Tings are falling apart in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the second 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. Institutions are failing, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An invisible force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from states, and accumulating in the halls of theocrats, the coffers of conglomerates, the grasp of mobs. "Something is at work, very quietly, gradually", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the Silk Roads from his post in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and strong are deteriorating and giving way."
Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path
Exactly what that something might be, and ways to oppose it, is the mystery that drives this final volume, which picks up where its predecessor left off. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's last foray into the elaborately built, deeply captivating world he first introduced three decades past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose landscape corresponds to that of our world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and think and behave like us, but are paired by external spirits, souls in creature form; where the air are filled with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but below, buses are caught and tea is consumed, and older academics carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in the prequel, the prequel with which the author began the series, is now a young woman: still distinctly the sharp and determined protagonist of the prior volumes, but more mature, more sorrowful, more careful, more doubtful. This restraint is intensified by her split from her soul companion, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to depart in quest of that childlike part of her which she may have forgotten (an quality which he represents as her "imagination"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous voyage across the continent and into the mountain region, facing with amazement and risk on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in action, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the religious ruling body, and the author's deliciously chilling embodiment of strict, procedural evil – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's family member, who faults her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the office of president of the Magisterium's governing body, and is set on using his newfound influence to broaden the church's dominium. A key character, who carried infant Lyra to safety along a overflowing river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a sideline in espionage: he is assigned to Geneva to find out more about the antagonist's intentions. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the scarce and valuable essential oil which appears mysteriously to be the origin of a social and economic upheaval spreading out from the region. The extract is viewed by various factions as a tradeable product, by different parties as a scientific or esoteric wonder, and by yet others – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of malevolence; an affront that must be eradicated. The dilemma of its source, what it stands for, and if it should be eliminated or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
Similar to the first series, Lyra's deeds, and her destiny, are shown to be deeply linked with the destiny of the universe
In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran largely in tandem. In The Rose Field, they merge. Like the first trilogy, the protagonist's movements and her path are shown to be deeply entwined with the fate of the universe. Her personal journey to rejoin with her soul and recover her vision becomes the primary battleground in a broader conflict with an controlling regime which, as such authorities typically do, is attempting to quell autonomy of thinking, originality and art: all the internal, defiant ways in which humans can be liberated.
Dimensional Rifts and Ideological Conflicts
The novel begins with the discovery of a collection of unusual openings in the fabric of the planet's air: portals that seem to lead to alternate realities. One such portal manifests to be the source of the much debated rose oil. The Magisterium, with its leader at its leadership, designates these windows as a threat to the religion's beliefs and endeavors to eliminate them. As Lyra begins to move from strict rationalism and back to instinct, yet, her certainty that these locations must be preserved – that what they stand for and what they provide is in some way essential – grows. "The substance, or rose oil, or the vision, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a philosophical tussle between purity and knowledge is established.
Story Tempo and Character Development
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
