Things are unraveling in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a universe that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reassembling themselves along new and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from authorities, and gathering in the halls of theocrats, the coffers of corporations, the control of mobs. "Something is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says merchant a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the Silk Roads from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were secure and durable are deteriorating and giving way."
The Central Mystery and Her Quest
Exactly what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the mystery that animates the concluding book, which resumes where the previous book left off. This is, according to many, the author's last foray into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating realm he first revealed three decades past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose terrain corresponds to that of the real world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans look and think and behave like us, but are paired by external spirits, essences in beast form; where the air are populated with sorceresses and gryphons, but below, transports are taken and drinks is drunk, and middle-aged professors carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a child in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in La Belle Sauvage, the introductory book with which the author began this trilogy, is now a adult: still clearly the sharp and persistent protagonist of the prior volumes, but more mature, more sorrowful, warier, less sure. This limitation is heightened by her separation from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
The daemon's resolve to leave in quest of that innocent part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an aspect which he symbolizes as her "imagination"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed Lyra undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, meeting with marvel and danger on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in play, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the church's controlling power, and Pullman's deliciously chilling embodiment of strict, procedural evil – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's family member, who faults her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of president of the church's High Council, and is determined on using his recently acquired authority to extend the religion's rule. Another protagonist, who saved young the heroine to safety along a swollen river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a sideline in intelligence work: he is assigned to the city to find out more about his aims. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and precious essential oil which seems somehow to be the origin of a social and financial disturbance spreading out from that area. The oil is seen by certain groups as a marketable commodity, by others as a scientific or spiritual phenomenon, and by further factions – the extremist "highland figures" – as a origin of darkness; an affront that must be destroyed. The question of its source, its significance, and whether it should be removed or preserved is escalating in importance.
Like the first series, Lyra's actions, and her future, are shown to be deeply entwined with the future of the universe
In the previous volume, these storylines ran largely in tandem. In the conclusion, they merge. Similar to the original series, her actions and her path are unveiled to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the universe. Her private journey to reunite with her daemon and rediscover her vision becomes the primary struggle in a broader battle with an oppressive regime which, as such authorities always have, is attempting to quell autonomy of reason, creativity and culture: all the personal, resistant ways in which people can be free.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The novel starts with the discovery of a series of unusual fissures in the makeup of the Earth's air: windows that appear to give on to different dimensions. An example of a window seems to be the origin of the highly contested rose oil. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its head, labels these portals as a threat to the church's orthodoxy and aims to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to move from rigid logic and revert to instinct, yet, her conviction that these locations must be defended – that what they stand for and what they provide is in some way essential – strengthens. "Dust, or rose oil, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a Blakean struggle between naivety and knowledge is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
