Things are falling apart in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of the author's masterful trilogies set in a universe that appears, now more than ever, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or restructuring themselves along novel and troubling lines. An hidden force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is shifting from governments, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the treasuries of corporations, the grasp of crowds. "Some force is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says merchant a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and strong are weakening and giving way."
Core Enigma and Her Quest
Precisely what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that animates this final volume, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, reportedly, Pullman's last foray into the elaborately built, deeply captivating world he first revealed in the distant past, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose geography maps on to that of this world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and act like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, beings in creature form; where the skies are teeming with sorceresses and gryphons, but underneath, buses are taken and beverages is sipped, and older academics carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the first volume, the origin story with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still clearly the prickly and persistent main character of the previous installments, but older, more sorrowful, more cautious, less sure. This restraint is heightened by her split from her soul companion, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
The daemon's resolve to go off in search of that childlike part of her which she seems to have lost (an aspect which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her journey to rejoin with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which saw the protagonist undertake a picaresque voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, encountering with amazement and risk on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in play, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the religious controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of rigid, procedural malice – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's relative, who blames her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of president of the Magisterium's governing body, and is determined on using his newfound influence to extend the religion's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who carried baby the heroine to safety along a swollen river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a sideline in spycraft: he is assigned to a key location to discover more about his plans. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and valuable essential oil which manifests in some way to be the origin of a societal and financial upheaval rippling out from Central Asia. The extract is seen by various factions as a tradeable good, by alternate groups as a empirical or esoteric miracle, and by further factions – the zealous "highland figures" – as a source of evil; an insult that must be obliterated. The question of where it comes from, its meaning, and whether it should be eliminated or preserved is becoming urgent.
As in His Dark Materials, our protagonist's actions, and her future, are revealed to be deeply linked with the future of the world
In the previous volume, these narratives ran mostly in tandem. In The Rose Field, they come together. Similar to the first trilogy, her movements and her fate are shown to be deeply woven with the destiny of the world. Her personal journey to reconnect with her soul and recover her creativity becomes the primary battleground in a larger war with an controlling government which, as these systems typically do, is attempting to suppress freedom of thinking, creativity and expression: all the personal, resistant ways in which people can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Moral Battles
The story begins with the discovery of a series of unusual fissures in the fabric of the world's atmosphere: portals that look to give on to different dimensions. A particular portal manifests to be the source of the highly contested botanical substance. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its head, designates these portals as a threat to the church's orthodoxy and sets out to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid rationalism and return to feeling, yet, her conviction that these places must be defended – that their meaning and what they offer is mysteriously vital – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the vision, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a poetic struggle between innocence and experience is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
