Tings are collapsing in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a realm that appears, now more than ever, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from authorities, and gathering in the offices of theocrats, the vaults of corporations, the hands of mobs. "An element is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the Silk Roads from his seat in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and strong are deteriorating and giving way."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that animates this final volume, which picks up where its predecessor concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's final foray into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting world he first introduced in the distant past, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography corresponds to that of this world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and behave like us, but are paired by daemons, essences in beast form; where the skies are filled with enchantresses and gryphons, but below, transports are taken and tea is consumed, and older academics carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the prickly and tenacious protagonist of the earlier books, but aged, sadder, more careful, less sure. This limitation is heightened by her division from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which made him desert her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
His choice to depart in quest of that youthful part of her which she may have forgotten (an trait which he epitomises as her "imagination"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which saw the protagonist undertake a picaresque voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with marvel and danger on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in action, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the religious controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling embodiment of strict, administrative malice – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's uncle, who faults her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of head of the authority's ruling assembly, and is set on using his newfound authority to expand the church's rule. Another protagonist, who carried baby the heroine to refuge along a overflowing river as an child in the first book, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is assigned to Geneva to find out more about Delamare's intentions. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and valuable essential oil which appears somehow to be the source of a social and financial crisis rippling out from Central Asia. The oil is viewed by various factions as a tradeable commodity, by alternate groups as a empirical or mystical phenomenon, and by further factions – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a source of evil; an affront that must be destroyed. The issue of its origins, what it stands for, and if it should be eliminated or protected is escalating in importance.
As in His Dark Materials, our protagonist's deeds, and her fate, are shown to be deeply connected with the future of the world
In its predecessor, these narratives ran mostly in parallel. In this final book, they converge. Similar to the first trilogy, Lyra's choices and her fate are shown to be inseparably woven with the future of the realm. Her individual quest to reunite with her companion and regain her creativity becomes the key struggle in a broader battle with an controlling regime which, as these systems often attempt, is striving to suppress freedom of reason, originality and art: all the inner, resistant ways in which individuals can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The book begins with the discovery of a collection of curious fissures in the fabric of the world's atmosphere: gateways that seem to lead to other worlds. An example of a opening appears to be the source of the highly contested mystical extract. The Magisterium, with its leader at its helm, designates these openings as a challenge to the church's doctrine and aims to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to shift from strict rationalism and return to instinct, yet, her belief that these sites must be defended – that what they stand for and what they offer is somehow crucial – strengthens. "Dust, or the extract, or the imagination, or the Rose Field, or whatever we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a poetic conflict between innocence and knowledge is set.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
