Things are collapsing in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a realm that appears, now more than ever, as a intense and tilted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or reorganizing themselves along new and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Authority is shifting from governments, and accumulating in the offices of theocrats, the coffers of corporations, the control of mobs. "Some force is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and durable are deteriorating and giving way."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Precisely what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that drives The Rose Field, which continues where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's last venture into the intricately constructed, endlessly enchanting universe he first introduced 30 years ago, with the publication of Northern Lights. It's a realm whose geography corresponds to that of the real world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and reason and act like us, but are joined by external spirits, essences in animal form; where the air are teeming with witches and gryphons, but beneath those skies, vehicles are taken and drinks is consumed, and middle-aged professors carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first met as a young girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in La Belle Sauvage, the origin story with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the sharp and determined main character of the earlier books, but aged, melancholic, more careful, less sure. This circumscription is intensified by her separation from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to go off in quest of that innocent part of her which she may have forgotten (an trait which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of the prior book, which followed Lyra undertake a wandering voyage across the continent and into the Caucasus, facing with amazement and danger on the way. But from the outset, deeper currents were in motion, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the church's ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister incarnation of austere, procedural evil – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's family member, who faults her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of head of the Magisterium's High Council, and is intent on using his fresh influence to broaden the institution's control. Another protagonist, who rescued infant Lyra to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is dispatched to a key location to find out more about Delamare's plans. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and valuable rose oil which seems mysteriously to be the origin of a social and financial crisis rippling out from the region. The extract is regarded by some as a commercial product, by alternate groups as a scientific or mystical wonder, and by others still – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of darkness; an insult that must be eradicated. The issue of its origins, its meaning, and whether it should be destroyed or preserved is becoming urgent.
Like the original trilogy, our protagonist's decisions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inseparably linked with the future of the universe
In the previous volume, these storylines ran mostly in side by side. In the conclusion, they come together. As in the first trilogy, Lyra's actions and her path are shown to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the realm. Her private mission to rejoin with her daemon and rediscover her imagination becomes the key conflict in a broader conflict with an controlling government which, as such authorities typically do, is attempting to stifle independence of reason, creativity and art: all the internal, rebellious ways in which humans can be independent.
Dimensional Rifts and Moral Battles
The story begins with the finding of a collection of curious cracks in the makeup of the Earth's air: gateways that seem to give on to different dimensions. One such opening seems to be the source of the much debated botanical substance. The authority, with Delamare at its helm, classifies these windows as a problem to the religion's doctrine and endeavors to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from strict logic and back to intuition, yet, her belief that these locations must be preserved – that their significance and what they offer is mysteriously essential – grows. "Dust, or rose oil, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or whatever we call it," she says, "we need it." The stage for a philosophical struggle between purity and knowledge is prepared.
Story Tempo and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
