Things are collapsing in the last installment of The Dust Trilogy, the next of the author's grand trilogies set in a world that appears, now more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Establishments are failing, or reorganizing themselves along new and disquieting lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is draining from authorities, and gathering in the offices of theocrats, the coffers of conglomerates, the grasp of rioters. "Some force is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and strong are faltering and failing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Exactly what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that drives The Rose Field, which resumes where its predecessor ended. This is, according to many, the author's last foray into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling world he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose terrain corresponds to that of the real world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals look and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, souls in creature form; where the heavens are teeming with sorceresses and gryphons, but underneath, transports are taken and tea is sipped, and mature scholars carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in La Belle Sauvage, the prequel with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still clearly the sharp and determined heroine of the previous installments, but aged, sadder, more cautious, more doubtful. This limitation is amplified by her separation from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
His choice to go off in pursuit of that innocent part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an trait which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her quest to reunite with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed Lyra undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the mountain region, encountering with marvel and peril on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in motion, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister representation of austere, procedural wickedness – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. The antagonist – the heroine's uncle, who blames her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the role of head of the church's High Council, and is determined on using his newfound authority to broaden the religion's rule. Another protagonist, who carried infant Lyra to security along a swollen Thames as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a secondary role in intelligence work: he is assigned to a key location to learn more about his plans. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and precious botanical extract which appears mysteriously to be the origin of a social and financial crisis emanating out from that area. The substance is viewed by some as a tradeable good, by others as a scientific or mystical miracle, and by others still – the extremist "highland figures" – as a origin of malevolence; an insult that must be eradicated. The question of its origins, what it stands for, and if it should be removed or preserved is escalating in importance.
As in the first series, our protagonist's decisions, and her future, are revealed to be inseparably connected with the fate of the universe
In the previous volume, these plots ran broadly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they come together. As in the original series, Lyra's movements and her destiny are shown to be deeply woven with the destiny of the realm. Her personal quest to reconnect with her daemon and regain her creativity becomes the primary struggle in a larger war with an authoritarian system which, as such regimes typically do, is attempting to quell autonomy of thought, creativity and expression: all the inner, resistant ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles
The novel opens with the finding of a collection of unusual cracks in the makeup of the world's sky: gateways that appear to lead to alternate realities. A particular opening manifests to be the source of the highly contested rose oil. The authority, with the antagonist at its leadership, labels these portals as a threat to the religion's doctrine and endeavors to destroy them. As Lyra begins to turn away from strict rationalism and revert to intuition, yet, her certainty that these locations must be defended – that what they stand for and their value is somehow essential – grows. "Dust, or the substance, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we name it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a poetic conflict between purity and maturity is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
