Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that seems, in this volume especially, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from governments, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of conglomerates, the hands of crowds. "Some force is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his place in an city cafe. "Things we thought were secure and durable are faltering and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and The Protagonist's Path
Just what that force might be, and ways to oppose it, is the mystery that drives The Rose Field, which continues where its predecessor concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final excursion into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling world he first introduced three decades past, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose landscape maps on to that of this world, but whose chronicles veers and changes with ours; where the humans appear and think and behave like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, souls in beast form; where the skies are populated with enchantresses and gryphons, but below, vehicles are ridden and drinks is sipped, and mature professors carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a child in the original trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the prequel, the origin story with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a mature individual: still clearly the sharp and determined protagonist of the prior volumes, but aged, more sorrowful, more careful, less certain. This circumscription is amplified by her separation from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to leave in quest of that innocent part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an aspect which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a wandering journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with amazement and risk on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in action, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the church's controlling power, and the author's masterfully eerie incarnation of strict, bureaucratic malice – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's family member, who faults her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of president of the authority's High Council, and is intent on using his fresh authority to expand the church's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued infant Lyra to safety along a flooded Thames as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an university scholar with a sideline in intelligence work: he is assigned to the city to find out more about Delamare's aims. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and costly rose oil which manifests somehow to be the cause of a societal and economic upheaval spreading out from that area. The substance is viewed by various factions as a commercial good, by others as a research-based or spiritual phenomenon, and by others still – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a origin of evil; an challenge that must be obliterated. The issue of its origins, its significance, and if it should be removed or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
Similar to the first series, Lyra's deeds, and her future, are demonstrated to be inseparably linked with the destiny of the universe
In its predecessor, these narratives ran broadly in tandem. In this final book, they come together. Similar to His Dark Materials, Lyra's actions and her destiny are shown to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the world. Her personal journey to reconnect with her companion and recover her vision becomes the primary battleground in a broader conflict with an oppressive system which, as such authorities often attempt, is seeking to stifle independence of thinking, originality and art: all the inner, rebellious ways in which individuals can be independent.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The novel begins with the unveiling of a collection of curious cracks in the structure of the world's air: gateways that look to open into different dimensions. A particular window appears to be the origin of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The Magisterium, with its leader at its leadership, classifies these portals as a problem to the religion's doctrine and endeavors to destroy them. As the heroine begins to turn away from inflexible reason and back to instinct, however, her belief that these places must be preserved – that their significance and what they offer is in some way crucial – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we call it," she says, "we require it." The setting for a Blakean struggle between naivety and experience is established.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
