Things are collapsing in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that manifests, in this volume especially, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Establishments are failing, or restructuring themselves along new and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is draining from states, and accumulating in the offices of religious leaders, the coffers of conglomerates, the hands of rioters. "Something is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and strong are weakening and collapsing."
Core Enigma and Her Quest
Precisely what that element might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that drives the concluding book, which picks up where the previous book left off. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's final venture into the elaborately built, endlessly enchanting world he first revealed 30 years ago, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose terrain corresponds to that of our world, but whose chronicles veers and changes with ours; where the individuals look and think and act like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, souls in creature form; where the heavens are populated with witches and legendary creatures, but below, vehicles are taken and tea is sipped, and older scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in La Belle Sauvage, the origin story with which Pullman began the series, is now a young woman: still clearly the spiky and persistent main character of the prior volumes, but older, melancholic, more cautious, more doubtful. This restraint is amplified by her division from her daemon, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to go off in search of that childlike part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an quality which he epitomises as her "vision"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed the protagonist undertake a picaresque journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with amazement and danger on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in motion, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the faith's controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of rigid, administrative wickedness – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. The antagonist – the heroine's family member, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of president of the church's ruling assembly, and is determined on using his newfound authority to broaden the religion's control. Another protagonist, who carried baby Lyra to safety along a swollen river as an child in the first book, is now an university scholar with a sideline in intelligence work: he is assigned to a key location to learn more about his plans. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and precious botanical extract which manifests mysteriously to be the source of a societal and economic disturbance rippling out from the region. The extract is regarded by some as a tradeable commodity, by alternate groups as a scientific or mystical phenomenon, and by others still – the fanatical "men from the mountains" – as a source of malevolence; an affront that must be destroyed. The dilemma of where it comes from, what it stands for, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is escalating in importance.
Similar to the first series, Lyra's decisions, and her destiny, are shown to be inextricably linked with the destiny of the realm
In the previous volume, these narratives ran broadly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they converge. As in the original series, the protagonist's movements and her fate are unveiled to be deeply woven with the destiny of the realm. Her individual mission to reunite with her daemon and recover her imagination becomes the key struggle in a broader conflict with an oppressive government which, as such authorities always have, is attempting to quell independence of reason, creativity and culture: all the inner, rebellious ways in which individuals can be independent.
Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles
The book begins with the unveiling of a collection of strange fissures in the makeup of the Earth's sky: gateways that seem to open into other worlds. An example of a portal manifests to be the origin of the fiercely disputed botanical substance. The church, with the antagonist at its head, labels these openings as a threat to the institution's beliefs and sets out to eradicate them. As the heroine begins to move from strict reason and revert to instinct, however, her belief that these sites must be preserved – that their significance and their value is in some way essential – grows. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a poetic conflict between naivety and maturity is prepared.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
