Tings are unraveling in the last installment of The Book of Dust, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a world that seems, in this volume especially, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or restructuring themselves along new and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from governments, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the coffers of corporations, the grasp of crowds. "Something is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says trader a trader character, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and strong are weakening and giving way."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Just what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that animates The Rose Field, which continues where the previous book left off. This is, according to many, the author's final venture into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling realm he first introduced in the distant past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose landscape corresponds to that of this world, but whose past diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and act like us, but are joined by external spirits, beings in beast form; where the heavens are populated with witches and mythical beasts, but below, transports are ridden and beverages is drunk, and middle-aged professors carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first introduced to as a child 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 spiky and determined heroine of the prior volumes, but aged, more sorrowful, warier, less certain. This limitation is amplified by her division from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to depart in search of that innocent part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an aspect which he represents as her "vision"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which saw the protagonist undertake a adventurous voyage across the continent and into the mountain region, meeting with amazement and danger on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in action, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the church's controlling power, and the author's brilliantly sinister representation of austere, bureaucratic evil – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's relative, who blames her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of leader of the authority's governing body, and is intent on using his fresh power to extend the religion's rule. A key character, who carried infant Lyra to security along a flooded river as an 11-year-old in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a sideline in espionage: he is assigned to Geneva to discover more about Delamare's intentions. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and costly essential oil which seems somehow to be the cause of a societal and financial upheaval rippling out from that area. The oil is seen by some as a marketable commodity, by others as a scientific or mystical phenomenon, and by others still – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of darkness; an affront that must be destroyed. The issue of its source, its significance, and if it should be destroyed or preserved is becoming urgent.
Similar to the first series, Lyra's decisions, and her fate, are shown to be inextricably linked with the future of the universe
In its predecessor, these narratives ran mostly in parallel. In this final book, they merge. Similar to the original series, the protagonist's actions and her path are shown to be inseparably entwined with the future of the world. Her individual quest to reunite with her soul and regain her creativity becomes the key conflict in a broader conflict with an oppressive regime which, as these systems often attempt, is seeking to suppress freedom of thought, innovation and expression: all the personal, defiant ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The book opens with the unveiling of a series of unusual cracks in the fabric of the planet's air: windows that seem to give on to other worlds. An example of a portal seems to be the point of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its leadership, labels these openings as a challenge to the institution's orthodoxy and sets out to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to shift from inflexible logic and revert to intuition, yet, her belief that these places must be preserved – that their significance and what they offer is mysteriously vital – grows. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the imagination, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a Blakean struggle between purity and maturity is prepared.
Story Tempo and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
