Things are falling apart in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's masterful trilogies set in a realm that appears, in this volume especially, as a intense and tilted version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Power is draining from states, and accumulating in the chambers of religious leaders, the treasuries of conglomerates, the hands of crowds. "An element is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says trader a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and durable are weakening and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and Her Quest
Just what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that animates this final volume, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, according to many, Pullman's concluding excursion into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling world he first revealed in the distant past, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose geography corresponds to that of this world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and reason and behave like us, but are joined by daemons, souls in creature form; where the heavens are filled with witches and legendary creatures, but underneath, transports are caught and tea is sipped, and mature academics carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the first volume, the introductory book with which the author began this trilogy, is now a adult: still clearly the sharp and determined main character of the prior volumes, but aged, sadder, more careful, more doubtful. This circumscription is amplified by her split from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, unexpectedly, the cause which made him desert her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to depart in search of that childlike part of her which she appears to have shed (an aspect which he represents as her "vision"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which saw Lyra undertake a wandering journey across the continent and into the mountain region, facing with wonder and risk on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in motion, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the church's governing authority, and Pullman's deliciously chilling incarnation of strict, administrative evil – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's uncle, who faults her for his sibling's death – has positioned himself into the position of head of the Magisterium's governing body, and is intent on using his newfound influence to expand the church's control. Another protagonist, who rescued infant the heroine to safety along a swollen river as an young boy in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a sideline in espionage: he is sent to the city to discover more about his aims. And underlying all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and costly botanical extract which seems mysteriously to be the cause of a societal and financial upheaval emanating out from the region. The extract is viewed by some as a tradeable product, by others as a research-based or mystical wonder, and by further factions – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a origin of darkness; an challenge that must be eradicated. The question of where it comes from, its meaning, and if it should be removed or protected is becoming urgent.
As in the original trilogy, our protagonist's deeds, and her destiny, are revealed to be inextricably connected with the future of the world
In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran broadly in parallel. In this final book, they come together. As in His Dark Materials, the protagonist's movements and her path are shown to be inextricably woven with the destiny of the world. Her private mission to reunite with her daemon and regain her creativity becomes the primary battleground in a larger war with an oppressive government which, as these systems typically do, is attempting to quell independence of reason, originality and art: all the internal, defiant ways in which people can be liberated.
Dimensional Rifts and Ideological Conflicts
The novel begins with the unveiling of a collection of strange cracks in the structure of the planet's atmosphere: windows that look to lead to alternate realities. A particular portal manifests to be the origin of the much debated mystical extract. The authority, with its leader at its leadership, labels these portals as a threat to the institution's orthodoxy and sets out to destroy them. As Lyra begins to shift from strict reason and back to feeling, nevertheless, her conviction that these sites must be defended – that their meaning and what they provide is somehow vital – grows. "The substance, or the extract, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or no matter what we name it," she says, "we require it." The setting for a poetic conflict between naivety and experience is set.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
