Things are falling apart in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a realm that seems, in this volume especially, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Organizations are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along new and troubling lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is shifting from states, and pooling in the offices of religious leaders, the coffers of corporations, the grasp of crowds. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says trader a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his place in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and solid are faltering and failing."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that animates the concluding book, which continues where its predecessor left off. This is, according to many, Pullman's final excursion into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling realm he first unveiled three decades past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose landscape corresponds to that of this world, but whose history veers and changes with ours; where the humans appear and think and act like us, but are joined by animal souls, beings in creature form; where the skies are teeming with sorceresses and gryphons, but below, transports are taken and tea is sipped, and older academics carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the first volume, the origin story with which the author began this trilogy, is now a adult: still recognisably the sharp and determined protagonist of the previous installments, but more mature, more sorrowful, warier, less certain. This circumscription is intensified by her separation from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
His choice to depart in search of that youthful part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an trait which he epitomises as her "vision"), and her quest to rejoin with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous trek across the continent and into the mountain region, facing with amazement and risk on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's deliciously chilling representation of strict, bureaucratic evil – is under recent guidance, and flexing its muscles. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's uncle, who faults her for his sibling's death – has positioned himself into the position of head of the Magisterium's High Council, and is determined on using his recently acquired power to broaden the religion's rule. A key character, who carried infant the heroine to safety along a swollen river as an young boy in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a secondary role in spycraft: he is dispatched to the city to find out more about Delamare's plans. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and valuable botanical extract which appears somehow to be the origin of a societal and financial crisis rippling out from the region. The extract is viewed by some as a marketable good, by alternate groups as a research-based or esoteric wonder, and by further factions – the extremist "men from the mountains" – as a origin of darkness; an challenge that must be obliterated. The dilemma of where it comes from, its significance, and whether it should be removed or preserved is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to His Dark Materials, the heroine's actions, and her destiny, are revealed to be deeply entwined with the destiny of the world
In its predecessor, these narratives ran broadly in parallel. In this final book, they merge. Like His Dark Materials, the protagonist's actions and her fate are shown to be deeply entwined with the future of the universe. Her individual journey to reunite with her companion and regain her creativity becomes the central battleground in a larger war with an oppressive regime which, as such regimes often attempt, is seeking to suppress freedom of reason, creativity and art: all the personal, defiant ways in which people can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The book starts with the finding of a set of curious openings in the fabric of the Earth's atmosphere: portals that look to lead to different dimensions. An example of a portal appears to be the source of the much debated botanical substance. The authority, with Delamare at its leadership, labels these portals as a challenge to the church's doctrine and endeavors to eradicate them. As the heroine begins to shift from strict reason and return to instinct, however, her conviction that these sites must be preserved – that what they stand for and their value is mysteriously crucial – grows. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or whatever we call it," she says, "we require it." The stage for a Blakean conflict between naivety and experience is set.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
