Things are unraveling in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a world that manifests, in this volume especially, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Organizations are crumbling, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from states, and gathering in the halls of religious leaders, the coffers of conglomerates, the control of mobs. "An element is at work, silently, gradually", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and strong are faltering and failing."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that element might be, and ways to oppose it, is the inquiry that propels this final volume, which picks up where The Secret Commonwealth ended. This is, according to many, the author's concluding foray into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting world he first revealed 30 years ago, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose geography maps on to that of the real world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and think and behave like us, but are accompanied by daemons, souls in creature form; where the heavens are populated with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but below, transports are ridden and beverages is sipped, and middle-aged scholars carry fancy shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first encountered as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the first volume, the introductory book with which Pullman began the series, is now a young woman: still clearly the sharp and determined main character of the previous installments, but more mature, melancholic, warier, less certain. This circumscription is heightened by her separation from her soul companion, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
The daemon's resolve to go off in pursuit of that youthful part of Lyra which she may have forgotten (an trait which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed the protagonist undertake a picaresque journey across the continent and into the mountain region, facing with wonder and danger on the way. But from the outset, deeper currents were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's masterfully eerie incarnation of rigid, bureaucratic malice – is under recent guidance, and flexing its muscles. Marcel Delamare – our protagonist's family member, who blames her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the position of head of the authority's ruling assembly, and is determined on using his fresh influence to expand the church's control. A key character, who carried young Lyra to security along a flooded Thames as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in intelligence work: he is assigned to Geneva to discover more about Delamare's aims. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the uncommon and precious essential oil which appears somehow to be the cause of a social and economic crisis rippling out from the region. The substance is seen by certain groups as a tradeable commodity, by others as a research-based or spiritual wonder, and by others still – the extremist "highland figures" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an affront that must be obliterated. The dilemma of its origins, its significance, and whether it should be destroyed or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
Similar to the first series, our protagonist's deeds, and her fate, are revealed to be deeply connected with the future of the universe
In the previous volume, these storylines ran broadly in parallel. In the conclusion, they come together. Like the original series, the protagonist's movements and her destiny are shown to be inseparably entwined with the future of the realm. Her individual journey to reunite with her companion and regain her imagination becomes the primary battleground in a larger conflict with an authoritarian regime which, as such regimes typically do, is striving to quell independence of thinking, creativity and culture: all the personal, rebellious ways in which people can be independent.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The book starts with the unveiling of a set of curious fissures in the fabric of the planet's atmosphere: portals that look to lead to different dimensions. An example of a window seems to be the point of the highly contested rose oil. The Magisterium, with its leader at its head, labels these openings as a threat to the religion's beliefs and aims to eradicate them. As our protagonist begins to move from strict logic and back to feeling, yet, her certainty that these places must be defended – that their meaning and their value is somehow essential – grows. "Dust, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or whatever we call it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a philosophical conflict between purity and experience is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
