Things are unraveling in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's masterful trilogies set in a world that manifests, now more than ever, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Institutions are failing, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Authority is shifting from states, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the vaults of corporations, the hands of rioters. "An element is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says merchant a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the trade routes from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and solid are deteriorating and giving way."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Precisely what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that propels The Rose Field, which continues where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final foray into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating world he first introduced 30 years ago, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose geography corresponds to that of this world, but whose past veers and changes with ours; where the people look and reason and act like us, but are joined by external spirits, souls in creature form; where the heavens are populated with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, transports are caught and tea is consumed, and older academics carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the first volume, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a adult: still recognisably the spiky and determined protagonist of the previous installments, but more mature, more sorrowful, more cautious, more doubtful. This circumscription is intensified by her split from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the cause which made him desert her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to leave in search of that childlike part of the heroine which she seems to have lost (an trait which he represents as her "vision"), and her quest to rejoin with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which saw the protagonist undertake a adventurous journey across the continent and into the mountain region, meeting with wonder and danger on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in action, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the faith's controlling power, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister embodiment of strict, procedural wickedness – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's uncle, who blames her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of leader of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is determined on using his recently acquired influence to broaden the church's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who carried infant Lyra to security along a swollen Thames as an child in the first book, is now an academic with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is assigned to Geneva to learn more about Delamare's aims. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and costly essential oil which seems somehow to be the cause of a societal and economic upheaval rippling out from that area. The extract is regarded by certain groups as a marketable commodity, by different parties as a scientific or esoteric miracle, and by yet others – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an affront that must be destroyed. The question of its origins, what it stands for, and whether it should be removed or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.
Like the first series, the heroine's deeds, and her fate, are revealed to be deeply entwined with the fate of the world
In the previous volume, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In this final book, they merge. As in the first trilogy, the protagonist's choices and her destiny are revealed to be deeply entwined with the destiny of the world. Her individual quest to reconnect with her companion and recover her imagination becomes the central battleground in a larger battle with an controlling government which, as such authorities always have, is seeking to quell freedom of reason, originality and art: all the personal, defiant ways in which humans can be liberated.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The story opens with the discovery of a set of unusual fissures in the fabric of the world's atmosphere: portals that look to give on to different dimensions. A particular window manifests to be the source of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The church, with the antagonist at its leadership, labels these openings as a challenge to the religion's orthodoxy and endeavors to eradicate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid reason and return to instinct, however, her belief that these places must be protected – that their significance and what they offer is in some way vital – grows. "Dust, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we require it." The stage for a poetic conflict between naivety and maturity is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
