Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a world that seems, in this volume especially, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Institutions are failing, 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". Power is draining from states, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the coffers of corporations, the control of crowds. "Some force is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and solid are weakening and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Exactly what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that animates The Rose Field, which continues where the previous book concluded. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's last excursion into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating universe he first revealed three decades past, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose landscape corresponds to that of the real world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and think and act like us, but are paired by daemons, souls in animal form; where the air are teeming with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, buses are caught and drinks is drunk, and older professors carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the first trilogy, and then revisited as a infant in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the sharp and tenacious protagonist of the earlier books, but older, sadder, warier, more doubtful. This circumscription is intensified by her separation from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to leave in pursuit of that childlike part of her which she seems to have lost (an trait which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of the prior book, which chronicled Lyra undertake a adventurous journey across the continent and into the Caucasus, encountering with amazement and danger on the way. But from the beginning, deeper currents were in motion, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the religious governing authority, and the author's masterfully eerie embodiment of rigid, administrative malice – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's relative, who faults her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the role of head of the authority's ruling assembly, and is set on using his newfound authority to broaden the church's rule. Another protagonist, who carried baby the heroine to refuge along a swollen river as an young boy in the prequel, is now an academic with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is sent to Geneva to discover more about his plans. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the uncommon and valuable essential oil which seems in some way to be the cause of a social and economic disturbance rippling out from the region. The oil is regarded by various factions as a tradeable good, by others as a scientific or spiritual wonder, and by further factions – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a origin of evil; an insult that must be eradicated. The dilemma of where it comes from, its meaning, and whether it should be destroyed or safeguarded is becoming urgent.
As in His Dark Materials, the heroine's decisions, and her fate, are shown to be inextricably connected with the future of the realm
In the previous volume, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they converge. Similar to His Dark Materials, her actions and her fate are revealed to be deeply entwined with the future of the world. Her private quest to reconnect with her soul and regain her vision becomes the key battleground in a wider conflict with an controlling system which, as such authorities often attempt, is striving to suppress independence of reason, innovation and expression: all the personal, resistant ways in which people can be liberated.
Dimensional Rifts and Moral Battles
The story starts with the unveiling of a set of unusual openings in the fabric of the world's atmosphere: gateways that look to open into other worlds. A particular portal seems to be the origin of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The Magisterium, with its leader at its head, classifies these windows as a challenge to the institution's doctrine and aims to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to shift from inflexible reason and revert to feeling, yet, her belief that these sites must be defended – that their significance and what they offer is in some way essential – increases. "Dust, or the substance, or the imagination, or the botanical realm, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a philosophical conflict between purity and experience is set.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
