Things are falling apart in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a world that seems, now more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Establishments are failing, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from governments, and pooling in the offices of religious leaders, the vaults of corporations, the control of mobs. "Something is at work, silently, very subtly", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were firm and durable are faltering and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Precisely what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that propels this final volume, which resumes where the previous book concluded. This is, according to many, Pullman's concluding venture into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating universe he first revealed 30 years ago, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography corresponds to that of our world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the people look and reason and behave like us, but are paired by daemons, beings in beast form; where the skies are filled with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but underneath, transports are ridden and beverages is consumed, and older scholars carry luxury shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a mature individual: still distinctly the sharp and tenacious heroine of the previous installments, but more mature, sadder, more cautious, more doubtful. This circumscription is amplified by her division from her daemon, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
The daemon's resolve to leave in pursuit of that childlike part of her which she appears to have shed (an aspect which he represents as her "creativity"), and her quest to rejoin with him, were the driving forces of the prior book, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across the continent and into the Caucasus, encountering with marvel and danger on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in play, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the church's ruling body, and Pullman's masterfully eerie incarnation of austere, administrative evil – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's relative, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the role of leader of the Magisterium's High Council, and is set on using his fresh influence to expand the institution's dominium. A key character, who rescued young Lyra to refuge along a swollen Thames as an child in the first book, is now an academic with a sideline in intelligence work: he is assigned to a key location to learn more about the antagonist's plans. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the scarce and precious essential oil which appears in some way to be the source of a societal and financial disturbance spreading out from the region. The extract is seen by certain groups as a tradeable product, by alternate groups as a scientific or mystical phenomenon, and by others still – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of evil; an affront that must be eradicated. The issue of where it comes from, what it stands for, and whether it should be removed or preserved is escalating in importance.
Like the first series, the heroine's deeds, and her destiny, are shown to be inextricably connected with the destiny of the universe
In its predecessor, these narratives ran mostly in tandem. In this final book, they come together. Similar to the original series, Lyra's choices and her fate are revealed to be inextricably linked with the future of the universe. Her private quest to reconnect with her companion and rediscover her imagination becomes the key struggle in a larger battle with an authoritarian government which, as these systems often attempt, is seeking to suppress autonomy of thought, innovation and expression: all the internal, defiant ways in which humans can be free.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The story opens with the finding of a collection of unusual fissures in the makeup of the world's atmosphere: windows that look to give on to other worlds. An example of a portal manifests to be the origin of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The authority, with its leader at its leadership, classifies these windows as a problem to the institution's doctrine and sets out to destroy them. As the heroine begins to shift from inflexible reason and back to instinct, however, her conviction that these places must be defended – that their meaning and what they offer is somehow essential – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we label it," she says, "we require it." The setting for a philosophical conflict between innocence and experience is established.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
