Tings are collapsing in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a world that appears, here more than ever, as a intense and skewed version of our own. Organizations are crumbling, or reorganizing themselves along new and troubling lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is flowing away from states, and gathering in the offices of theocrats, the vaults of business empires, the grasp of crowds. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the Silk Roads from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and strong are weakening and collapsing."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Just what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that propels the concluding book, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, reportedly, the author's final excursion into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating universe he first introduced in the distant past, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose geography maps on to that of the real world, but whose past veers and changes with ours; where the individuals appear and think and behave like us, but are joined by daemons, souls in beast form; where the heavens are filled with witches and mythical beasts, but beneath those skies, transports are ridden and drinks is sipped, and older scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in the first volume, the introductory book with which Pullman began the series, is now a adult: still clearly the spiky and persistent protagonist of the prior volumes, but aged, more sorrowful, warier, more doubtful. This restraint is heightened by her separation from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
His choice to depart in pursuit of that innocent part of her which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw Lyra undertake a adventurous journey across the continent and into the mountain region, facing with marvel and risk on the way. But from the beginning, underlying forces were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The church authority – the religious controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling representation of strict, procedural evil – is under recent guidance, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's relative, who blames her for his sibling's death – has positioned himself into the role of leader of the authority's ruling assembly, and is determined on using his newfound influence to broaden the church's control. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued young Lyra to refuge along a flooded river as an child in the prequel, is now an academic with a additional duty in espionage: he is sent to Geneva to find out more about Delamare's aims. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and precious botanical extract which manifests in some way to be the source of a social and financial upheaval emanating out from the region. The substance is seen by various factions as a tradeable good, by alternate groups as a scientific or esoteric phenomenon, and by yet others – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a source of malevolence; an affront that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its source, its significance, and if it should be eliminated or protected is escalating in importance.
As in the first series, the heroine's actions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inextricably connected with the future of the world
In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in parallel. In The Rose Field, they come together. Like His Dark Materials, Lyra's movements and her path are revealed to be inseparably woven with the destiny of the world. Her private quest to rejoin with her soul and regain her imagination becomes the primary struggle in a wider conflict with an authoritarian system which, as such regimes always have, is striving to stifle freedom of thinking, creativity and expression: all the inner, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The story opens with the finding of a series of strange fissures in the makeup of the planet's atmosphere: gateways that appear to lead to alternate realities. One such opening seems to be the point of the much debated mystical extract. The authority, with the antagonist at its head, classifies these windows as a problem to the religion's beliefs and endeavors to destroy them. As Lyra begins to move from inflexible logic and revert to feeling, nevertheless, her conviction that these locations must be protected – that their meaning and their value is mysteriously crucial – increases. "Dust, or the extract, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a philosophical conflict between innocence and maturity is set.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
