Tings are falling apart in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the second of the author's masterful trilogies set in a universe that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Institutions are failing, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is shifting from authorities, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of corporations, the grasp of rioters. "An element is at work, very quietly, gradually", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the Silk Roads from his place in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and durable are faltering and failing."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that element might be, and ways to oppose it, is the question that drives The Rose Field, which resumes where the previous book concluded. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's concluding foray into the elaborately built, deeply captivating universe he first revealed 30 years ago, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose landscape aligns with that of this world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the people look and think and act like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, souls in beast form; where the heavens are populated with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, transports are taken and drinks is drunk, and middle-aged professors carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a child in the first trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the sharp and persistent heroine of the earlier books, but aged, more sorrowful, more cautious, more doubtful. This circumscription is intensified by her division from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to go off in search of that childlike part of her which she appears to have shed (an trait which he represents as her "creativity"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a picaresque trek across the continent and into the Caucasus, facing with wonder and danger on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in action, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the faith's governing authority, and the author's masterfully eerie incarnation of strict, bureaucratic wickedness – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. The antagonist – our protagonist's relative, who faults her for his family member's death – has worked himself into the office of head of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his fresh influence to extend the religion's dominium. A key character, who rescued young the heroine to safety along a flooded Thames as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an academic with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is assigned to the city to find out more about Delamare's intentions. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and costly rose oil which manifests in some way to be the cause of a social and economic upheaval rippling out from the region. The oil is regarded by some as a tradeable commodity, by others as a research-based or esoteric miracle, and by yet others – the extremist "highland figures" – as a origin of malevolence; an affront that must be obliterated. The issue of its origins, its significance, and whether it should be eliminated or preserved is becoming urgent.
Similar to His Dark Materials, our protagonist's deeds, and her future, are shown to be deeply connected with the future of the realm
In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran mostly in parallel. In the conclusion, they converge. Like His Dark Materials, the protagonist's movements and her fate are revealed to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the universe. Her personal journey to rejoin with her soul and recover her vision becomes the primary battleground in a larger battle with an controlling government which, as these systems often attempt, is attempting to suppress freedom of thought, innovation and art: all the internal, defiant ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The book begins with the unveiling of a set of unusual cracks in the makeup of the Earth's sky: gateways that look to lead to alternate realities. A particular portal manifests to be the point of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The church, with Delamare at its helm, labels these portals as a threat to the religion's doctrine and sets out to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to move from strict logic and return to instinct, however, her belief that these locations must be defended – that their significance and their value is in some way vital – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or the substance, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or whatever we call it," she says, "we require it." The setting for a Blakean struggle between purity and maturity is established.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
