Things are unraveling in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that manifests, in this volume especially, as a intense and tilted version of our own. Organizations are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along novel and troubling lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from governments, and gathering in the halls of theocrats, the coffers of conglomerates, the hands of rioters. "An element is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his seat in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and durable are deteriorating and giving way."
The Central Mystery and The Protagonist's Path
Just what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that propels this final volume, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's final venture into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling world he first revealed in the distant past, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose landscape maps on to that of this world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the people appear and think and behave like us, but are paired by external spirits, souls in beast form; where the heavens are populated with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, vehicles are ridden and beverages is consumed, and middle-aged professors carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first met as a child in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a infant in La Belle Sauvage, the origin story with which the author began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the sharp and persistent protagonist of the prior volumes, but older, sadder, more cautious, more doubtful. This circumscription is intensified by her separation from her soul companion, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to leave in pursuit of that youthful part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of its predecessor, which chronicled Lyra undertake a adventurous journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, meeting with wonder and danger on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in play, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the church's controlling power, and the author's masterfully eerie incarnation of austere, bureaucratic wickedness – is under recent guidance, and asserting its power. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's relative, who blames her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of president of the church's High Council, and is determined on using his newfound authority to expand the institution's dominium. A key character, who carried baby Lyra to refuge along a swollen river as an child in the first book, is now an academic with a sideline in intelligence work: he is assigned to the city to find out more about Delamare's intentions. And beneath all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and precious rose oil which manifests mysteriously to be the origin of a social and economic crisis emanating out from the region. The substance is regarded by some as a commercial product, by alternate groups as a scientific or esoteric miracle, and by yet others – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a source of darkness; an affront that must be destroyed. The dilemma of where it comes from, its significance, and whether it should be removed or preserved is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in the first series, the heroine's decisions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be deeply connected with the fate of the universe
In the previous volume, these plots ran broadly in parallel. In The Rose Field, they come together. Like the original series, Lyra's actions and her path are revealed to be deeply linked with the destiny of the universe. Her personal mission to reconnect with her soul and regain her vision becomes the primary battleground in a wider war with an controlling regime which, as these systems often attempt, is attempting to suppress independence of thought, innovation and culture: all the inner, defiant ways in which people can be liberated.
Dimensional Rifts and Ideological Conflicts
The story starts with the discovery of a collection of curious cracks in the structure of the planet's atmosphere: windows that appear to lead to different dimensions. An example of a window manifests to be the origin of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its leadership, classifies these portals as a challenge to the church's doctrine and sets out to eradicate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid reason and revert to instinct, nevertheless, her certainty that these locations must be protected – that their significance and their value is mysteriously crucial – strengthens. "Dust, or rose oil, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a Blakean tussle between purity and maturity is established.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
