Things are unraveling in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a universe that manifests, here more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along new and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is draining from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of business empires, the grasp 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 city cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and strong are faltering and giving way."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Just what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that propels The Rose Field, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final excursion into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting universe he first unveiled in the distant past, with the publication of Northern Lights. It's a realm whose geography maps on to that of our world, but whose history veers and changes with ours; where the humans appear and reason and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, essences in creature form; where the skies are teeming with witches and gryphons, but below, buses are ridden and beverages is drunk, and middle-aged scholars carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first introduced to as a child in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began this trilogy, is now a young woman: still distinctly the prickly and determined protagonist of the prior volumes, but aged, melancholic, more cautious, more doubtful. This limitation is amplified by her division from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to leave in search of that youthful part of her which she seems to have lost (an trait which he represents as her "vision"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw Lyra undertake a picaresque journey across the continent and into the mountain region, meeting with amazement and danger on the way. But from the beginning, deeper currents were in action, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the church's governing authority, and Pullman's masterfully eerie representation of rigid, administrative malice – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's family member, who faults her for his family member's death – has worked himself into the role of president of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is determined on using his recently acquired power to extend the church's control. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued infant the heroine to refuge along a overflowing river as an young boy in La Belle Sauvage, is now an Oxford don with a secondary role in espionage: he is assigned to the city to learn more about the antagonist's plans. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and valuable essential oil which seems somehow to be the source of a societal and economic disturbance spreading out from the region. The extract is viewed by various factions as a commercial product, by others as a scientific or spiritual miracle, and by others still – the extremist "highland figures" – as a origin of evil; an challenge that must be eradicated. The issue of its source, what it stands for, and if it should be destroyed or protected is escalating in importance.
Similar to the first series, the heroine's deeds, and her future, are shown to be deeply connected with the future of the world
In the previous volume, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In the conclusion, they merge. Like His Dark Materials, her actions and her destiny are shown to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the universe. Her private quest to reunite with her companion and recover her vision becomes the primary conflict in a larger war with an controlling system which, as such authorities always have, is striving to stifle independence of thought, creativity and expression: all the internal, rebellious ways in which people can be liberated.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The book begins with the discovery of a collection of curious fissures in the fabric of the world's sky: gateways that seem to lead to alternate realities. An example of a portal seems to be the origin of the much debated mystical extract. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its head, designates these openings as a threat to the church's orthodoxy and sets out to eliminate them. As Lyra begins to shift from rigid reason and return to instinct, yet, her certainty that these locations must be defended – that their significance and what they provide is mysteriously crucial – increases. "Dust, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or whatever we name it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a poetic struggle between purity and experience is established.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
