Tings are unraveling in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a world that seems, in this volume especially, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Organizations are crumbling, or reorganizing themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from governments, and gathering in the halls of theocrats, the vaults of conglomerates, the hands of crowds. "An element is at work, stealthily, gradually", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the Silk Roads from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and solid are faltering and failing."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that drives The Rose Field, which resumes where its predecessor ended. This is, reportedly, the author's last venture into the elaborately built, infinitely beguiling world he first revealed 30 years ago, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose geography aligns with that of our world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans appear and think and behave like us, but are paired by external spirits, essences in creature form; where the air are filled with sorceresses and gryphons, but beneath those skies, vehicles are ridden and drinks is drunk, and older scholars carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a child in the first trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in the prequel, the prequel with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the spiky and determined main character of the earlier books, but more mature, more sorrowful, warier, less sure. This restraint is intensified by her division from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to go off in search of that innocent part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an trait which he represents as her "creativity"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous journey across the continent and into the mountain region, facing with marvel and risk on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in action, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the church's controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of rigid, bureaucratic evil – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. The antagonist – Lyra's relative, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the office of head of the church's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his newfound influence to broaden the religion's control. Another protagonist, who carried baby Lyra to security along a overflowing river as an child in the prequel, is now an academic with a additional duty in espionage: he is sent to Geneva to find out more about the antagonist's plans. And beneath all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and precious rose oil which appears in some way to be the source of a societal and financial disturbance rippling out from the region. The substance is viewed by some as a tradeable product, by others as a empirical or spiritual miracle, and by further factions – the zealous "highland figures" – as a origin of evil; an insult that must be eradicated. The dilemma of where it comes from, its significance, and whether it should be eliminated or safeguarded is becoming urgent.
Similar to the original trilogy, the heroine's deeds, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be deeply linked with the destiny of the world
In its predecessor, these plots ran largely in tandem. In The Rose Field, they come together. Similar to the original series, her choices and her fate are shown to be inseparably linked with the future of the realm. Her individual journey to reunite with her companion and rediscover her imagination becomes the key conflict in a larger conflict with an controlling government which, as such regimes often attempt, is striving to stifle autonomy of thought, creativity and expression: all the personal, resistant ways in which humans can be independent.
Cosmic Openings and Moral Battles
The book starts with the unveiling of a set of strange openings in the makeup of the Earth's atmosphere: windows that seem to open into alternate realities. A particular window seems to be the point of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The authority, with Delamare at its head, classifies these openings as a challenge to the church's beliefs and aims to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to shift from strict rationalism and back to instinct, yet, her belief that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and their value is mysteriously essential – strengthens. "Dust, or the substance, or the imagination, or the botanical realm, or whatever we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a philosophical tussle between purity and maturity is set.
Story Tempo and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
