Tings are unraveling in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that appears, now more than ever, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from authorities, and pooling in the halls of religious leaders, the treasuries of conglomerates, the grasp of rioters. "An element is at work, very quietly, gradually", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and strong are faltering and failing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Exactly what that element might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that propels the concluding book, which resumes where the previous book left off. This is, reportedly, the author's final venture into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating realm he first unveiled in the distant past, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose landscape aligns with that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by daemons, essences in creature form; where the air are teeming with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, vehicles are caught and tea is consumed, and middle-aged professors carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, 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 this trilogy, is now a young woman: still recognisably the sharp and persistent heroine of the earlier books, but aged, melancholic, more cautious, less certain. This limitation is amplified by her division from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to leave in quest of that childlike part of the heroine which she seems to have lost (an aspect which he represents as her "vision"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which followed Lyra undertake a adventurous voyage across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with amazement and danger on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the religious governing authority, and the author's masterfully eerie incarnation of rigid, procedural malice – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's uncle, who blames her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of leader of the authority's governing body, and is intent on using his fresh power to broaden the church's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who carried young Lyra to refuge along a flooded Thames as an child in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a sideline in spycraft: he is dispatched to the city to find out more about the antagonist's intentions. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the scarce and costly essential oil which seems mysteriously to be the origin of a social and economic crisis emanating out from Central Asia. The extract is regarded by some as a tradeable product, by alternate groups as a scientific or mystical phenomenon, and by others still – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of darkness; an challenge that must be obliterated. The dilemma of where it comes from, its meaning, and if it should be destroyed or preserved is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in the first series, the heroine's decisions, and her fate, are shown to be deeply linked with the destiny of the realm
In the previous volume, these narratives ran mostly in parallel. In The Rose Field, they come together. Like His Dark Materials, Lyra's movements and her path are revealed to be deeply linked with the future of the universe. Her personal mission to reconnect with her daemon and regain her creativity becomes the primary struggle in a broader battle with an controlling system which, as these systems typically do, is striving to quell freedom of reason, originality and art: all the personal, rebellious ways in which humans can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The story starts with the unveiling of a series of curious openings in the fabric of the planet's sky: windows that look to open into other worlds. A particular portal manifests to be the point of the highly contested botanical substance. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its leadership, labels these openings as a threat to the church's beliefs and endeavors to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to move from strict reason and return to instinct, however, her conviction that these places must be defended – that what they stand for and what they provide is mysteriously vital – grows. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or whatever we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a philosophical struggle between naivety and knowledge is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
