Tings are collapsing in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that manifests, now more than ever, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Institutions are failing, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from states, and gathering in the halls of religious leaders, the treasuries of conglomerates, the hands of rioters. "Something is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the Silk Roads from his post in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and strong are weakening and giving way."
Key Puzzle 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 The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, according to many, the author's concluding excursion into the elaborately built, endlessly enchanting world he first revealed three decades past, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose geography maps on to that of our world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and think and act like us, but are paired by daemons, essences in animal form; where the heavens are filled with witches and mythical beasts, but beneath those skies, buses are ridden and tea is sipped, and mature professors carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first introduced to as a child in the first trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the first volume, the introductory book with which Pullman began the series, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the prickly and persistent protagonist of the earlier books, but older, melancholic, more careful, less certain. This circumscription is intensified by her division from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to go off in pursuit of that innocent part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an quality which he represents as her "vision"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled Lyra undertake a picaresque journey across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with amazement and danger on the way. But from the beginning, underlying forces were in play, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the faith's governing authority, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of rigid, bureaucratic malice – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's family member, who blames her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of leader of the authority's High Council, and is determined on using his newfound influence to extend the church's control. Another protagonist, who rescued young Lyra to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an academic with a secondary role in intelligence work: he is sent to Geneva to find out more about his intentions. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and valuable rose oil which seems somehow to be the source of a social and financial upheaval emanating out from that area. The substance is regarded by various factions as a tradeable commodity, by different parties as a research-based or esoteric miracle, and by yet others – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an challenge that must be obliterated. The question of its source, its meaning, and whether it should be destroyed or protected is becoming urgent.
Similar to the original trilogy, our protagonist's deeds, and her future, are shown to be inextricably connected with the destiny of the universe
In its predecessor, these narratives ran mostly in tandem. In the conclusion, they come together. Like His Dark Materials, the protagonist's choices and her destiny are unveiled to be deeply woven with the destiny of the universe. Her individual mission to reconnect with her daemon and recover her creativity becomes the central conflict in a broader conflict with an authoritarian system which, as such authorities often attempt, is striving to stifle autonomy of reason, innovation and expression: all the personal, rebellious ways in which humans can be liberated.
Dimensional Rifts and Moral Battles
The novel opens with the unveiling of a collection of curious fissures in the makeup of the planet's atmosphere: windows that seem to lead to different dimensions. One such window seems to be the point of the highly contested rose oil. The church, with Delamare at its head, classifies these openings as a challenge to the institution's doctrine and endeavors to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to shift from strict logic and return to intuition, nevertheless, her certainty that these locations must be defended – that what they stand for and what they offer is somehow vital – strengthens. "Dust, or rose oil, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or whatever we name it," she says, "we need it." The stage for a poetic conflict between innocence and knowledge is set.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
