Things are falling apart in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a universe that seems, in this volume especially, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is draining from authorities, and accumulating in the halls of theocrats, the vaults of corporations, the control of crowds. "Something is at work, stealthily, gradually", says trader a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and durable are deteriorating and failing."
The Central Mystery and The Protagonist's Path
Exactly what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that propels this final volume, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, according to many, the author's last venture into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating world he first introduced 30 years ago, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose landscape maps on to that of the real world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals appear and think and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, beings in beast form; where the skies are teeming with sorceresses and mythical beasts, but underneath, vehicles are caught and tea is consumed, and middle-aged academics carry luxury 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 toddler in the first volume, the introductory book with which the author began this trilogy, is now a young woman: still recognisably the prickly and tenacious main character of the earlier books, but older, melancholic, more careful, less certain. This limitation is intensified by her split from her soul companion, Pan – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to leave in search of that innocent part of the heroine which she seems to have lost (an aspect which he represents as her "creativity"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of the prior book, which saw Lyra undertake a wandering voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, encountering with marvel and peril on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in motion, and malevolent elements at work. The religious council – the faith's controlling power, and Pullman's masterfully eerie embodiment of rigid, procedural wickedness – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's family member, who faults her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the office of leader of the church's governing body, and is set on using his recently acquired influence to broaden the church's rule. Another protagonist, who carried young Lyra to refuge along a overflowing river as an child in the first book, is now an academic with a additional duty in spycraft: he is dispatched to a key location to discover more about Delamare's intentions. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and costly botanical extract which manifests in some way to be the origin of a social and financial upheaval spreading out from Central Asia. The extract is seen by some as a tradeable good, by different parties as a research-based or mystical miracle, and by further factions – the extremist "highland figures" – as a wellspring of darkness; an challenge that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its source, its significance, and whether it should be removed or protected is becoming urgent.
Like the original trilogy, our protagonist's decisions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inextricably linked with the future of the realm
In the previous volume, these narratives ran largely in tandem. In the conclusion, they converge. Like the first trilogy, Lyra's actions and her destiny are shown to be inseparably linked with the future of the realm. Her private quest to rejoin with her soul and rediscover her creativity becomes the key conflict in a broader battle with an authoritarian system which, as such authorities often attempt, is attempting to suppress independence of reason, originality and culture: all the personal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The story begins with the unveiling of a series of curious openings in the makeup of the planet's air: windows that seem to give on to other worlds. A particular opening seems to be the origin of the highly contested mystical extract. The church, with the antagonist at its helm, labels these windows as a problem to the institution's beliefs and endeavors to destroy them. As the heroine begins to turn away from strict logic and return to instinct, however, her conviction that these places must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is in some way vital – strengthens. "Dust, or the substance, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we name it," she says, "we require it." The stage for a Blakean tussle between naivety and knowledge is established.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
