Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the next of the author's masterful trilogies set in a universe that appears, in this volume especially, as a intense and tilted version of our own. Organizations are weakening, or reassembling themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from governments, and pooling in the offices of religious leaders, the vaults of business empires, the control of rioters. "Something is at work, silently, gradually", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were firm and strong are weakening and giving way."
Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path
Just what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that drives The Rose Field, which continues where its predecessor ended. This is, reportedly, the author's last venture into the elaborately built, infinitely beguiling realm he first introduced in the distant past, with the publication of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose landscape aligns with that of this world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the people appear and think and behave like us, but are paired by external spirits, essences in beast form; where the heavens are filled with enchantresses and gryphons, but below, transports are taken and tea is consumed, and older scholars carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a child in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a infant in the prequel, the origin story with which Pullman began the series, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the sharp and determined main character of the earlier books, but older, melancholic, more cautious, less certain. This circumscription is heightened by her division from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to leave in quest of that innocent part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an trait which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which saw Lyra undertake a picaresque voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, meeting with amazement and risk on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in motion, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the faith's controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling representation of austere, procedural evil – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. The antagonist – our protagonist's relative, who blames her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the role of leader of the Magisterium's High Council, and is determined on using his newfound power to broaden the religion's dominium. A key character, who carried baby the heroine to refuge along a swollen river as an young boy in the first book, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in espionage: he is assigned to a key location to learn more about Delamare's plans. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and precious essential oil which seems somehow to be the source of a societal and financial disturbance spreading out from Central Asia. The extract is viewed by certain groups as a commercial product, by others as a empirical or spiritual miracle, and by yet others – the zealous "highland figures" – as a source of darkness; an affront that must be obliterated. The question of where it comes from, its significance, and if it should be destroyed or preserved is becoming urgent.
Similar to the first series, the heroine's deeds, and her fate, are revealed to be inextricably linked with the fate of the world
In The Secret Commonwealth, these plots ran broadly in tandem. In this final book, they merge. As in the original series, her movements and her path are revealed to be inseparably linked with the future of the universe. Her private quest to rejoin with her soul and rediscover her creativity becomes the central struggle in a larger conflict with an authoritarian regime which, as these systems often attempt, is attempting to suppress autonomy of thinking, creativity and expression: all the personal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be free.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The story starts with the discovery of a series of curious cracks in the structure of the world's atmosphere: portals that appear to give on to alternate realities. An example of a window seems to be the origin of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The authority, with its leader at its leadership, designates these portals as a challenge to the religion's beliefs and aims to eliminate them. As the heroine begins to move from inflexible reason and return to instinct, nevertheless, her certainty that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is somehow vital – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or the substance, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or no matter what we name it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a philosophical struggle between purity and experience is set.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
