Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the next of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that manifests, in this volume especially, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Institutions are failing, or restructuring themselves along novel and troubling lines. An invisible force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from governments, and pooling in the offices of theocrats, the coffers of corporations, the control of mobs. "An element is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and strong are deteriorating and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Exactly what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that animates the concluding book, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's concluding venture into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced in the distant past, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose terrain maps on to that of the real world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans look and think and behave like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, beings in animal form; where the heavens are filled with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but underneath, vehicles are caught and drinks is sipped, and middle-aged professors carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the first volume, the origin story with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a adult: still recognisably the spiky and persistent protagonist of the prior volumes, but older, melancholic, more cautious, less certain. This circumscription is intensified by her division from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to depart in pursuit of that childlike part of Lyra which she appears to have shed (an trait which he epitomises as her "vision"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the driving forces of the prior book, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a adventurous journey across the continent and into the Caucasus, encountering with amazement and danger on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the religious ruling body, and the author's masterfully eerie embodiment of strict, administrative malice – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. Marcel Delamare – our protagonist's relative, who faults her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the position of leader of the Magisterium's governing body, and is determined on using his newfound authority to expand the religion's dominium. Another protagonist, who saved young Lyra to security along a overflowing river as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an Oxford don with a secondary role in espionage: he is sent to a key location to learn more about his plans. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and costly botanical extract which appears mysteriously to be the cause of a societal and financial crisis spreading out from the region. The oil is viewed by certain groups as a marketable commodity, by others as a scientific or esoteric wonder, and by others still – the extremist "men from the mountains" – as a source of darkness; an insult that must be obliterated. The issue of where it comes from, its significance, and whether it should be removed or protected is escalating in importance.
As in the original trilogy, Lyra's deeds, and her fate, are revealed to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the realm
In the previous volume, these storylines ran mostly in tandem. In The Rose Field, they converge. Like the original series, the protagonist's choices and her destiny are unveiled to be inseparably woven with the destiny of the world. Her individual quest to rejoin with her soul and regain her imagination becomes the key struggle in a wider battle with an controlling government which, as such regimes often attempt, is attempting to stifle autonomy of thought, innovation and art: all the personal, resistant ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The story begins with the unveiling of a collection of curious cracks in the structure of the world's atmosphere: windows that appear to open into other worlds. One such opening manifests to be the origin of the highly contested mystical extract. The authority, with its leader at its head, designates these windows as a problem to the religion's beliefs and endeavors to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to move from strict rationalism and revert to instinct, yet, her belief that these locations must be defended – that their significance and what they provide is mysteriously vital – increases. "The substance, or rose oil, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a philosophical struggle between naivety and knowledge is established.
Narrative Pacing and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
