Things are falling apart in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reorganizing themselves along new and troubling lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is draining from states, and accumulating in the halls of theocrats, the treasuries of conglomerates, the grasp of mobs. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and solid are weakening and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and Her Quest
Just what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that propels The Rose Field, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's last foray into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating universe he first revealed 30 years ago, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a world whose landscape maps on to that of our world, but whose past diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and think and act like us, but are joined by animal souls, souls in beast form; where the heavens are teeming with witches and gryphons, but underneath, buses are taken and tea is consumed, and mature scholars carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then met once more as a infant in La Belle Sauvage, the prequel with which Pullman began the series, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the sharp and persistent main character of the earlier books, but more mature, sadder, more cautious, less certain. This restraint is heightened by her split from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to leave in search of that youthful part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an trait which he represents as her "imagination"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the catalysts of the prior book, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous journey across Europe and into the mountain region, meeting with marvel and peril on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the religious ruling body, and the author's brilliantly sinister embodiment of strict, procedural malice – is under recent guidance, and asserting its power. The antagonist – the heroine's relative, who blames her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of leader of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his recently acquired authority to expand the church's control. Another protagonist, who rescued baby the heroine to refuge along a swollen Thames as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in spycraft: he is dispatched to Geneva to find out more about Delamare's plans. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and precious essential oil which manifests somehow to be the origin of a societal and economic disturbance emanating out from the region. The substance is regarded by certain groups as a commercial commodity, by different parties as a research-based or esoteric miracle, and by further factions – the extremist "men from the mountains" – as a source of malevolence; an challenge that must be obliterated. The question of its source, its meaning, and whether it should be destroyed or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
Like the original trilogy, our protagonist's deeds, and her fate, are revealed to be inextricably linked with the future of the world
In its predecessor, these storylines ran broadly in parallel. In the conclusion, they merge. As in the first trilogy, Lyra's choices and her destiny are revealed to be inextricably linked with the fate of the universe. Her individual mission to reunite with her companion and recover her imagination becomes the primary conflict in a broader war with an controlling government which, as such regimes typically do, is striving to quell freedom of thought, creativity and expression: all the personal, rebellious ways in which people can be independent.
Dimensional Rifts and Ideological Conflicts
The story begins with the discovery of a collection of strange openings in the fabric of the Earth's air: portals that appear to open into alternate realities. An example of a portal seems to be the origin of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The church, with the antagonist at its leadership, labels these openings as a problem to the church's orthodoxy and aims to destroy them. As Lyra begins to shift from rigid rationalism and return to intuition, however, her certainty that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and what they provide is in some way crucial – grows. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we require it." The stage for a poetic conflict between innocence and maturity is set.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
