Tings are unraveling in the last installment of The Book of Dust, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a realm that manifests, in this volume especially, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or restructuring themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from states, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the vaults of conglomerates, the control of mobs. "Some force is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the Silk Roads from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and strong are faltering and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Just what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that drives The Rose Field, which picks up where its predecessor left off. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final foray into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating world he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the publication of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose geography corresponds to that of our world, but whose history veers and changes with ours; where the humans appear and reason and act like us, but are joined by animal souls, souls in creature form; where the heavens are teeming with sorceresses and gryphons, but beneath those skies, buses are ridden and tea is drunk, and middle-aged professors carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first met as a child in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a adult: still recognisably the spiky and persistent protagonist of the previous installments, but more mature, sadder, warier, less sure. This restraint is intensified by her separation from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to depart in pursuit of that innocent part of her which she appears to have shed (an aspect which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the catalysts of the prior book, which followed the protagonist undertake a wandering voyage across the continent and into the mountain region, meeting with marvel and risk on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in action, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the faith's governing authority, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister embodiment of rigid, procedural wickedness – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's uncle, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has worked himself into the office of president of the authority's ruling assembly, and is set on using his fresh authority to extend the institution's rule. A key character, who carried baby Lyra to safety along a overflowing Thames as an young boy in the prequel, is now an academic with a sideline in spycraft: he is dispatched to Geneva to discover more about his intentions. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and valuable rose oil which appears mysteriously to be the source of a societal and financial upheaval rippling out from Central Asia. The substance is viewed by some as a tradeable good, by different parties as a research-based or spiritual wonder, and by others still – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a origin of darkness; an challenge that must be eradicated. The dilemma of its source, what it stands for, and if it should be removed or safeguarded is becoming urgent.
Like the original trilogy, the heroine's deeds, and her destiny, are shown to be inseparably entwined with the fate of the realm
In the previous volume, these narratives ran largely in side by side. In this final book, they merge. Similar to His Dark Materials, Lyra's movements and her fate are unveiled to be deeply woven with the future of the universe. Her personal journey to reunite with her companion and recover her creativity becomes the key struggle in a larger conflict with an oppressive government which, as these systems often attempt, is attempting to stifle independence of thinking, creativity and culture: all the inner, resistant ways in which people can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The story opens with the finding of a collection of unusual cracks in the makeup of the world's air: portals that look to lead to alternate realities. An example of a window seems to be the origin of the much debated botanical substance. The church, with the antagonist at its leadership, classifies these portals as a challenge to the church's orthodoxy and aims to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from strict rationalism and revert to feeling, nevertheless, her conviction that these places must be defended – that their significance and what they provide is somehow crucial – increases. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a philosophical conflict between purity and knowledge is set.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
