Things are unraveling in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the next of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a universe that seems, now more than ever, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along new and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is draining from governments, and gathering in the halls of religious leaders, the treasuries of corporations, the grasp of rioters. "An element is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and strong are weakening and giving way."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Just what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that drives this final volume, which picks up where its predecessor ended. This is, by all accounts, the author's final venture into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating world he first unveiled three decades past, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose landscape maps on to that of this world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals look and think and act like us, but are paired by daemons, beings in creature form; where the heavens are teeming with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, transports are ridden and beverages is drunk, and middle-aged academics carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the first volume, the origin story with which Pullman began the series, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the prickly and persistent main character of the prior volumes, but more mature, sadder, more careful, less sure. This circumscription is intensified by her division from her soul companion, her daemon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the cause which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to leave in quest of that innocent part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an aspect which he represents as her "imagination"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the mountain region, meeting with wonder and danger on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in action, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the religious controlling power, and the author's deliciously chilling incarnation of strict, bureaucratic wickedness – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's uncle, who faults her for his family member's death – has worked himself into the role of president of the Magisterium's High Council, and is determined on using his recently acquired power to extend the religion's control. A key character, who rescued young Lyra to safety along a overflowing river as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in espionage: he is assigned to the city to learn more about his intentions. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and valuable botanical extract which manifests somehow to be the source of a social and financial disturbance rippling out from the region. The substance is seen by some as a tradeable commodity, by different parties as a research-based or esoteric wonder, and by further factions – the zealous "highland figures" – as a source of evil; an insult that must be eradicated. The issue of its origins, what it stands for, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to the first series, Lyra's decisions, and her destiny, are shown to be inseparably entwined with the fate of the world
In its predecessor, these narratives ran mostly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they come together. As in the original series, the protagonist's actions and her destiny are unveiled to be inextricably woven with the fate of the universe. Her personal mission to reunite with her daemon and rediscover her vision becomes the key battleground in a wider war with an controlling regime which, as these systems typically do, is striving to quell freedom of reason, innovation and culture: all the internal, defiant ways in which people can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The book opens with the discovery of a collection of unusual cracks in the structure of the Earth's air: portals that look to give on to alternate realities. An example of a portal appears to be the origin of the much debated mystical extract. The church, with Delamare at its helm, labels these portals as a threat to the institution's orthodoxy and aims to eradicate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from strict logic and back to feeling, nevertheless, her belief that these locations must be protected – that their meaning and what they provide is mysteriously vital – increases. "Dust, or rose oil, or the vision, or the field of roses, or no matter what we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a philosophical tussle between purity and maturity is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
