Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a universe that seems, here more than ever, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or restructuring themselves along new and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from states, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the coffers of corporations, the grasp of mobs. "An element is at work, silently, very subtly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were firm and durable are faltering and failing."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that animates the concluding book, which resumes where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final excursion into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling universe he first revealed 30 years ago, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose terrain maps on to that of the real world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the people look and think and act like us, but are joined by animal souls, essences in creature form; where the air are teeming with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but below, vehicles are taken and beverages is sipped, and middle-aged academics carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in the first volume, the prequel with which Pullman began the series, is now a young woman: still recognisably the prickly and determined protagonist of the previous installments, but aged, melancholic, more careful, less certain. This limitation is heightened by her separation from her soul companion, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to go off in search of that innocent part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an trait which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her mission to rejoin with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which chronicled Lyra undertake a picaresque voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with marvel and peril on the way. But from the outset, deeper currents were in motion, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the religious ruling body, and the author's deliciously chilling incarnation of strict, procedural malice – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. The antagonist – our protagonist's uncle, who blames her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the office of president of the Magisterium's governing body, and is intent on using his recently acquired influence to expand the church's rule. A key character, who saved young the heroine to security along a overflowing river as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an academic with a secondary role in espionage: he is sent to Geneva to discover more about Delamare's plans. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and costly rose oil which seems mysteriously to be the cause of a societal and financial disturbance rippling out from Central Asia. The extract is regarded by some as a tradeable product, by alternate groups as a research-based or spiritual miracle, and by further factions – the extremist "highland figures" – as a source of malevolence; an affront that must be obliterated. The dilemma of its origins, its meaning, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is becoming urgent.
As in His Dark Materials, Lyra's deeds, and her destiny, are revealed to be inseparably linked with the fate of the world
In the previous volume, these storylines ran largely in side by side. In The Rose Field, they converge. As in His Dark Materials, her choices and her path are unveiled to be deeply entwined with the destiny of the world. Her private journey to reunite with her companion and rediscover her creativity becomes the primary struggle in a larger conflict with an controlling regime which, as these systems typically do, is striving to quell independence of reason, creativity and culture: all the personal, defiant ways in which people can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The novel starts with the discovery of a series of strange cracks in the fabric of the Earth's air: gateways that appear to give on to other worlds. A particular window appears to be the source of the much debated mystical extract. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its helm, designates these portals as a challenge to the church's doctrine and aims to destroy them. As Lyra begins to move from strict rationalism and revert to feeling, however, her conviction that these locations must be protected – that their significance and what they offer is in some way essential – strengthens. "Dust, or the extract, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a poetic struggle between naivety and maturity is set.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
