Things are collapsing in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of the author's masterful trilogies set in a universe that seems, here more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reorganizing themselves along new and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the treasuries of conglomerates, the hands of mobs. "Some force is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and solid are faltering and giving way."
Core Enigma and The Protagonist's Path
Just what that element might be, and ways to oppose it, is the mystery that drives the concluding book, which resumes where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, according to many, the author's last venture into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating realm he first unveiled in the distant past, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a world whose terrain corresponds to that of this world, but whose history veers and changes with ours; where the people appear and reason and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, beings in animal form; where the skies are filled with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, vehicles are taken and tea is consumed, and middle-aged professors carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the first volume, the introductory book with which Pullman began the series, is now a adult: still distinctly the spiky and tenacious heroine of the previous installments, but aged, more sorrowful, more cautious, more doubtful. This restraint is heightened by her division from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to leave in pursuit of that youthful part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an aspect which he represents as her "vision"), and her journey to rejoin with him, were the driving forces of its predecessor, which followed Lyra undertake a wandering journey across Europe and into the mountain region, encountering with amazement and danger on the way. But from the beginning, deeper currents were in action, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the church's governing authority, and Pullman's deliciously chilling embodiment of strict, procedural malice – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's uncle, who blames her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of president of the church's governing body, and is set on using his newfound power to extend the religion's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who saved baby the heroine to safety along a flooded river as an child in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a sideline in spycraft: he is assigned to Geneva to learn more about Delamare's plans. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and costly rose oil which seems in some way to be the cause of a social and financial disturbance rippling out from that area. The substance is regarded by certain groups as a commercial product, by others as a scientific or mystical phenomenon, and by others still – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of darkness; an challenge that must be obliterated. The dilemma of its origins, its meaning, and whether it should be destroyed or preserved is becoming urgent.
Similar to the first series, Lyra's decisions, and her fate, are demonstrated to be deeply entwined with the destiny of the universe
In its predecessor, these storylines ran largely in tandem. In The Rose Field, they come together. As in His Dark Materials, the protagonist's choices and her destiny are shown to be deeply entwined with the future of the world. Her personal quest to reunite with her companion and recover her imagination becomes the key battleground in a wider war with an authoritarian system which, as such authorities often attempt, is seeking to suppress autonomy of thinking, creativity and expression: all the internal, rebellious ways in which humans can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The book starts with the unveiling of a set of strange openings in the structure of the Earth's sky: portals that look to give on to alternate realities. A particular portal seems to be the source of the highly contested mystical extract. The church, with its leader at its helm, designates these openings as a challenge to the institution's beliefs and sets out to eradicate them. As the heroine begins to move from strict logic and back to feeling, however, her conviction that these locations must be defended – that their meaning and what they offer is mysteriously essential – increases. "The substance, or the extract, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we label it," she says, "we need it." The stage for a poetic tussle between purity and knowledge is established.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
