Things are falling apart in the final volume of The Book of Dust, the next of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that seems, now more than ever, as a charged and skewed version of our own. Organizations are crumbling, or restructuring themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is draining from governments, and gathering in the offices of theocrats, the coffers of conglomerates, the control of crowds. "An element is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the Silk Roads from his place in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and durable are deteriorating and collapsing."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Precisely what that force might be, and ways to oppose it, is the question that drives The Rose Field, which picks up where the previous book left off. This is, reportedly, the author's last excursion into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating world he first revealed in the distant past, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose geography corresponds to that of our world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans appear and think and behave like us, but are joined by animal souls, beings in beast form; where the heavens are populated with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, buses are ridden and tea is consumed, and older scholars carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the first volume, the introductory book with which the author began this trilogy, is now a adult: still recognisably the sharp and tenacious heroine of the prior volumes, but aged, melancholic, more careful, more doubtful. This circumscription is intensified by her division from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to go off in search of that innocent part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an trait which he epitomises as her "imagination"), and her quest to reunite with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed Lyra undertake a adventurous trek across Europe and into the mountain region, meeting with amazement and peril on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in play, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the faith's governing authority, and Pullman's masterfully eerie embodiment of austere, administrative evil – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's relative, who faults her for his sibling's death – has positioned himself into the position of leader of the church's ruling assembly, and is set on using his newfound power to expand the institution's control. Another protagonist, who rescued baby the heroine to security along a swollen river as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in spycraft: he is assigned to the city to learn more about his intentions. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and precious rose oil which manifests somehow to be the source of a societal and financial disturbance emanating out from the region. The oil is seen by various factions as a commercial product, by different parties as a research-based or mystical wonder, and by further factions – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of darkness; an challenge that must be eradicated. The question of where it comes from, its significance, and whether it should be destroyed or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.
Like the original trilogy, Lyra's actions, and her future, are revealed to be inextricably linked with the future of the realm
In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran mostly in parallel. In the conclusion, they come together. Like His Dark Materials, her choices and her path are unveiled to be inextricably linked with the destiny of the world. Her personal journey to reunite with her daemon and regain her vision becomes the central battleground in a larger war with an oppressive system which, as these systems often attempt, is attempting to stifle freedom of thought, creativity and expression: all the personal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Ideological Conflicts
The book begins with the finding of a set of curious openings in the structure of the Earth's atmosphere: windows that look to give on to other worlds. One such window appears to be the point of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The authority, with the antagonist at its head, labels these openings as a threat to the church's doctrine and endeavors to eradicate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid logic and back to instinct, yet, her conviction that these places must be defended – that what they stand for and their value is somehow vital – strengthens. "The substance, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or whatever we call it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a poetic struggle between innocence and maturity is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
