Things are falling apart in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a realm that appears, in this volume especially, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Establishments are failing, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from states, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the treasuries of corporations, the hands of rioters. "Something is at work, silently, gradually", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and durable are faltering and giving way."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Exactly what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that drives The Rose Field, which resumes where its predecessor ended. This is, according to many, Pullman's concluding excursion into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling world he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose terrain corresponds to that of the real world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans look and reason and behave like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, souls in beast form; where the air are filled with witches and legendary creatures, but underneath, vehicles are caught and beverages is sipped, and older scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a 12-year-old in the first trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the prequel, the prequel with which Pullman began the series, is now a mature individual: still clearly the prickly and tenacious heroine of the earlier books, but more mature, melancholic, warier, less certain. This circumscription is heightened by her division from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to go off in pursuit of that youthful part of her which she may have forgotten (an quality which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw Lyra undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the mountain region, facing with wonder and risk on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The church authority – the faith's governing authority, and the author's deliciously chilling embodiment of strict, procedural evil – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's relative, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has worked himself into the position of leader of the Magisterium's governing body, and is set on using his recently acquired authority to expand the institution's control. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued baby Lyra to safety along a overflowing river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an academic with a additional duty in espionage: he is assigned to a key location to learn more about the antagonist's aims. And beneath all of this is the enigma surrounding the rare and valuable botanical extract which seems in some way to be the source of a societal and economic upheaval spreading out from the region. The extract is regarded by certain groups as a marketable good, by others as a empirical or spiritual phenomenon, and by others still – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a origin of evil; an affront that must be obliterated. The dilemma of its source, its significance, and whether it should be destroyed or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
As in the first series, the heroine's decisions, and her future, are demonstrated to be deeply linked with the future of the realm
In the previous volume, these narratives ran largely in parallel. In this final book, they converge. As in the original series, the protagonist's movements and her fate are shown to be inextricably woven with the fate of the world. Her personal journey to rejoin with her daemon and regain her creativity becomes the central battleground in a larger conflict with an oppressive government which, as such authorities always have, is striving to suppress freedom of thought, innovation and culture: all the internal, resistant ways in which individuals can be free.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The novel starts with the unveiling of a series of unusual openings in the fabric of the Earth's sky: windows that appear to open into different dimensions. An example of a portal manifests to be the origin of the much debated rose oil. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its head, classifies these openings as a threat to the institution's orthodoxy and endeavors to eradicate them. As the heroine begins to turn away from strict reason and back to feeling, however, her certainty that these sites must be protected – that their significance and their value is mysteriously vital – increases. "Cosmic particles, or the substance, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we call it," she says, "we need it." The stage for a philosophical struggle between innocence and experience is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
