Things are falling apart in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that appears, now more than ever, as a charged and skewed version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and disquieting lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from governments, and accumulating in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of business empires, the hands of crowds. "An element is at work, stealthily, gradually", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the trade routes from his place in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and strong are deteriorating and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Precisely what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that animates The Rose Field, which continues where the previous book concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's final venture into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting universe he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose geography maps on to that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans look and think and behave like us, but are paired by animal souls, essences in animal form; where the heavens are filled with sorceresses and mythical beasts, but beneath those skies, buses are ridden and beverages is consumed, and mature academics carry Harrods shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a child in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in La Belle Sauvage, the origin story with which the author began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the prickly and persistent protagonist of the previous installments, but more mature, melancholic, more careful, less sure. This circumscription is intensified by her division from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to leave in pursuit of that childlike part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an trait which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous voyage across the continent and into the Caucasus, facing with wonder and danger on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in action, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of rigid, administrative malice – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's family member, who faults her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of leader of the Magisterium's governing body, and is determined on using his fresh influence to extend the religion's control. Malcolm Polstead, who carried baby Lyra to security along a overflowing Thames as an child in the first book, is now an university scholar with a sideline in spycraft: he is dispatched to Geneva to find out more about his intentions. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the uncommon and valuable rose oil which seems mysteriously to be the cause of a societal and financial disturbance emanating out from Central Asia. The oil is regarded by various factions as a marketable product, by alternate groups as a scientific or spiritual miracle, and by yet others – the zealous "highland figures" – as a source of malevolence; an affront that must be destroyed. The issue of its origins, its significance, and whether it should be removed or preserved is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to the first series, Lyra's actions, and her future, are demonstrated to be inseparably connected with the future of the universe
In its predecessor, these plots ran largely in side by side. In the conclusion, they come together. Similar to His Dark Materials, the protagonist's movements and her destiny are unveiled to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the universe. Her individual mission to rejoin with her companion and recover her creativity becomes the primary conflict in a broader battle with an oppressive regime which, as these systems often attempt, is seeking to stifle freedom of thought, innovation and expression: all the internal, resistant ways in which humans can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The novel opens with the discovery of a set of curious openings in the structure of the Earth's sky: portals that seem to open into alternate realities. An example of a window appears to be the source of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The church, with the antagonist at its leadership, designates these portals as a problem to the religion's doctrine and aims to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to move from rigid logic and return to instinct, yet, her belief that these sites must be preserved – that their meaning and what they offer is mysteriously essential – grows. "Dust, or the substance, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a Blakean tussle between naivety and knowledge is established.
Story Tempo and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
