Tings are falling apart in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the next of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a world that appears, now more than ever, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or reorganizing themselves along unfamiliar and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is flowing away from governments, and pooling in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of business empires, the control of mobs. "Some force is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and solid are weakening and failing."
Core Enigma and The Protagonist's Path
Just what that element might be, and ways to oppose it, is the inquiry that propels The Rose Field, which picks up where the previous book ended. This is, reportedly, the author's last excursion into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting universe he first unveiled in the distant past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose geography aligns with that of the real world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals look and reason and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, essences in creature form; where the skies are filled with sorceresses and gryphons, but beneath those skies, vehicles are caught and drinks is consumed, and middle-aged academics carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the first trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in La Belle Sauvage, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still clearly the prickly and determined main character of the previous installments, but aged, melancholic, warier, less sure. This restraint is heightened by her division from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to leave in quest of that youthful part of her which she may have forgotten (an trait which he represents as her "creativity"), and her quest to reunite with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering journey across the continent and into the Caucasus, facing with marvel and risk on the way. But from the beginning, deeper currents were in play, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the religious controlling power, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister representation of strict, procedural malice – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's uncle, who blames her for his sibling's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of head of the Magisterium's governing body, and is set on using his newfound influence to extend the religion's dominium. Another protagonist, who saved infant the heroine to security along a flooded river as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in spycraft: he is dispatched to Geneva to discover more about his aims. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and valuable rose oil which seems somehow to be the origin of a societal and economic crisis emanating out from Central Asia. The substance is regarded by some as a commercial commodity, by others as a research-based or esoteric wonder, and by yet others – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of evil; an insult that must be obliterated. The issue of where it comes from, its significance, and if it should be destroyed or preserved is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to His Dark Materials, our protagonist's decisions, and her future, are revealed to be inextricably entwined with the future of the world
In the previous volume, these narratives ran largely in parallel. In this final book, they converge. Similar to His Dark Materials, the protagonist's choices and her fate are shown to be inseparably woven with the destiny of the realm. Her private quest to reconnect with her soul and rediscover her vision becomes the primary conflict in a wider conflict with an oppressive system which, as such regimes typically do, is seeking to stifle independence of thought, creativity and culture: all the personal, defiant ways in which humans can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Ideological Conflicts
The novel opens with the discovery of a collection of strange fissures in the makeup of the Earth's atmosphere: gateways that look to lead to alternate realities. A particular portal appears to be the source of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The Magisterium, with its leader at its helm, classifies these portals as a problem to the institution's doctrine and sets out to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to shift from strict logic and back to instinct, yet, her conviction that these places must be defended – that their meaning and what they offer is in some way essential – grows. "Dust, or the substance, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or whatever we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a philosophical tussle between purity and knowledge is prepared.
Story Tempo and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
