Things are collapsing in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of the author's masterful trilogies set in a world that seems, now more than ever, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or restructuring themselves along new and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from states, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of conglomerates, the grasp of crowds. "An element is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the Silk Roads from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and durable are faltering and giving way."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that animates the concluding book, which picks up where the previous book ended. This is, according to many, Pullman's final excursion into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced in the distant past, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose terrain corresponds to that of this world, but whose history veers and changes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and act like us, but are joined by external spirits, souls in creature form; where the air are populated with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but below, vehicles are caught and drinks is drunk, and middle-aged professors carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the first volume, the origin story with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a young woman: still distinctly the sharp and tenacious main character of the earlier books, but more mature, melancholic, more careful, less certain. This circumscription is intensified by her separation from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
The daemon's resolve to go off in pursuit of that innocent part of her which she appears to have shed (an aspect which he represents as her "imagination"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a adventurous voyage across the continent and into the mountain region, facing with marvel and danger on the way. But from the beginning, deeper currents were in motion, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the faith's controlling power, and the author's deliciously chilling incarnation of rigid, administrative wickedness – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. The antagonist – the heroine's relative, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the office of leader of the authority's governing body, and is set on using his recently acquired influence to expand the institution's dominium. A key character, who carried baby the heroine to security along a flooded river as an child in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a sideline in spycraft: he is assigned to a key location to discover more about Delamare's aims. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and precious essential oil which seems somehow to be the cause of a societal and financial upheaval spreading out from Central Asia. The extract is seen by some as a marketable good, by different parties as a research-based or mystical miracle, and by yet others – the zealous "highland figures" – as a source of darkness; an insult that must be obliterated. The question of its origins, what it stands for, and if it should be removed or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in the original trilogy, Lyra's actions, and her destiny, are shown to be inextricably connected with the destiny of the realm
In the previous volume, these narratives ran mostly in side by side. In the conclusion, they converge. As in the first trilogy, the protagonist's choices and her path are shown to be deeply linked with the future of the world. Her individual mission to reunite with her companion and regain her imagination becomes the central struggle in a wider battle with an oppressive regime which, as such authorities often attempt, is attempting to suppress independence of reason, originality and expression: all the internal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The novel starts with the discovery of a set of unusual cracks in the fabric of the Earth's sky: windows that look to open into other worlds. A particular opening appears to be the point of the much debated botanical substance. The church, with the antagonist at its leadership, labels these windows as a problem to the institution's doctrine and endeavors to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to move from strict logic and back to instinct, yet, her belief that these sites must be preserved – that their significance and their value is in some way vital – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a philosophical tussle between purity and knowledge is established.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
