Tings are falling apart in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that manifests, in this volume especially, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or restructuring themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from governments, and accumulating in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of business empires, the grasp of crowds. "Something is at work, silently, very subtly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and solid are deteriorating and failing."
The Central Mystery and Her Quest
Precisely what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that drives the concluding book, which resumes where its predecessor ended. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final venture into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced in the distant past, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography aligns with that of this world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals look and think and act like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, souls in beast form; where the skies are filled with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but below, vehicles are taken and beverages is sipped, and middle-aged professors carry Harrods shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the first volume, the origin story with which Pullman began the series, is now a adult: still recognisably the sharp and tenacious protagonist of the prior volumes, but more mature, more sorrowful, more careful, less sure. This circumscription is intensified by her split from her soul companion, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which made him desert her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
His choice to depart in quest of that youthful part of her which she seems to have lost (an trait which he represents as her "creativity"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous trek across the continent and into the Caucasus, meeting with marvel and risk on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in action, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's masterfully eerie embodiment of strict, administrative wickedness – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – our protagonist's family member, who faults her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the role of president of the authority's ruling assembly, and is set on using his newfound power to expand the religion's dominium. A key character, who saved young the heroine to safety along a overflowing Thames as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in espionage: he is sent to Geneva to learn more about the antagonist's intentions. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and costly essential oil which appears in some way to be the source of a social and financial upheaval spreading out from Central Asia. The oil is viewed by some as a marketable commodity, by alternate groups as a research-based or esoteric miracle, and by yet others – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a origin of evil; an insult that must be obliterated. The question of where it comes from, its significance, and if it should be eliminated or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
Like His Dark Materials, Lyra's actions, and her fate, are shown to be inextricably linked with the destiny of the universe
In the previous volume, these storylines ran mostly in tandem. In this final book, they come together. Like the first trilogy, Lyra's actions and her path are shown to be inextricably entwined with the future of the realm. Her private journey to rejoin with her companion and regain her imagination becomes the key struggle in a larger battle with an authoritarian system which, as such regimes often attempt, is attempting to suppress freedom of thought, innovation and expression: all the internal, defiant ways in which humans can be free.
Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles
The novel begins with the unveiling of a collection of strange fissures in the structure of the Earth's sky: windows that look to open into alternate realities. One such opening seems to be the origin of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The Magisterium, with its leader at its head, classifies these openings as a threat to the religion's doctrine and endeavors to eradicate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid logic and revert to intuition, nevertheless, her certainty that these places must be preserved – that their meaning and what they provide is mysteriously crucial – grows. "Dust, or the substance, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a philosophical conflict between purity and knowledge is set.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
