Things are collapsing in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a universe that appears, in this volume especially, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is draining from states, and accumulating in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of corporations, the control of crowds. "Something is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the Silk Roads from his place in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and solid are weakening and failing."
Core Enigma and Her Quest
Precisely what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that propels the concluding book, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, according to many, the author's concluding foray into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting world he first unveiled in the distant past, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a domain whose terrain aligns with that of our world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the people appear and think and act like us, but are paired by daemons, souls in creature form; where the air are teeming with witches and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, buses are ridden and beverages is sipped, and mature scholars carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the prequel, the origin story with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the prickly and determined protagonist of the earlier books, but older, more sorrowful, warier, less certain. This restraint is intensified by her division from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to depart in search of that innocent part of the heroine which she seems to have lost (an quality which he epitomises as her "vision"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw Lyra undertake a picaresque voyage across the continent and into the Caucasus, facing with marvel and danger on the way. But from the beginning, deeper currents were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister representation of austere, procedural evil – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's relative, who holds responsible her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the position of president of the Magisterium's governing body, and is intent on using his newfound authority to expand the institution's control. Malcolm Polstead, who carried young Lyra to safety along a overflowing river as an child in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a secondary role in spycraft: he is sent to the city to learn more about Delamare's intentions. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the uncommon and valuable botanical extract which seems somehow to be the source of a societal and financial disturbance rippling out from Central Asia. The extract is seen by some as a commercial commodity, by alternate groups as a empirical or spiritual wonder, and by further factions – the zealous "highland figures" – as a origin of darkness; an affront that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its source, its significance, and whether it should be removed or protected is becoming urgent.
As in His Dark Materials, our protagonist's decisions, and her destiny, are shown to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the world
In the previous volume, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In the conclusion, they merge. Similar to the first trilogy, her actions and her fate are shown to be inextricably woven with the destiny of the world. Her private mission to rejoin with her daemon and rediscover her imagination becomes the key conflict in a larger conflict with an oppressive system which, as such regimes always have, is attempting to quell autonomy of thinking, innovation and culture: all the personal, rebellious ways in which humans can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The book begins with the unveiling of a set of strange fissures in the structure of the world's air: gateways that seem to open into alternate realities. A particular opening appears to be the source of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The Magisterium, with its leader at its leadership, labels these openings as a challenge to the church's doctrine and endeavors to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to move from inflexible logic and back to intuition, yet, her belief that these locations must be preserved – that their significance and what they offer is somehow vital – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or whatever we name it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a poetic conflict between purity and maturity is prepared.
Narrative Pacing and Protagonist Growth
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
