Tings are unraveling in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a realm that appears, in this volume especially, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or reorganizing themselves along novel and troubling lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from states, and gathering in the offices of religious leaders, the treasuries of business empires, the hands of crowds. "Something is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his seat in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and durable are weakening and collapsing."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Just what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that propels The Rose Field, which resumes where the previous book left off. This is, reportedly, the author's final venture into the elaborately built, infinitely beguiling universe he first unveiled in the distant past, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose geography aligns with that of our world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals look and think and behave like us, but are joined by animal souls, beings in animal form; where the air are filled with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, transports are ridden and drinks is drunk, and middle-aged professors carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a child in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began this trilogy, is now a adult: still recognisably the spiky and tenacious main character of the earlier books, but more mature, melancholic, more cautious, less sure. This restraint is amplified by her division from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to go off in search of that youthful part of her which she seems to have lost (an trait which he represents as her "vision"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering journey across the continent and into the mountain region, meeting with marvel and peril on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in action, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the faith's ruling body, and the author's deliciously chilling representation of austere, procedural wickedness – is under recent guidance, and asserting its power. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's uncle, who holds responsible her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of president of the authority's governing body, and is intent on using his recently acquired authority to expand the church's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who carried baby the heroine to security along a overflowing river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in spycraft: he is sent to a key location to find out more about Delamare's plans. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and costly botanical extract which seems in some way to be the cause of a social and financial crisis spreading out from the region. The substance is regarded by certain groups as a marketable commodity, by alternate groups as a scientific or mystical miracle, and by yet others – the zealous "highland figures" – as a wellspring of darkness; an affront that must be eradicated. The question of its origins, its meaning, and whether it should be removed or safeguarded is becoming urgent.
Like His Dark Materials, our protagonist's decisions, and her future, are demonstrated to be inseparably linked with the destiny of the world
In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they merge. As in the first trilogy, Lyra's actions and her destiny are unveiled to be deeply woven with the future of the universe. Her private quest to reunite with her daemon and rediscover her vision becomes the central battleground in a wider war with an controlling regime which, as these systems always have, is seeking to stifle freedom of thinking, originality and art: all the inner, resistant ways in which humans can be independent.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The book begins with the finding of a series of curious cracks in the structure of the planet's sky: portals that look to give on to alternate realities. A particular portal appears to be the source of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The church, with its leader at its head, classifies these openings as a challenge to the institution's doctrine and endeavors to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to move from strict rationalism and return to intuition, however, her conviction that these places must be preserved – that what they stand for and what they offer is mysteriously vital – increases. "Dust, or rose oil, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or whatever we label it," she says, "we require it." The setting for a poetic tussle between innocence and experience is established.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
