Tings are falling apart in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's masterful trilogies set in a world that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along new and troubling lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from states, and accumulating in the chambers of theocrats, the treasuries of conglomerates, the grasp of mobs. "Some force is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were secure and solid are faltering and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that element might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that animates The Rose Field, which resumes where its predecessor concluded. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's final foray into the elaborately built, endlessly enchanting world he first introduced three decades past, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose landscape aligns with that of this world, but whose past diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals look and think and act like us, but are paired by daemons, essences in beast form; where the skies are filled with witches and mythical beasts, but beneath those skies, vehicles are caught and tea is sipped, and middle-aged scholars carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the first volume, the prequel with which Pullman began the series, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the spiky and persistent protagonist of the prior volumes, but older, sadder, more careful, less certain. This limitation is heightened by her split from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which made him desert her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
Pan's decision to go off in quest of that innocent part of the heroine which she may have forgotten (an trait which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a adventurous voyage across the continent and into the Caucasus, facing with marvel and risk on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in action, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the religious controlling power, and the author's brilliantly sinister representation of rigid, administrative malice – is under recent guidance, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's relative, who blames her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the role of head of the church's governing body, and is intent on using his newfound influence to expand the institution's control. A key character, who carried baby the heroine to security along a flooded Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a sideline in spycraft: he is sent to the city to learn more about his intentions. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the scarce and precious rose oil which appears mysteriously to be the source of a societal and financial disturbance emanating out from the region. The extract is regarded by certain groups as a tradeable good, by others as a scientific or spiritual phenomenon, and by others still – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a origin of evil; an insult that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its source, its significance, and if it should be removed or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to the original trilogy, the heroine's deeds, and her fate, are shown to be deeply connected with the destiny of the universe
In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran largely in parallel. In The Rose Field, they come together. Like the original series, her actions and her path are unveiled to be inseparably woven with the fate of the world. Her personal quest to rejoin with her daemon and recover her vision becomes the central conflict in a wider war with an controlling government which, as such authorities always have, is striving to suppress freedom of reason, creativity and culture: all the internal, resistant ways in which individuals can be independent.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The story opens with the unveiling of a series of curious fissures in the structure of the Earth's air: windows that look to lead to other worlds. An example of a opening appears to be the source of the highly contested rose oil. The authority, with the antagonist at its helm, labels these portals as a challenge to the institution's beliefs and endeavors to eliminate them. As Lyra begins to shift from inflexible logic and return to instinct, yet, her belief that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and what they provide is in some way vital – grows. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we require it." The setting for a philosophical tussle between innocence and experience is prepared.
Narrative Pacing and Protagonist Growth
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
