Tings are collapsing in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a universe that manifests, now more than ever, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Institutions are failing, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from authorities, and pooling in the chambers of religious leaders, the treasuries of conglomerates, the grasp of rioters. "An element is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Things we thought were stable and solid are faltering and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and The Protagonist's Path
Exactly what that element might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that drives The Rose Field, which continues where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, the author's concluding excursion into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced three decades past, with the publication of Northern Lights. It's a realm whose geography corresponds to that of the real world, but whose past veers and changes with ours; where the individuals look and think and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, souls in animal form; where the heavens are teeming with witches and legendary creatures, but underneath, buses are caught and drinks is consumed, and middle-aged academics carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in La Belle Sauvage, the prequel with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a young woman: still clearly the sharp and tenacious protagonist of the previous installments, but aged, melancholic, warier, less sure. This limitation is amplified by her division from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to depart in pursuit of that innocent part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an trait which he represents as her "vision"), and her quest to rejoin with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with amazement and risk on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in motion, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the church's controlling power, and the author's deliciously chilling incarnation of strict, procedural malice – is under recent guidance, and asserting its power. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's family member, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the position of president of the church's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his fresh influence to extend the church's rule. A key character, who saved young Lyra to safety along a flooded Thames as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in spycraft: he is dispatched to a key location to find out more about his aims. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and valuable rose oil which manifests in some way to be the source of a societal and economic disturbance rippling out from the region. The extract is regarded by some as a tradeable product, by different parties as a empirical or mystical wonder, and by further factions – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a origin of evil; an affront that must be obliterated. The question of where it comes from, its significance, and if it should be eliminated or protected is becoming urgent.
Similar to the first series, the heroine's actions, and her future, are shown to be inseparably connected with the destiny of the world
In the previous volume, these storylines ran broadly in side by side. In this final book, they come together. Like the first trilogy, her movements and her destiny are unveiled to be inseparably woven with the fate of the universe. Her private quest to rejoin with her daemon and regain her vision becomes the primary conflict in a broader conflict with an controlling government which, as such authorities typically do, is striving to stifle freedom of thought, innovation and expression: all the personal, rebellious ways in which people can be independent.
Dimensional Rifts and Ideological Conflicts
The story begins with the finding of a collection of curious cracks in the structure of the planet's atmosphere: portals that seem to give on to different dimensions. One such window appears to be the origin of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The church, with the antagonist at its head, labels these portals as a threat to the religion's beliefs and aims to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to shift from rigid rationalism and revert to intuition, yet, her belief that these places must be defended – that their meaning and what they provide is in some way crucial – grows. "The substance, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the botanical realm, or whatever we name it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a poetic tussle between purity and maturity is set.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
