Tings are falling apart in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a realm that appears, here more than ever, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is flowing away from states, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the coffers of conglomerates, the control of mobs. "Some force is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says trader a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the trade routes from his place in an city cafe. "Things we thought were secure and solid are weakening and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Just what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that propels The Rose Field, which resumes where its predecessor left off. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's final foray into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting world he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the publication of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose landscape corresponds to that of this world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals look and reason and act like us, but are joined by external spirits, souls in beast form; where the skies are filled with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, transports are caught and tea is drunk, and middle-aged scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then met once more as a infant in La Belle Sauvage, the origin story with which the author began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still clearly the prickly and persistent heroine of the earlier books, but aged, more sorrowful, more cautious, less sure. This restraint is heightened by her separation from her daemon, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which made him desert her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
His choice to leave in pursuit of that childlike part of her which she appears to have shed (an trait which he epitomises as her "vision"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which chronicled Lyra undertake a adventurous trek across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with marvel and peril on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the religious governing authority, and Pullman's deliciously chilling embodiment of strict, administrative wickedness – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. The antagonist – the heroine's relative, who faults her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the office of leader of the authority's governing body, and is intent on using his recently acquired power to extend the church's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued young the heroine to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an Oxford don with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is sent to the city to learn more about the antagonist's aims. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the scarce and precious essential oil which seems somehow to be the source of a societal and financial crisis emanating out from that area. The extract is viewed by some as a marketable good, by others as a empirical or esoteric wonder, and by yet others – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of darkness; an insult that must be eradicated. The dilemma of its source, its significance, and if it should be destroyed or protected is becoming urgent.
Similar to the original trilogy, Lyra's actions, and her fate, are revealed to be inseparably connected with the destiny of the world
In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran broadly in tandem. In The Rose Field, they converge. Similar to the original series, the protagonist's choices and her fate are revealed to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the realm. Her private journey to reconnect with her companion and recover her imagination becomes the key battleground in a larger conflict with an authoritarian system which, as such regimes typically do, is attempting to stifle freedom of reason, originality and art: all the personal, defiant ways in which people can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The novel starts with the discovery of a collection of unusual cracks in the makeup of the planet's atmosphere: portals that seem to lead to alternate realities. A particular window seems to be the point of the highly contested botanical substance. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its helm, labels these openings as a challenge to the institution's beliefs and sets out to eliminate them. As the heroine begins to turn away from inflexible logic and revert to instinct, yet, her certainty that these places must be defended – that what they stand for and their value is somehow vital – strengthens. "The substance, or the extract, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a poetic tussle between purity and experience is set.
Story Tempo and Character Development
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
