Things are collapsing in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of the author's grand trilogies set in a realm that seems, in this volume especially, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Organizations are weakening, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and disquieting lines. An invisible force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from states, and accumulating in the chambers of religious leaders, the vaults of business empires, the hands of rioters. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and solid are faltering and failing."
Core Enigma and Her Quest
Exactly what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that drives this final volume, which picks up where its predecessor ended. This is, reportedly, the author's final excursion into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating universe he first unveiled in the distant past, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose landscape aligns with that of this world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the people look and reason and act like us, but are joined by daemons, essences in beast form; where the skies are filled with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but below, transports are ridden and beverages is consumed, and older professors carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the first trilogy, and then revisited as a infant in La Belle Sauvage, the origin story with which the author began the series, is now a adult: still clearly the sharp and tenacious protagonist of the prior volumes, but more mature, melancholic, more cautious, less certain. This circumscription is intensified by her division from her soul companion, Pan – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to depart in quest of that innocent part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an quality which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous journey across the continent and into the Caucasus, encountering with amazement and danger on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in action, and darker forces at work. The Magisterium – the religious governing authority, and Pullman's masterfully eerie representation of rigid, procedural evil – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's uncle, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of leader of the church's governing body, and is determined on using his newfound power to broaden the religion's rule. Malcolm Polstead, who saved infant Lyra to safety along a overflowing Thames as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a additional duty in spycraft: he is sent to a key location to learn more about Delamare's aims. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and valuable essential oil which manifests in some way to be the source of a societal and economic upheaval rippling out from that area. The oil is regarded by various factions as a marketable commodity, by others as a scientific or mystical phenomenon, and by yet others – the extremist "men from the mountains" – as a origin of malevolence; an affront that must be obliterated. The question of where it comes from, its meaning, and whether it should be destroyed or protected is escalating in importance.
Like His Dark Materials, Lyra's decisions, and her fate, are revealed to be inseparably entwined with the future of the realm
In its predecessor, these plots ran broadly in tandem. In the conclusion, they converge. As in the first trilogy, Lyra's actions and her destiny are shown to be inextricably woven with the destiny of the universe. Her personal journey to reconnect with her daemon and rediscover her vision becomes the key conflict in a broader battle with an oppressive government which, as such regimes typically do, is striving to stifle freedom of thinking, originality and art: all the internal, defiant ways in which individuals can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The book opens with the discovery of a set of strange cracks in the structure of the world's sky: gateways that look to lead to alternate realities. An example of a portal manifests to be the point of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The church, with the antagonist at its helm, classifies these portals as a threat to the church's doctrine and aims to destroy them. As the heroine begins to turn away from inflexible reason and revert to instinct, yet, her conviction that these sites must be defended – that their meaning and their value is somehow vital – grows. "Dust, or the substance, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or whatever we label it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a Blakean tussle between purity and maturity is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
