Things are collapsing in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a world that seems, now more than ever, as a charged and skewed version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along unfamiliar and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from states, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the treasuries of corporations, the control of crowds. "Something is at work, stealthily, 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 strong are weakening and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path
Precisely what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that propels this final volume, which resumes where the previous book ended. This is, according to many, Pullman's last excursion into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting realm he first unveiled three decades past, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a realm whose geography corresponds to that of the real world, but whose past veers and changes with ours; where the humans appear and reason and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, souls in beast form; where the heavens are filled with enchantresses and gryphons, but below, transports are ridden and tea is consumed, and mature professors carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the prequel, the prequel with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the spiky and persistent main character of the earlier books, but aged, more sorrowful, warier, less certain. This limitation is amplified by her split from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to leave in search of that youthful part of the heroine which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a picaresque journey across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with amazement and risk on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in motion, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the religious ruling body, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister embodiment of strict, administrative wickedness – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. The antagonist – Lyra's relative, who blames her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the position of head of the Magisterium's High Council, and is determined on using his recently acquired authority to extend the institution's control. A key character, who saved young the heroine to safety along a swollen river as an child in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a sideline in spycraft: he is sent to Geneva to discover more about his plans. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the scarce and valuable essential oil which appears in some way to be the source of a societal and financial disturbance spreading out from that area. The substance is seen by certain groups as a marketable product, by others as a scientific or esoteric wonder, and by yet others – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of evil; an challenge that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its origins, its significance, and if it should be eliminated or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
Like His Dark Materials, the heroine's decisions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be deeply connected with the fate of the realm
In the previous volume, these narratives ran mostly in side by side. In the conclusion, they come together. As in His Dark Materials, her actions and her destiny are shown to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the universe. Her personal quest to reconnect with her daemon and regain her imagination becomes the central battleground in a broader battle with an controlling regime which, as such authorities typically do, is seeking to quell autonomy of thinking, originality and culture: all the internal, defiant ways in which humans can be independent.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The story begins with the unveiling of a series of strange openings in the makeup of the planet's air: portals that look to give on to other worlds. A particular window seems to be the point of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The church, with Delamare at its helm, designates these portals as a threat to the institution's orthodoxy and endeavors to eradicate them. As the heroine begins to move from strict logic and return to instinct, however, her certainty that these locations must be defended – that their significance and what they provide is in some way crucial – increases. "Cosmic particles, or the substance, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a philosophical tussle between innocence and knowledge is established.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
