Things are unraveling in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a world that seems, in this volume especially, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Organizations are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along novel and troubling lines. An invisible force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the treasuries of conglomerates, the control of crowds. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his place in an city cafe. "Things we thought were stable and strong are weakening and giving way."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that propels The Rose Field, which resumes where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, according to many, the author's final venture into the elaborately built, infinitely beguiling world he first revealed 30 years ago, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose terrain maps on to that of this world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals look and reason and act like us, but are joined by animal souls, essences in animal form; where the skies are populated with witches and legendary creatures, but below, vehicles are ridden and tea is consumed, and older professors carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a child in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began the series, is now a young woman: still recognisably the prickly and determined protagonist of the prior volumes, but older, melancholic, more cautious, more doubtful. This limitation is intensified by her separation from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, unexpectedly, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
The daemon's resolve to go off in search of that childlike part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an quality which he symbolizes as her "imagination"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with wonder and risk on the way. But from the beginning, underlying forces were in play, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the religious governing authority, and the author's masterfully eerie incarnation of rigid, bureaucratic wickedness – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's relative, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of head of the Magisterium's governing body, and is intent on using his newfound power to broaden the religion's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who carried young Lyra to security along a overflowing river as an child in the prequel, is now an academic with a secondary role in spycraft: he is sent to the city to learn more about his aims. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and costly rose oil which appears mysteriously to be the origin of a social and economic disturbance rippling out from that area. The substance is viewed by certain groups as a tradeable product, by others as a scientific or spiritual miracle, and by yet others – the zealous "highland figures" – as a origin of malevolence; an insult that must be eradicated. The question of its source, its meaning, and if it should be destroyed or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to the first series, our protagonist's decisions, and her destiny, are shown to be inseparably linked with the fate of the world
In its predecessor, these plots ran broadly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they converge. As in His Dark Materials, the protagonist's movements and her fate are shown to be deeply entwined with the destiny of the world. Her personal journey to rejoin with her soul and regain her vision becomes the central battleground in a broader conflict with an controlling regime which, as such authorities often attempt, is seeking to quell freedom of thinking, creativity and art: all the internal, resistant ways in which humans can be free.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The book starts with the finding of a collection of strange openings in the fabric of the planet's atmosphere: gateways that look to lead to different dimensions. An example of a portal manifests to be the source of the highly contested botanical substance. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its head, classifies these openings as a challenge to the institution's doctrine and sets out to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to turn away from rigid rationalism and revert to feeling, nevertheless, her certainty that these places must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is somehow essential – grows. "Dust, or the substance, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or whatever we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a Blakean conflict between innocence and maturity is established.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
