Things are unraveling in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the next of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a world that appears, now more than ever, as a intense and skewed version of our own. Institutions are crumbling, or reorganizing themselves along novel and troubling lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is flowing away from governments, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the treasuries of corporations, the hands of crowds. "Some force is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were firm and solid are faltering and giving way."
The Central Mystery and The Protagonist's Path
Precisely what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that drives The Rose Field, which resumes where its predecessor concluded. This is, according to many, the author's final foray into the elaborately built, deeply captivating world he first introduced 30 years ago, with the launch of Northern Lights. It's a world whose terrain maps on to that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans appear and think and act like us, but are accompanied by daemons, essences in animal form; where the heavens are filled with witches and mythical beasts, but underneath, buses are ridden and tea is consumed, and mature scholars carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a infant in La Belle Sauvage, the introductory book with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a adult: still recognisably the sharp and persistent heroine of the earlier books, but more mature, sadder, warier, more doubtful. This circumscription is amplified by her separation from her daemon, her daemon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to go off in search of that innocent part of the heroine which she seems to have lost (an quality which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her mission to reconnect with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which saw Lyra undertake a adventurous voyage across Europe and into the mountain region, encountering with wonder and risk on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in motion, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the church's ruling body, and the author's brilliantly sinister representation of austere, bureaucratic malice – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. The antagonist – Lyra's family member, who faults her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of head of the church's High Council, and is intent on using his newfound authority to expand the church's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued infant Lyra to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an young boy in La Belle Sauvage, is now an university scholar with a sideline in spycraft: he is sent to the city to find out more about the antagonist's aims. And beneath all of this is the mystery surrounding the scarce and costly essential oil which seems somehow to be the source of a social and financial disturbance rippling out from that area. The oil is viewed by various factions as a tradeable commodity, by others as a scientific or spiritual phenomenon, and by yet others – the zealous "highland figures" – as a source of evil; an insult that must be destroyed. The dilemma of where it comes from, its meaning, and if it should be destroyed or protected is becoming urgent.
As in the first series, Lyra's actions, and her fate, are shown to be inextricably connected with the destiny of the world
In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in side by side. In The Rose Field, they come together. Similar to His Dark Materials, her choices and her destiny are revealed to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the realm. Her personal journey to reunite with her companion and recover her imagination becomes the primary struggle in a broader war with an oppressive system which, as such authorities always have, is attempting to suppress independence of thought, innovation and culture: all the personal, defiant ways in which people can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Moral Battles
The book opens with the unveiling of a collection of unusual cracks in the structure of the Earth's air: windows that appear to open into other worlds. An example of a portal appears to be the source of the highly contested botanical substance. The church, with its leader at its helm, designates these openings as a problem to the church's beliefs and aims to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to turn away from inflexible logic and return to instinct, nevertheless, her belief that these places must be preserved – that their meaning and what they offer is somehow vital – increases. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the vision, or the field of roses, or no matter what we name it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a philosophical conflict between purity and maturity is prepared.
Narrative Pacing and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
