Tings are unraveling in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a world that manifests, in this volume especially, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along unfamiliar and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Authority is shifting from governments, and accumulating in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of business empires, the hands of crowds. "An element is at work, stealthily, gradually", says merchant a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and durable are weakening and giving way."
Core Enigma and Her Quest
Precisely what that something might be, and ways to oppose it, is the inquiry that drives The Rose Field, which continues where its predecessor left off. This is, according to many, the author's last foray into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting world he first revealed in the distant past, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose landscape corresponds to that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals look and think and behave like us, but are paired by daemons, souls in creature form; where the skies are populated with enchantresses and gryphons, but below, vehicles are caught and beverages is consumed, and middle-aged scholars carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the sharp and determined protagonist of the earlier books, but more mature, sadder, warier, less certain. This limitation is intensified by her separation from her soul companion, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which led him to leave her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
His choice to leave in quest of that innocent part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an trait which he represents as her "creativity"), and her quest to rejoin with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed the protagonist undertake a picaresque journey across Europe and into the mountain region, facing with marvel and peril on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in action, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the church's ruling body, and the author's masterfully eerie representation of rigid, bureaucratic malice – is under recent guidance, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's family member, who blames her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the office of leader of the Magisterium's governing body, and is set on using his fresh power to extend the religion's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who saved baby the heroine to refuge along a flooded Thames as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in spycraft: he is dispatched to the city to learn more about Delamare's aims. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and precious rose oil which manifests somehow to be the origin of a societal and economic crisis emanating out from that area. The oil is viewed by some as a marketable commodity, by different parties as a empirical or mystical wonder, and by others still – the zealous "highland figures" – as a origin of darkness; an affront that must be destroyed. The issue of where it comes from, its significance, and if it should be removed or safeguarded is becoming urgent.
Similar to His Dark Materials, Lyra's actions, and her destiny, are shown to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the realm
In its predecessor, these storylines ran broadly in tandem. In The Rose Field, they merge. As in the original series, the protagonist's movements and her fate are unveiled to be inseparably linked with the fate of the world. Her private mission to rejoin with her soul and rediscover her imagination becomes the key struggle in a larger battle with an oppressive government which, as these systems typically do, is striving to quell independence of thought, innovation and culture: all the inner, rebellious ways in which humans can be free.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The book starts with the discovery of a collection of strange openings in the structure of the Earth's sky: portals that appear to lead to alternate realities. An example of a portal seems to be the origin of the highly contested mystical extract. The Magisterium, with its leader at its leadership, labels these openings as a threat to the institution's beliefs and sets out to destroy them. As Lyra begins to turn away from rigid rationalism and back to instinct, nevertheless, her certainty that these locations must be protected – that what they stand for and their value is in some way vital – grows. "The substance, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or whatever we name it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a Blakean tussle between naivety and experience is established.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
