Things are collapsing in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that appears, here more than ever, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reassembling themselves along new and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is draining from authorities, and pooling in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of corporations, the grasp of crowds. "An element is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his place in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and durable are deteriorating and giving way."
Core Enigma and Her Quest
Just what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that drives the concluding book, which resumes where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, reportedly, the author's final venture into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling realm he first introduced three decades past, with the publication of Northern Lights. It's a world whose geography aligns with that of our world, but whose past veers and changes with ours; where the individuals look and reason and act like us, but are joined by external spirits, essences in animal form; where the skies are filled with witches and mythical beasts, but underneath, transports are taken and drinks is sipped, and middle-aged academics carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the first trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in the prequel, the introductory book with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the prickly and persistent heroine of the earlier books, but older, sadder, warier, more doubtful. This restraint is amplified by her split from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the cause which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
The daemon's resolve to go off in quest of that childlike part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an trait which he epitomises as her "imagination"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which saw the protagonist undertake a adventurous trek across the continent and into the mountain region, meeting with wonder and peril on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in play, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the faith's controlling power, and the author's masterfully eerie incarnation of strict, bureaucratic evil – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's uncle, who blames her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the role of head of the authority's High Council, and is intent on using his recently acquired power to broaden the religion's control. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued young Lyra to security along a swollen Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a sideline in intelligence work: he is sent to Geneva to find out more about the antagonist's aims. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and costly rose oil which seems somehow to be the source of a social and economic upheaval rippling out from that area. The extract is seen by certain groups as a marketable commodity, by different parties as a research-based or spiritual phenomenon, and by yet others – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a source of darkness; an insult that must be eradicated. The issue of its source, what it stands for, and whether it should be eliminated or preserved is escalating in importance.
Like the original trilogy, Lyra's deeds, and her destiny, are revealed to be inseparably linked with the fate of the universe
In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in parallel. In this final book, they come together. Like the original series, Lyra's actions and her path are unveiled to be inseparably woven with the destiny of the world. Her individual journey to reunite with her daemon and regain her vision becomes the primary battleground in a broader battle with an oppressive regime which, as such authorities often attempt, is attempting to suppress independence of thinking, originality and culture: all the personal, resistant ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The story opens with the discovery of a series of curious fissures in the makeup of the planet's sky: gateways that appear to lead to other worlds. One such window seems to be the source of the highly contested botanical substance. The authority, with the antagonist at its helm, designates these openings as a problem to the religion's beliefs and sets out to eradicate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from inflexible reason and revert to instinct, yet, her certainty that these locations must be protected – that their significance and their value is mysteriously vital – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or the substance, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or whatever we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a poetic tussle between innocence and experience is established.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
