Tings are unraveling in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a world that appears, now more than ever, as a charged and skewed version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or restructuring themselves along new and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Authority is flowing away from states, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the treasuries of conglomerates, the grasp of crowds. "Something is at work, stealthily, gradually", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his seat in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and durable are faltering and failing."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Just what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that propels this final volume, which resumes where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final venture into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling world he first introduced 30 years ago, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose terrain corresponds to that of our world, but whose chronicles veers and changes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and behave like us, but are paired by animal souls, souls in beast form; where the skies are filled with witches and mythical beasts, but underneath, buses are taken and beverages is drunk, and middle-aged scholars carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a baby in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a young woman: still clearly the prickly and tenacious protagonist of the previous installments, but older, sadder, warier, less sure. This restraint is amplified by her separation from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
His choice to go off in search of that innocent part of her which she appears to have shed (an trait which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her journey to rejoin with him, were the catalysts of the prior book, which saw Lyra undertake a adventurous voyage across the continent and into the Caucasus, facing with wonder and risk on the way. But from the beginning, underlying forces were in action, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the religious ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister representation of strict, bureaucratic malice – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's relative, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the position of president of the church's governing body, and is set on using his fresh power to extend the institution's control. Another protagonist, who saved infant the heroine to security along a swollen Thames as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an university scholar with a sideline in espionage: he is dispatched to Geneva to learn more about Delamare's plans. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the scarce and precious essential oil which manifests mysteriously to be the source of a social and financial crisis spreading out from Central Asia. The substance is viewed by various factions as a tradeable commodity, by others as a empirical or mystical miracle, and by yet others – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of evil; an affront that must be eradicated. The question of its source, its meaning, and if it should be destroyed or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
Like the original trilogy, our protagonist's deeds, and her destiny, are revealed to be inseparably linked with the future of the realm
In the previous volume, these storylines ran mostly in tandem. In The Rose Field, they converge. Similar to the original series, Lyra's movements and her destiny are shown to be inextricably entwined with the fate of the world. Her individual journey to reconnect with her soul and regain her vision becomes the central battleground in a wider battle with an authoritarian system which, as these systems typically do, is attempting to quell freedom of thought, innovation and expression: all the inner, resistant ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The story begins with the finding of a series of curious cracks in the structure of the world's air: windows that look to lead to alternate realities. One such portal manifests to be the source of the highly contested mystical extract. The Magisterium, with its leader at its leadership, classifies these openings as a challenge to the religion's doctrine and endeavors to destroy them. As Lyra begins to move from rigid reason and return to intuition, yet, her belief that these places must be defended – that what they stand for and their value is somehow essential – increases. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a philosophical tussle between naivety and knowledge is prepared.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
