the grasp of rioters. "Some force is at work, silently, gradually", says businessman a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the trade routes from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and strong are weakening and failing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Just what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that propels this final volume, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's final foray into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating realm he first revealed in the distant past, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose terrain corresponds to that of our world, but whose history veers and changes with ours; where the people appear and reason and behave like us, but are paired by external spirits, beings in creature form; where the air are populated with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but below, transports are taken and drinks is consumed, and mature academics carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the first volume, the prequel with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a adult: still distinctly the sharp and tenacious protagonist of the earlier books, but more mature, melancholic, more careful, less certain. This restraint is heightened by her division from her soul companion, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to depart in search of that youthful part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an trait which he represents as her "creativity"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a adventurous journey across Europe and into the mountain region, meeting with amazement and peril on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in motion, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister incarnation of strict, bureaucratic wickedness – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. Marcel Delamare – our protagonist's relative, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the role of leader of the authority's ruling assembly, and is set on using his recently acquired power to broaden the church's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who saved young the heroine to refuge along a swollen river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an academic with a sideline in spycraft: he is assigned to a key location to discover more about his intentions. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and valuable rose oil which appears somehow to be the origin of a societal and financial upheaval spreading out from the region. The oil is seen by various factions as a marketable good, by different parties as a research-based or esoteric miracle, and by further factions – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a source of evil; an challenge that must be destroyed. The question of where it comes from, its significance, and if it should be destroyed or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
Similar to the original trilogy, Lyra's actions, and her future, are shown to be deeply entwined with the future of the realm
In the previous volume, these plots ran mostly in parallel. In The Rose Field, they converge. As in the first trilogy, her choices and her fate are revealed to be inseparably linked with the destiny of the world. Her personal journey to reconnect with her daemon and regain her vision becomes the key struggle in a larger battle with an authoritarian regime which, as such authorities often attempt, is striving to stifle freedom of thinking, creativity and art: all the internal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be free.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The story begins with the discovery of a series of strange openings in the makeup of the Earth's air: windows that appear to give on to other worlds. A particular window appears to be the origin of the fiercely disputed botanical substance. The church, with the antagonist at its leadership, labels these portals as a problem to the religion's orthodoxy and endeavors to destroy them. As the heroine begins to move from rigid rationalism and back to feeling, however, her belief that these places must be protected – that what they stand for and what they offer is somehow vital – strengthens. "The substance, or the substance, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a Blakean struggle between innocence and maturity is established.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
