Things are collapsing in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a universe that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Organizations are failing, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and disquieting lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is flowing away from states, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the treasuries of business empires, the grasp of mobs. "An element is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Things we thought were secure and durable are deteriorating and failing."
The Central Mystery and The Protagonist's Path
Exactly what that force might be, and ways to oppose it, is the mystery that drives The Rose Field, which resumes where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, according to many, the author's last venture into the intricately constructed, endlessly enchanting realm he first introduced in the distant past, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose terrain maps on to that of this world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and act like us, but are paired by external spirits, beings in animal form; where the air are teeming with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, transports are ridden and tea is drunk, and older scholars carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a child in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the prequel, the prequel with which the author began the series, is now a young woman: still distinctly the sharp and persistent heroine of the earlier books, but more mature, more sorrowful, more cautious, less sure. This circumscription 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
The daemon's resolve to leave in pursuit of that youthful part of her which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her quest to reunite with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with amazement and risk on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in motion, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the church's governing authority, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister embodiment of rigid, administrative malice – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's uncle, who blames her for his sibling's death – has positioned himself into the office of leader of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is determined on using his recently acquired authority to expand the church's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who carried young the heroine to safety along a overflowing Thames as an young boy in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in spycraft: he is assigned to the city to learn more about Delamare's intentions. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and precious essential oil which seems somehow to be the origin of a societal and financial upheaval spreading out from the region. The oil is seen by some as a commercial product, by different parties as a research-based or mystical phenomenon, and by yet others – the extremist "highland figures" – as a wellspring of darkness; an insult that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its source, its significance, and whether it should be destroyed or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
Similar to the first series, our protagonist's actions, and her fate, are shown to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the universe
In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran broadly in side by side. In this final book, they come together. Like His Dark Materials, her movements and her path are shown to be inseparably woven with the destiny of the realm. Her individual quest to reconnect with her soul and recover her imagination becomes the central struggle in a broader war with an authoritarian regime which, as such authorities often attempt, is attempting to quell independence of reason, creativity and art: all the inner, rebellious ways in which people can be independent.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The book starts with the unveiling of a collection of strange openings in the structure of the planet's atmosphere: windows that look to lead to other worlds. An example of a portal seems to be the origin of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The authority, with its leader at its helm, designates these openings as a challenge to the institution's orthodoxy and sets out to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to move from strict rationalism and revert to intuition, nevertheless, her conviction that these places must be preserved – that their significance and their value is somehow crucial – increases. "The substance, or rose oil, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a poetic conflict between naivety and maturity is established.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
