Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the next of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a world that seems, in this volume especially, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along new and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is flowing away from states, and accumulating in the offices of theocrats, the coffers of business empires, the hands of rioters. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his post in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and strong are deteriorating and giving way."
Core Enigma and The Protagonist's Path
Exactly what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that animates The Rose Field, which resumes where the previous book left off. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's final foray into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling world he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose landscape maps on to that of this world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans appear and reason and act like us, but are joined by external spirits, souls in beast form; where the air are populated with witches and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, transports are caught and tea is drunk, and older scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in La Belle Sauvage, the introductory book with which Pullman began The Book of Dust, is now a mature individual: still clearly the sharp and persistent heroine of the previous installments, but more mature, melancholic, warier, less certain. This circumscription is amplified by her separation from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
Pan's decision to depart in pursuit of that youthful part of her which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which followed the protagonist undertake a wandering journey across Europe and into the Caucasus, meeting with wonder and peril on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in play, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the church's controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of strict, administrative malice – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. The antagonist – our protagonist's uncle, who blames her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the position of head of the authority's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his newfound influence to extend the church's control. Malcolm Polstead, who saved young the heroine to safety along a flooded Thames as an young boy in the first book, is now an university scholar with a sideline in spycraft: he is assigned to Geneva to find out more about Delamare's plans. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and precious rose oil which manifests somehow to be the origin of a societal and financial crisis rippling out from that area. The extract is seen by some as a commercial commodity, by others as a scientific or esoteric wonder, and by yet others – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a source of evil; an affront that must be eradicated. The question of its origins, what it stands for, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is becoming urgent.
Similar to His Dark Materials, the heroine's deeds, and her future, are revealed to be inextricably entwined with the future of the realm
In the previous volume, these storylines ran largely in side by side. In the conclusion, they come together. Similar to the first trilogy, Lyra's choices and her destiny are unveiled to be deeply entwined with the future of the universe. Her private journey to reconnect with her daemon and regain her imagination becomes the primary conflict in a wider war with an authoritarian regime which, as such regimes typically do, is striving to suppress freedom of reason, originality and art: all the internal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be independent.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The story begins with the unveiling of a series of curious fissures in the fabric of the Earth's air: gateways that seem to lead to other worlds. A particular opening appears to be the source of the highly contested mystical extract. The Magisterium, with its leader at its helm, labels these portals as a challenge to the religion's beliefs and aims to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to shift from rigid reason and return to instinct, yet, her certainty that these places must be defended – that their meaning and their value is somehow essential – strengthens. "The substance, or the substance, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or whatever we label it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a philosophical struggle between innocence and experience is established.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
