Things are falling apart in the last installment of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a world that seems, in this volume especially, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Organizations are crumbling, or reorganizing themselves along unfamiliar and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Authority is flowing away from authorities, and accumulating in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of business empires, the hands of crowds. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his place in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and solid are faltering and giving way."
Core Enigma and Her Quest
Precisely what that element might be, and how to counteract it, is the question that propels The Rose Field, which continues where its predecessor concluded. This is, reportedly, the author's final excursion into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating world he first introduced in the distant past, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography maps on to that of our world, but whose past diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans look and think and act like us, but are paired by animal souls, beings in beast form; where the heavens are filled with sorceresses and gryphons, but below, vehicles are caught and tea is consumed, and older academics carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began the series, is now a young woman: still recognisably the prickly and tenacious heroine of the earlier books, but older, more sorrowful, more careful, more doubtful. This circumscription is heightened by her separation from her soul companion, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which made him desert her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
Pan's decision to leave in pursuit of that youthful part of her which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a adventurous voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with wonder and peril on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in action, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the faith's governing authority, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister incarnation of rigid, procedural evil – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's uncle, who faults her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the role of head of the Magisterium's governing body, and is set on using his recently acquired influence to expand the institution's control. Malcolm Polstead, who saved baby Lyra to safety along a swollen river as an child in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a sideline in spycraft: he is assigned to Geneva to learn more about Delamare's plans. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and precious botanical extract which appears mysteriously to be the origin of a societal and financial disturbance emanating out from that area. The substance is viewed by some as a commercial good, by alternate groups as a scientific or mystical phenomenon, and by yet others – the fanatical "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an affront that must be destroyed. The issue of where it comes from, what it stands for, and if it should be eliminated or preserved is becoming urgent.
Similar to the first series, the heroine's actions, and her fate, are demonstrated to be inseparably entwined with the future of the world
In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran largely in tandem. In the conclusion, they come together. Similar to the first trilogy, the protagonist's actions and her destiny are revealed to be inextricably woven with the future of the universe. Her individual quest to reconnect with her daemon and rediscover her imagination becomes the primary conflict in a wider conflict with an authoritarian regime which, as these systems always have, is attempting to stifle freedom of thought, innovation and culture: all the personal, resistant ways in which humans can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles
The story begins with the unveiling of a collection of strange openings in the fabric of the planet's atmosphere: gateways that seem to give on to alternate realities. An example of a portal seems to be the origin of the highly contested rose oil. The church, with the antagonist at its helm, designates these windows as a challenge to the institution's beliefs and aims to eradicate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from inflexible reason and back to feeling, yet, her belief that these locations must be preserved – that their meaning and what they offer is mysteriously vital – strengthens. "The substance, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or whatever we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a philosophical tussle between naivety and maturity is set.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
