Things are collapsing in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a universe that appears, here more than ever, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Organizations are weakening, or restructuring themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from states, and accumulating in the halls of religious leaders, the treasuries of corporations, the hands of crowds. "Something is at work, stealthily, gradually", says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and durable are deteriorating and failing."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Just what that something might be, and ways to oppose it, is the question that propels The Rose Field, which continues where the previous book left off. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's last foray into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating world he first revealed in the distant past, with the publication of Northern Lights. It's a world whose geography corresponds to that of this world, but whose chronicles veers and changes with ours; where the humans appear and think and act like us, but are paired by animal souls, essences in creature form; where the heavens are teeming with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, buses are caught and beverages is drunk, and middle-aged professors carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first met as a child in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the first volume, the prequel with which Pullman began the series, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the sharp and tenacious main character of the earlier books, but aged, melancholic, more cautious, less certain. This limitation is heightened by her division from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to leave in quest of that youthful part of her which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of the prior book, which chronicled Lyra undertake a wandering trek across the continent and into the Caucasus, encountering with marvel and danger on the way. But from the outset, deeper currents were in play, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's deliciously chilling embodiment of rigid, procedural wickedness – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's relative, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of leader of the church's High Council, and is set on using his recently acquired authority to expand the religion's dominium. Another protagonist, who carried baby Lyra to security along a swollen river as an child in La Belle Sauvage, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in spycraft: he is sent to the city to discover more about Delamare's intentions. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and costly essential oil which seems mysteriously to be the cause of a societal and economic crisis spreading out from that area. The extract is seen by various factions as a marketable commodity, by others as a research-based or esoteric phenomenon, and by others still – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a source of malevolence; an insult that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its source, its meaning, and whether it should be removed or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in the first series, our protagonist's decisions, and her future, are shown to be deeply connected with the destiny of the universe
In the previous volume, these plots ran broadly in tandem. In the conclusion, they come together. As in His Dark Materials, the protagonist's actions and her destiny are unveiled to be deeply entwined with the destiny of the universe. Her private quest to reunite with her companion and recover her vision becomes the primary struggle in a wider war with an oppressive system which, as such authorities always have, is seeking to stifle autonomy of thinking, creativity and culture: all the internal, rebellious ways in which humans can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The novel starts with the discovery of a set of strange cracks in the makeup of the planet's air: gateways that look to give on to other worlds. An example of a window manifests to be the source of the fiercely disputed botanical substance. The church, with Delamare at its head, classifies these portals as a problem to the institution's beliefs and aims to eliminate them. As the heroine begins to move from inflexible rationalism and back to instinct, yet, her conviction that these sites must be preserved – that their meaning and what they provide is in some way vital – grows. "The substance, or the extract, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a poetic conflict between innocence and knowledge is set.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
