Things are unraveling in the last installment of The Book of Dust, the next of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a realm that appears, in this volume especially, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along new and disquieting lines. An invisible force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is flowing away from states, and pooling in the offices of religious leaders, the treasuries of conglomerates, the grasp of rioters. "Something is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the Silk Roads from his place in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and solid are faltering and giving way."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Just what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that drives The Rose Field, which continues where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, the author's final excursion into the intricately constructed, endlessly enchanting realm he first revealed three decades past, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose landscape aligns with that of this world, but whose past diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by daemons, souls in beast form; where the air are populated with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, vehicles are caught and drinks is drunk, and mature scholars carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then met once more as a infant in the prequel, the prequel with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a adult: still recognisably the sharp and determined protagonist of the earlier books, but older, sadder, more cautious, less sure. This circumscription is amplified by her split from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, unexpectedly, the trigger which made him desert her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
The daemon's resolve to go off in pursuit of that innocent part of her which she may have forgotten (an trait which he epitomises as her "vision"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which saw Lyra undertake a adventurous journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, meeting with marvel and risk on the way. But from the beginning, deeper currents were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The church authority – the church's ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister incarnation of strict, bureaucratic wickedness – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. The antagonist – Lyra's family member, who blames her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the position of leader of the church's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his fresh influence to expand the church's control. A key character, who saved infant Lyra to refuge along a swollen river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in intelligence work: he is sent to Geneva to discover more about the antagonist's aims. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and costly botanical extract which appears somehow to be the origin of a social and financial upheaval rippling out from the region. The extract is regarded by certain groups as a marketable commodity, by alternate groups as a scientific or esoteric miracle, and by others still – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a source of evil; an affront that must be obliterated. The dilemma of its origins, what it stands for, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is becoming urgent.
Similar to the original trilogy, Lyra's decisions, and her future, are demonstrated to be inextricably connected with the fate of the universe
In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran broadly in tandem. In this final book, they come together. Similar to the original series, her actions and her path are revealed to be inextricably woven with the future of the universe. Her individual journey to reconnect with her soul and regain her creativity becomes the primary conflict in a wider conflict with an authoritarian system which, as such authorities typically do, is seeking to suppress autonomy of reason, originality and expression: all the personal, defiant ways in which individuals can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The novel opens with the discovery of a series of strange cracks in the fabric of the world's air: portals that appear to give on to different dimensions. A particular opening manifests to be the origin of the much debated rose oil. The authority, with its leader at its head, labels these portals as a threat to the church's orthodoxy and endeavors to eliminate them. As Lyra begins to turn away from inflexible rationalism and back to instinct, nevertheless, her conviction that these locations must be protected – that their meaning and their value is mysteriously vital – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or whatever we name it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a philosophical tussle between purity and experience is set.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
