Things are falling apart in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a universe that seems, in this volume especially, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Establishments are failing, or restructuring themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is flowing away from authorities, and pooling in the halls of religious leaders, the vaults of corporations, the grasp of mobs. "An element is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the Silk Roads from his place in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and solid are weakening and giving way."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that animates The Rose Field, which picks up where its predecessor ended. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's final venture into the elaborately built, endlessly enchanting realm he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a world whose geography maps on to that of this world, but whose past veers and changes with ours; where the individuals appear and think and act like us, but are paired by external spirits, souls in animal form; where the skies are teeming with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but beneath those skies, transports are caught and beverages is drunk, and middle-aged scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a child in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the prequel, the origin story with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a adult: still distinctly the sharp and persistent protagonist of the earlier books, but aged, more sorrowful, more cautious, less sure. This limitation is heightened by her division from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
His choice to leave in quest of that childlike part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an aspect which he represents as her "creativity"), and her quest to rejoin with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a picaresque voyage across Europe and into the mountain region, encountering with wonder and danger on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the church's governing authority, and Pullman's masterfully eerie representation of strict, procedural malice – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's uncle, who blames her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the position of leader of the church's ruling assembly, and is set on using his newfound authority to extend the church's control. A key character, who carried baby Lyra to security along a flooded river as an child in the first book, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in spycraft: he is sent to a key location to learn more about his plans. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and valuable rose oil which seems mysteriously to be the origin of a social and economic upheaval spreading out from the region. The extract is seen by certain groups as a tradeable product, by alternate groups as a empirical or mystical phenomenon, and by further factions – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a origin of darkness; an challenge that must be obliterated. The issue of its source, its meaning, and whether it should be destroyed or preserved is becoming urgent.
Similar to the first series, our protagonist's actions, and her destiny, are shown to be inextricably entwined with the future of the realm
In its predecessor, these narratives ran broadly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they converge. Like the first trilogy, the protagonist's movements and her fate are revealed to be deeply entwined with the fate of the world. Her individual quest to rejoin with her daemon and regain her creativity becomes the central conflict in a broader conflict with an controlling regime which, as these systems typically do, is seeking to suppress independence of reason, creativity and art: all the internal, defiant ways in which people can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The novel starts with the finding of a set of unusual openings in the makeup of the planet's sky: portals that seem to give on to alternate realities. One such opening manifests to be the source of the highly contested mystical extract. The church, with its leader 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 inflexible rationalism and back to feeling, nevertheless, her certainty that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is somehow crucial – strengthens. "The substance, or rose oil, or the vision, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a Blakean tussle between purity and knowledge is established.
Narrative Pacing and Protagonist Growth
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
