Things are falling apart in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that manifests, in this volume especially, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or restructuring themselves along novel and troubling lines. An invisible force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is draining from governments, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of conglomerates, the control of rioters. "An element is at work, silently, very subtly", says merchant a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were stable and durable are faltering and failing."
Core Enigma and Her Quest
Just what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that propels The Rose Field, which resumes where the previous book concluded. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's last foray into the elaborately built, infinitely beguiling universe he first unveiled in the distant past, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a realm whose landscape maps on to that of the real world, but whose chronicles veers and changes with ours; where the humans look and reason and act like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, beings in beast form; where the skies are populated with sorceresses and mythical beasts, but underneath, transports are ridden and tea is consumed, and mature scholars carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the prequel, the introductory book with which Pullman began the series, is now a young woman: still clearly the sharp and tenacious heroine of the previous installments, but more mature, more sorrowful, more cautious, less sure. This restraint is intensified by her division from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to go off in search of that innocent part of the heroine which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he represents as her "creativity"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the driving forces of its predecessor, which saw the protagonist undertake a picaresque journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, encountering with amazement and risk on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The religious council – the church's governing authority, and Pullman's deliciously chilling representation of strict, administrative evil – is under recent guidance, and flexing its muscles. The antagonist – the heroine's uncle, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the office of head of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his newfound authority to broaden the religion's control. Another protagonist, who saved infant Lyra to safety along a flooded river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a secondary role in intelligence work: he is sent to the city to find out more about his aims. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and precious essential oil which manifests somehow to be the source of a social and economic disturbance emanating out from the region. The oil is regarded by certain groups as a tradeable commodity, by alternate groups as a empirical or mystical miracle, and by yet others – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of evil; an affront that must be eradicated. The dilemma of its origins, its meaning, and if it should be removed or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to the original trilogy, our protagonist's deeds, and her future, are demonstrated to be deeply connected with the destiny of the realm
In the previous volume, these storylines ran mostly in tandem. In The Rose Field, they merge. As in the first trilogy, Lyra's movements and her path are unveiled to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the world. Her private mission to reunite with her soul and regain her imagination becomes the primary conflict in a larger battle with an authoritarian regime which, as such regimes always have, is seeking to stifle independence of thought, innovation and expression: all the inner, rebellious ways in which people can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The story begins with the finding of a collection of unusual openings in the makeup of the planet's atmosphere: portals that look to lead to other worlds. An example of a opening seems to be the origin of the much debated rose oil. The church, with its leader at its leadership, designates these openings as a threat to the religion's beliefs and endeavors to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid reason and return to feeling, nevertheless, her belief that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and their value is mysteriously vital – grows. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a poetic tussle between innocence and experience is prepared.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
