Tings are falling apart in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a universe that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Establishments are failing, or restructuring themselves along novel and troubling lines. An invisible force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from governments, and gathering in the halls of religious leaders, the treasuries of conglomerates, the hands of rioters. "Something is at work, very quietly, gradually", says businessman a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and solid are deteriorating and giving way."
The Central Mystery and Her Quest
Just what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that animates The Rose Field, which picks up where its predecessor concluded. This is, by all accounts, the author's final foray into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling realm he first introduced in the distant past, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose terrain aligns with that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans appear and think and act like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, souls in animal form; where the heavens are teeming with enchantresses and gryphons, but underneath, transports are taken and drinks is drunk, and older professors carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in the prequel, the prequel with which Pullman began The Book of Dust, is now a adult: still distinctly the prickly and tenacious protagonist of the earlier books, but aged, melancholic, more cautious, less sure. This limitation is heightened by her split from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to depart in pursuit of that childlike part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an trait which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which saw the protagonist undertake a picaresque journey across the continent and into the Caucasus, meeting with amazement and peril on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the faith's governing authority, and the author's deliciously chilling representation of rigid, administrative malice – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. The antagonist – the heroine's relative, who blames her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of leader of the authority's ruling assembly, and is determined on using his newfound authority to expand the church's dominium. A key character, who saved baby Lyra to refuge along a swollen river as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is sent to a key location to learn more about Delamare's intentions. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and costly botanical extract which seems in some way to be the cause of a societal and financial crisis rippling out from Central Asia. The substance is viewed by certain groups as a tradeable commodity, by different parties as a research-based or mystical miracle, and by yet others – the zealous "highland figures" – as a wellspring of evil; an insult that must be obliterated. The question of its origins, its meaning, and whether it should be removed or preserved is coming rapidly to the fore.
Like the original trilogy, our protagonist's actions, and her future, are revealed to be inextricably linked with the fate of the world
In the previous volume, these storylines ran largely in tandem. In the conclusion, they converge. Similar to the original series, the protagonist's movements and her path are revealed to be inseparably woven with the future of the universe. Her private quest to reunite with her soul and regain her vision becomes the key conflict in a larger conflict with an oppressive regime which, as such authorities typically do, is striving to stifle freedom of reason, originality and art: all the inner, rebellious ways in which people can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Ideological Conflicts
The book starts with the discovery of a series of unusual fissures in the fabric of the planet's air: portals that appear to give on to other worlds. One such window appears to be the point of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The church, with its leader at its head, classifies these portals as a challenge to the institution's doctrine and aims to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to move from rigid rationalism and back to feeling, however, her certainty that these locations must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is mysteriously crucial – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the botanical realm, or whatever we call it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a Blakean conflict between innocence and knowledge is established.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
