Things are collapsing in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a world that seems, now more than ever, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along novel and troubling 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 chambers of religious leaders, the coffers of conglomerates, the grasp of rioters. "Some force is at work, silently, gradually", says businessman a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and durable are weakening and failing."
The Central Mystery and Her Quest
Precisely what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that drives The Rose Field, which resumes where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, reportedly, Pullman's last excursion into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting universe he first introduced in the distant past, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose geography corresponds to that of the real world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and act like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, essences in creature form; where the heavens are filled with witches and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, transports are caught and drinks is drunk, and middle-aged academics carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a baby in La Belle Sauvage, the origin story with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a adult: still recognisably the prickly and persistent heroine of the previous installments, but aged, melancholic, more cautious, more doubtful. This circumscription is heightened by her separation from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which led him to leave her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
The daemon's resolve to depart in search of that innocent part of Lyra which she appears to have shed (an quality which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a wandering journey across Europe and into the mountain region, meeting with amazement and peril on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in play, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the church's governing authority, and the author's masterfully eerie incarnation of austere, procedural evil – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's uncle, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of president of the Magisterium's governing body, and is determined on using his newfound influence to extend the church's rule. Another protagonist, who carried infant Lyra to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an young boy in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in espionage: he is assigned to a key location to discover more about the antagonist's aims. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and precious essential oil which seems in some way to be the cause of a societal and financial upheaval rippling out from that area. The extract is seen by certain groups as a tradeable commodity, by others as a empirical or spiritual phenomenon, and by further factions – the fanatical "men from the mountains" – as a source of evil; an affront that must be eradicated. The issue of where it comes from, what it stands for, and whether it should be destroyed or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in His Dark Materials, the heroine's actions, and her future, are revealed to be inseparably entwined with the future of the realm
In its predecessor, these storylines ran mostly in parallel. In The Rose Field, they come together. As in the original series, the protagonist's actions and her destiny are shown to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the universe. Her personal mission to rejoin with her soul and regain her creativity becomes the central struggle in a larger conflict with an oppressive regime which, as such authorities always have, is striving to suppress autonomy of thinking, originality and expression: all the personal, defiant ways in which humans can be free.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The novel begins with the discovery of a collection of unusual openings in the makeup of the world's air: portals that seem to lead to different dimensions. An example of a window appears to be the origin of the highly contested botanical substance. The authority, with its leader at its helm, labels these portals as a threat to the religion's beliefs and aims to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to shift from inflexible reason and revert to instinct, yet, her certainty that these sites must be defended – that their meaning and what they offer is mysteriously essential – strengthens. "The substance, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a Blakean conflict between naivety and maturity is prepared.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
