Tings are unraveling in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a realm that manifests, here more than ever, as a intense and tilted version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or restructuring themselves along novel and troubling lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from states, and gathering in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of business empires, the grasp of mobs. "Some force is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his post in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and strong are weakening and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Just what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that drives The Rose Field, which picks up where its predecessor left off. This is, according to many, the author's concluding excursion into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling realm he first revealed 30 years ago, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography corresponds to that of this world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the people appear and think and act like us, but are paired by external spirits, souls in creature form; where the air are teeming with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but below, transports are caught and drinks is sipped, and mature academics carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first met as a young girl in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the prickly and persistent main character of the previous installments, but more mature, more sorrowful, more careful, less sure. This limitation is amplified by her split from her soul companion, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the cause which made him desert her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
His choice to go off in quest of that childlike part of the heroine which she may have forgotten (an trait which he epitomises as her "vision"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which followed Lyra undertake a picaresque trek across Europe and into the mountain region, meeting with amazement and risk on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in motion, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the religious ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister incarnation of strict, procedural evil – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. The antagonist – the heroine's relative, who holds responsible her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of head of the Magisterium's High Council, and is determined on using his fresh authority to broaden the church's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued young Lyra to security along a overflowing Thames as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a additional duty in spycraft: he is assigned to a key location to learn more about his intentions. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and precious rose oil which manifests in some way to be the origin of a societal and financial crisis rippling out from that area. The extract is seen by some as a tradeable product, by different parties as a scientific or esoteric miracle, and by yet others – the extremist "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an challenge that must be obliterated. The dilemma of where it comes from, its significance, and if it should be removed or preserved is escalating in importance.
Similar to His Dark Materials, our protagonist's decisions, and her future, are demonstrated to be inseparably entwined with the fate of the universe
In the previous volume, these plots ran largely in parallel. In the conclusion, they come together. Like the original series, Lyra's movements and her path are revealed to be inextricably woven with the fate of the realm. Her personal journey to reunite with her soul and rediscover her vision becomes the primary battleground in a broader battle with an controlling government which, as these systems typically do, is striving to quell independence of thinking, innovation and art: all the personal, defiant ways in which people can be free.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The story begins with the unveiling of a set of unusual openings in the makeup of the planet's atmosphere: gateways that look to lead to different dimensions. A particular window appears to be the origin of the highly contested mystical extract. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its head, labels these openings as a challenge to the church's doctrine and endeavors to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from inflexible logic and return to intuition, however, her conviction that these locations must be defended – that their meaning and their value is in some way essential – grows. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or no matter what we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a Blakean struggle between naivety and maturity is established.
Narrative Pacing and Character Development
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
