Tings are collapsing in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a universe that seems, now more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or reassembling themselves along new and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is draining from governments, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the treasuries of conglomerates, the grasp of mobs. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and durable are faltering and collapsing."
The Central Mystery 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 Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, reportedly, Pullman's concluding venture into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling world he first revealed in the distant past, with the launch of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose geography aligns with that of our world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and reason and act like us, but are joined by external spirits, souls in beast form; where the heavens are filled with enchantresses and gryphons, but underneath, vehicles are taken and drinks is sipped, and mature professors carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first introduced to as a child in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the first volume, the introductory book with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a young woman: still clearly the sharp and determined main character of the earlier books, but more mature, more sorrowful, warier, more doubtful. This circumscription is intensified by her split from her soul companion, her daemon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to depart in search of that youthful part of her which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous voyage across Europe and into the mountain region, meeting with wonder and risk on the way. But from the outset, deeper currents were in motion, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the faith's ruling body, and the author's brilliantly sinister embodiment of rigid, bureaucratic evil – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's relative, who blames her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of head of the church's High Council, and is intent on using his fresh authority to expand the religion's rule. A key character, who rescued baby the heroine to refuge along a swollen river as an child in the first book, is now an academic with a secondary role in espionage: he is sent to the city to find out more about his aims. And underlying all of this is the mystery surrounding the scarce and precious essential oil which manifests mysteriously to be the origin of a societal and financial crisis emanating out from Central Asia. The extract is seen by various factions as a tradeable commodity, by others as a empirical or mystical miracle, and by others still – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a source of malevolence; an affront that must be obliterated. The issue of its source, its significance, and if it should be destroyed or protected is becoming urgent.
As in the first series, Lyra's actions, and her destiny, are shown to be deeply connected with the future of the realm
In its predecessor, these narratives ran largely in side by side. In this final book, they converge. Like the first trilogy, Lyra's actions and her path are revealed to be inseparably entwined with the future of the realm. Her personal mission to reunite with her daemon and recover her vision becomes the primary struggle in a larger battle with an oppressive government which, as such authorities always have, is seeking to quell autonomy of thought, creativity and art: all the personal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The story begins with the unveiling of a series of strange cracks in the makeup of the Earth's atmosphere: portals that seem to lead to other worlds. One such window seems to be the point of the highly contested rose oil. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its helm, designates these windows as a problem to the church's orthodoxy and sets out to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from inflexible logic and return to instinct, nevertheless, her certainty that these sites must be protected – that what they stand for and what they provide is mysteriously essential – grows. "The substance, or rose oil, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a philosophical tussle between purity and knowledge is set.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
