Things are unraveling in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the next of the author's masterful trilogies set in a realm that manifests, in this volume especially, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reassembling themselves along novel and troubling lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from authorities, and pooling in the offices of religious leaders, the treasuries of business empires, the grasp of mobs. "Something is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and strong are weakening and giving way."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that propels the concluding book, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, according to many, Pullman's last excursion into the intricately constructed, endlessly enchanting universe he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose landscape corresponds to that of this world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans appear and reason and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, beings in creature form; where the air are teeming with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but below, buses are taken and beverages is sipped, and mature professors carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a child in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a mature individual: still clearly the prickly and tenacious protagonist of the prior volumes, but aged, sadder, warier, more doubtful. This restraint is intensified by her split from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
The daemon's resolve to leave in quest of that youthful part of her which she may have forgotten (an trait which he represents as her "creativity"), and her journey to rejoin with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw Lyra undertake a picaresque journey across Europe and into the mountain region, encountering with marvel and peril on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in play, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the church's ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister representation of strict, bureaucratic wickedness – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's relative, who blames her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the role of leader of the church's High Council, and is set on using his recently acquired power to extend the religion's control. Another protagonist, who rescued infant the heroine to security along a swollen river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a sideline in espionage: he is sent to the city to find out more about the antagonist's intentions. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and valuable botanical extract which manifests mysteriously to be the origin of a social and economic upheaval rippling out from the region. The extract is seen by some as a tradeable commodity, by alternate groups as a research-based or mystical miracle, and by yet others – the zealous "highland figures" – as a wellspring of darkness; an challenge that must be obliterated. The issue of its source, its significance, and if it should be removed or protected is becoming urgent.
Like the original trilogy, the heroine's deeds, and her future, are revealed to be inseparably connected with the destiny of the realm
In the previous volume, these plots ran largely in tandem. In The Rose Field, they merge. Similar to the original series, the protagonist's choices and her fate are unveiled to be inextricably woven with the destiny of the realm. Her individual mission to reconnect with her companion and recover her vision becomes the central battleground in a wider conflict with an oppressive system which, as such authorities always have, is seeking to stifle autonomy of thought, creativity and art: all the inner, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Dimensional Rifts and Moral Battles
The book begins with the finding of a collection of strange cracks in the structure of the Earth's atmosphere: gateways that appear to lead to alternate realities. A particular window appears to be the origin of the highly contested botanical substance. The authority, with the antagonist at its helm, designates these portals as a problem to the church's orthodoxy and endeavors to destroy them. As Lyra begins to shift from rigid rationalism and return to intuition, nevertheless, her certainty that these places must be defended – that their significance and what they provide is somehow essential – increases. "Dust, or the substance, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a Blakean tussle between innocence and experience is established.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
