Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's masterful trilogies set in a world that manifests, now more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or restructuring themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from states, and pooling in the offices of religious leaders, the coffers of business empires, the control of crowds. "Some force is at work, silently, gradually", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his seat in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were firm and solid are faltering and collapsing."
Core Enigma and The Protagonist's Path
Precisely what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that animates the concluding book, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, reportedly, Pullman's concluding foray into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating world he first revealed 30 years ago, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a realm 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 paired by animal souls, essences in animal form; where the heavens are teeming with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but below, transports are taken and drinks is consumed, and mature scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the first volume, the introductory book with which Pullman began the series, is now a adult: still recognisably the sharp and determined heroine of the prior volumes, but more mature, melancholic, more careful, less certain. This limitation is amplified by her separation from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the cause which led him to leave her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
His choice to depart in search of that childlike part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an trait which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the driving forces of its predecessor, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering journey across Europe and into the mountain region, meeting with wonder and risk on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in action, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the faith's governing authority, and Pullman's deliciously chilling embodiment of rigid, procedural evil – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. The antagonist – the heroine's relative, who holds responsible her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of leader of the authority's governing body, and is set on using his recently acquired influence to expand the church's rule. A key character, who carried baby the heroine to safety along a overflowing Thames as an child in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a secondary role in spycraft: he is assigned to a key location to find out more about the antagonist's intentions. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and costly essential oil which manifests mysteriously to be the origin of a social and financial disturbance rippling out from Central Asia. The extract is seen by certain groups as a commercial product, by alternate groups as a scientific or mystical miracle, and by others still – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an affront that must be eradicated. The question of its origins, its meaning, and if it should be eliminated or preserved is becoming urgent.
As in the first series, the heroine's actions, and her fate, are shown to be inextricably connected with the fate of the realm
In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they merge. Like the first trilogy, the protagonist's choices and her fate are unveiled to be inextricably linked with the fate of the universe. Her individual journey to reconnect with her soul and rediscover her vision becomes the primary battleground in a broader battle with an controlling government which, as these systems always have, is attempting to suppress independence of thinking, innovation and expression: all the personal, rebellious ways in which humans can be free.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The book starts with the discovery of a collection of strange openings in the fabric of the world's atmosphere: portals that look to lead to other worlds. A particular portal manifests to be the point of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The authority, with its leader at its head, labels these windows as a challenge to the religion's beliefs and sets out to destroy them. As the heroine begins to turn away from strict rationalism and revert to intuition, yet, her conviction that these places must be preserved – that their meaning and what they provide is mysteriously vital – increases. "The substance, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we need it." The stage for a philosophical tussle between purity and experience is established.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
