Things are falling apart in the last installment of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a realm that appears, in this volume especially, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from states, and gathering in the halls of religious leaders, the vaults of corporations, the grasp of crowds. "Some force is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his seat in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and strong are faltering and failing."
The Central Mystery and Her Quest
Precisely what that something might be, and ways to oppose it, is the question that animates The Rose Field, which continues where its predecessor left off. This is, according to many, Pullman's concluding excursion into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling world he first introduced 30 years ago, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose geography aligns with that of the real world, but whose past veers and changes with ours; where the individuals look and think and behave like us, but are joined by animal souls, essences in animal form; where the heavens are populated with sorceresses and mythical beasts, but below, buses are caught and beverages is drunk, and older professors carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first encountered as a child in the original trilogy, and then met once more as a infant in the first volume, the introductory book with which Pullman began The Book of Dust, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the spiky and tenacious main character of the prior volumes, but more mature, more sorrowful, more careful, less sure. This restraint is heightened by her split from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
His choice to depart in pursuit of that youthful part of the heroine which she may have forgotten (an trait which he represents as her "vision"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which followed the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the mountain region, facing with amazement and risk on the way. But from the beginning, underlying forces were in motion, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister incarnation of rigid, bureaucratic wickedness – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's relative, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the office of president of the authority's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his newfound influence to expand the institution's rule. Another protagonist, who rescued young Lyra to refuge along a swollen Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a sideline in espionage: he is sent to a key location to discover more about his plans. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and precious essential oil which manifests mysteriously to be the origin of a social and financial upheaval spreading out from Central Asia. The substance is seen by various factions as a tradeable product, by others as a empirical or esoteric miracle, and by further factions – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a source of darkness; an affront that must be destroyed. The question of its origins, its meaning, and whether it should be removed or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in the first series, Lyra's deeds, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inextricably entwined with the fate of the world
In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran largely in tandem. In the conclusion, they merge. Similar to the first trilogy, Lyra's choices and her fate are revealed to be inextricably entwined with the future of the world. Her personal mission to rejoin with her soul and regain her creativity becomes the central battleground in a larger battle with an controlling regime which, as such authorities often attempt, is attempting to suppress freedom of thinking, creativity and art: all the personal, defiant ways in which humans can be free.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The novel opens with the finding of a series of curious openings in the fabric of the planet's sky: portals that appear to give on to different dimensions. A particular portal appears to be the source of the highly contested rose oil. The church, with its leader at its head, labels these openings as a problem to the church's beliefs and aims to destroy them. As the heroine begins to move from rigid logic and return to instinct, yet, her belief that these locations must be preserved – that their significance and what they offer is in some way essential – increases. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a philosophical struggle between purity and experience is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
