Things are unraveling in the last installment of The Dust Trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a world that manifests, now more than ever, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reassembling themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is draining from authorities, and gathering in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of conglomerates, the control of rioters. "Something is at work, very quietly, gradually", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and durable are weakening and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path
Just what that something might be, and ways to oppose it, is the mystery that propels this final volume, which continues where its predecessor left off. This is, reportedly, the author's last excursion into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating world he first introduced 30 years ago, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose geography corresponds to that of our world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and think and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, essences in animal form; where the skies are filled with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, vehicles are caught and tea is sipped, and mature scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then met once more as a baby in La Belle Sauvage, the prequel with which Pullman began The Book of Dust, is now a young woman: still recognisably the sharp and persistent protagonist of the previous installments, but more mature, melancholic, more careful, more doubtful. This circumscription is intensified by her division from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
His choice to go off in quest of that youthful part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he represents as her "vision"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of the prior book, which chronicled Lyra undertake a adventurous trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, encountering with amazement and risk on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in play, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the religious governing authority, and the author's brilliantly sinister incarnation of austere, procedural wickedness – is under new leadership, and asserting its power. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's relative, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the role of head of the Magisterium's governing body, and is determined on using his recently acquired power to broaden the institution's rule. Another protagonist, who saved baby the heroine to safety along a flooded Thames as an child in the first book, is now an academic with a sideline in spycraft: he is sent to the city to discover more about Delamare's intentions. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the uncommon and costly botanical extract which seems in some way to be the cause of a social and financial crisis rippling out from Central Asia. The extract is viewed by some as a commercial product, by others as a scientific or spiritual miracle, and by others still – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a source of malevolence; an affront that must be destroyed. The issue of its origins, its significance, and if it should be destroyed or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to His Dark Materials, the heroine's decisions, and her destiny, are revealed to be inseparably connected with the fate of the world
In the previous volume, these storylines ran largely in side by side. In the conclusion, they come together. Like His Dark Materials, her movements and her destiny are shown to be inextricably woven with the destiny of the realm. Her individual journey to reunite with her daemon and rediscover her creativity becomes the central struggle in a larger conflict with an authoritarian regime which, as such authorities typically do, is striving to quell freedom of thought, originality and expression: all the internal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The novel begins with the unveiling of a collection of curious openings in the makeup of the world's air: portals that look to give on to different dimensions. A particular portal appears to be the point of the much debated rose oil. The authority, with its leader at its helm, designates these openings as a threat to the institution's doctrine and aims to eliminate them. As the heroine begins to shift from strict rationalism and back to instinct, yet, her belief that these sites must be protected – that their significance and their value is mysteriously essential – grows. "Dust, or the extract, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a poetic struggle between innocence and knowledge is established.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
