Tings are collapsing in the last installment of The Book of Dust, the second of the author's masterful trilogies set in a realm that manifests, now more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along new and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is draining from states, and pooling in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of corporations, the grasp of crowds. "An element is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were secure and durable are deteriorating and giving way."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that propels the concluding book, which continues where the previous book concluded. This is, by all accounts, the author's last venture into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting universe he first unveiled in the distant past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography maps on to that of the real world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans appear and reason and behave like us, but are joined by animal souls, essences in beast form; where the heavens are filled with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, buses are caught and tea is drunk, and older scholars carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the prequel, the introductory book with which Pullman began The Book of Dust, is now a adult: still distinctly the prickly and persistent protagonist of the previous installments, but older, melancholic, warier, less certain. This limitation is heightened by her separation from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the cause which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to depart in quest of that youthful part of the heroine which she may have forgotten (an quality which he represents as her "creativity"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a adventurous voyage across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with amazement and risk on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The church authority – the faith's controlling power, and Pullman's masterfully eerie incarnation of austere, administrative evil – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. The antagonist – the heroine's family member, who faults her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of leader of the authority's ruling assembly, and is determined on using his recently acquired authority to broaden the institution's rule. Another protagonist, who carried infant Lyra to refuge along a swollen Thames as an child in the first book, is now an academic with a sideline in intelligence work: he is assigned to Geneva to find out more about Delamare's aims. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and valuable essential oil which seems in some way to be the origin of a social and economic disturbance spreading out from Central Asia. The oil is regarded by various factions as a tradeable product, by alternate groups as a empirical or mystical miracle, and by further factions – the fanatical "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of darkness; an insult that must be eradicated. The issue of where it comes from, its significance, and if it should be destroyed or protected is becoming urgent.
As in His Dark Materials, the heroine's actions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inextricably entwined with the fate of the realm
In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they merge. Similar to the first trilogy, the protagonist's actions and her destiny are revealed to be deeply entwined with the future of the universe. Her private quest to reunite with her soul and regain her imagination becomes the primary struggle in a larger war with an oppressive regime which, as such regimes often attempt, is striving to stifle freedom of reason, innovation and expression: all the internal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles
The story begins with the discovery of a set of unusual openings in the fabric of the world's atmosphere: gateways that appear to lead to other worlds. An example of a portal seems to be the origin of the much debated mystical extract. The authority, with its leader at its head, classifies these openings as a challenge to the religion's orthodoxy and endeavors to destroy them. As the heroine begins to turn away from strict logic and revert to instinct, nevertheless, her belief that these locations must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is somehow vital – grows. "Dust, or the substance, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or whatever we label it," she says, "we require it." The stage for a poetic tussle between innocence and maturity is established.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
