Things are collapsing in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a universe that seems, in this volume especially, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along novel and troubling lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from governments, and accumulating in the chambers of religious leaders, the treasuries of business empires, the hands of crowds. "An element is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the Silk Roads from his place in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and solid are deteriorating and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Just what that element might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that animates the concluding book, which continues where its predecessor concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's last excursion into the elaborately built, deeply captivating universe he first introduced in the distant past, with the launch of Northern Lights. It's a realm whose landscape aligns with that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and act like us, but are paired by animal souls, beings in creature form; where the air are populated with enchantresses and gryphons, but below, vehicles are caught and tea is sipped, and middle-aged scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first introduced to as a child in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the prequel, the prequel with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the prickly and persistent heroine of the previous installments, but older, more sorrowful, warier, less certain. This restraint is intensified by her division from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the cause which led him to leave her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to leave in search of that childlike part of her which she seems to have lost (an quality which he epitomises as her "imagination"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a picaresque voyage across the continent and into the Caucasus, facing with wonder and risk on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in action, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the religious controlling power, and the author's brilliantly sinister embodiment of rigid, procedural malice – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's uncle, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the position of leader of the authority's High Council, and is determined on using his recently acquired authority to expand the church's dominium. A key character, who rescued young Lyra to safety along a swollen Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in spycraft: he is assigned to Geneva to find out more about his plans. And underlying all of this is the mystery surrounding the scarce and precious rose oil which seems mysteriously to be the cause of a social and financial disturbance rippling out from the region. The oil is seen by various factions as a tradeable good, by others as a empirical or mystical miracle, and by others still – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a origin of evil; an affront that must be eradicated. The dilemma of its origins, its significance, and if it should be destroyed or safeguarded is becoming urgent.
Similar to the first series, the heroine's actions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inextricably connected with the destiny of the universe
In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in parallel. In The Rose Field, they merge. As in the original series, Lyra's movements and her path are unveiled to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the universe. Her private quest to reconnect with her soul and rediscover her imagination becomes the central battleground in a broader battle with an authoritarian system which, as such authorities always have, is striving to stifle autonomy of thinking, creativity and culture: all the personal, rebellious ways in which humans can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The story begins with the discovery of a series of curious openings in the makeup of the planet's atmosphere: portals that look to give on to other worlds. One such opening appears to be the origin of the fiercely disputed botanical substance. The authority, with Delamare at its helm, labels these openings as a problem to the church's orthodoxy and sets out to eradicate them. As the heroine begins to move from inflexible reason and revert to intuition, nevertheless, her belief that these places must be defended – that their significance and what they offer is in some way essential – strengthens. "The substance, or the extract, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we name it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a Blakean conflict between naivety and experience is established.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the