Things are falling apart in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a realm that seems, now more than ever, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Establishments are failing, or restructuring themselves along new and troubling lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Authority is shifting from authorities, and accumulating in the chambers of religious leaders, the coffers of business empires, the control of rioters. "Some force is at work, silently, gradually", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and solid are weakening and giving way."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that something might be, and ways to oppose it, is the inquiry that propels The Rose Field, which picks up where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final foray into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting world he first revealed 30 years ago, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose landscape maps on to that of this world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the people appear and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by daemons, souls in creature form; where the heavens are teeming with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, transports are ridden and drinks is consumed, and mature scholars carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first met as a young girl in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a baby in the prequel, the prequel with which Pullman began the series, is now a young woman: still recognisably the sharp and tenacious heroine of the earlier books, but more mature, more sorrowful, more careful, less certain. This circumscription is amplified by her division from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to depart in pursuit of that childlike part of the heroine which she may have forgotten (an trait which he epitomises as her "vision"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which chronicled Lyra undertake a wandering voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with amazement and danger on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in motion, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the faith's governing authority, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister embodiment of austere, administrative malice – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's relative, who faults her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the role of leader of the authority's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his recently acquired authority to extend the church's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who saved baby the heroine to refuge along a swollen river as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an academic with a sideline in espionage: he is dispatched to a key location to find out more about Delamare's aims. And beneath all of this is the mystery surrounding the uncommon and valuable essential oil which manifests mysteriously to be the origin of a social and economic upheaval spreading out from Central Asia. The oil is viewed by some as a tradeable commodity, by others as a empirical or spiritual wonder, and by yet others – the fanatical "men from the mountains" – as a source of evil; an challenge that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its source, its significance, and if it should be removed or preserved is becoming urgent.
Like His Dark Materials, the heroine's deeds, and her future, are demonstrated to be deeply entwined with the future of the world
In the previous volume, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they merge. As in the original series, Lyra's actions and her destiny are shown to be inextricably woven with the destiny of the realm. Her private journey to reconnect with her companion and rediscover her imagination becomes the primary conflict in a broader battle with an controlling regime which, as such regimes always have, is seeking to stifle freedom of thought, innovation and expression: all the personal, rebellious ways in which people can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The book starts with the unveiling of a collection of unusual cracks in the fabric of the world's sky: windows that seem to open into different dimensions. One such window manifests to be the origin of the highly contested rose oil. The authority, with the antagonist at its head, classifies these portals as a challenge to the institution's beliefs and endeavors to destroy them. As the heroine begins to move from strict reason and return to feeling, however, her certainty that these sites must be defended – that their meaning and what they offer is in some way vital – strengthens. "The substance, or the extract, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a philosophical tussle between innocence and experience is prepared.
Narrative Pacing and Protagonist Growth
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
