Tings are falling apart in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a world that seems, here more than ever, as a charged and skewed version of our own. Establishments are failing, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from authorities, and gathering in the halls of religious leaders, the vaults of corporations, the control of crowds. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were firm and strong are weakening and giving way."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Precisely what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the question that propels The Rose Field, which picks up where its predecessor concluded. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's final excursion into the intricately constructed, endlessly enchanting universe he first revealed 30 years ago, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose terrain corresponds to that of this world, but whose chronicles veers and changes with ours; where the individuals look and reason and act like us, but are paired by external spirits, souls in creature form; where the heavens are populated with witches and legendary creatures, but underneath, transports are ridden and drinks is consumed, and older academics carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a child in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a adult: still clearly the sharp and determined main character of the previous installments, but older, melancholic, warier, less sure. This circumscription is amplified by her split from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to depart in quest of that innocent part of her which she seems to have lost (an aspect which he epitomises as her "imagination"), and her quest to reunite with him, were the driving forces of the prior book, which chronicled Lyra undertake a picaresque journey across the continent and into the Caucasus, encountering with wonder and peril on the way. But from the outset, deeper currents were in play, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the church's controlling power, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister embodiment of rigid, procedural evil – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. The antagonist – Lyra's relative, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of head of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his newfound power to broaden the institution's control. Another protagonist, who rescued young Lyra to refuge along a overflowing 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 the city to learn more about Delamare's aims. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and valuable essential oil which seems in some way to be the cause of a societal and financial upheaval spreading out from the region. The substance is regarded by certain groups as a commercial product, by different parties as a research-based or esoteric phenomenon, and by further factions – the fanatical "men from the mountains" – as a source of malevolence; an affront that must be eradicated. The issue of its origins, its meaning, and whether it should be eliminated or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to the original trilogy, the heroine's deeds, and her future, are shown to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the realm
In the previous volume, these storylines ran broadly in parallel. In this final book, they come together. Like His Dark Materials, the protagonist's choices and her path are shown to be inextricably linked with the destiny of the realm. Her private journey to reunite with her soul and regain her imagination becomes the central battleground in a larger conflict with an controlling regime which, as such regimes typically do, is attempting to quell freedom of thinking, innovation and culture: all the personal, resistant ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The book opens with the finding of a set of curious openings in the makeup of the Earth's sky: gateways that look to open into other worlds. A particular window manifests to be the origin of the much debated mystical extract. The church, with Delamare at its head, designates these portals as a problem to the institution's doctrine and sets out to eliminate them. As the heroine begins to turn away from rigid logic and back to instinct, yet, her certainty that these places must be defended – that their meaning and what they offer is somehow crucial – increases. "Dust, or the extract, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a poetic struggle between innocence and knowledge is established.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
