Things are collapsing in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a world that seems, now more than ever, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Institutions are failing, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An invisible force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is flowing away from states, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the vaults of conglomerates, the grasp of rioters. "Something is at work, stealthily, gradually", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his post in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and strong are faltering and giving way."
Core Enigma and The Protagonist's Path
Just what that element might be, and ways to oppose it, is the mystery that propels The Rose Field, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth concluded. This is, according to many, the author's last foray into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling realm he first unveiled three decades past, with the launch of Northern Lights. It's a realm whose landscape corresponds to that of this world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the people look and think and behave like us, but are joined by animal souls, essences in beast form; where the heavens are filled with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but beneath those skies, vehicles are caught and tea is consumed, and mature academics carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the first volume, the prequel with which the author began the series, is now a young woman: still recognisably the spiky and determined main character of the prior volumes, but aged, melancholic, warier, less sure. This circumscription is heightened by her split from her daemon, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to go off in pursuit of that innocent part of her which she appears to have shed (an trait which he represents as her "creativity"), and her quest to reunite with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which saw Lyra undertake a adventurous trek across the continent and into the Caucasus, meeting with marvel and risk on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in action, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the religious controlling power, and the author's masterfully eerie embodiment of austere, procedural wickedness – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's family member, who blames her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the office of leader of the authority's governing body, and is intent on using his fresh power to extend the church's rule. A key character, who saved baby the heroine to refuge along a swollen Thames as an child in the first book, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in espionage: he is assigned to the city to learn more about the antagonist's intentions. And beneath all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and valuable rose oil which seems mysteriously to be the cause of a societal and economic disturbance emanating out from the region. The substance is regarded by some as a tradeable good, by others as a scientific or mystical phenomenon, and by further factions – the fanatical "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of malevolence; an affront that must be obliterated. The dilemma of its origins, its meaning, and if it should be destroyed or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in the first series, Lyra's deeds, and her future, are revealed to be deeply linked with the destiny of the realm
In The Secret Commonwealth, these narratives ran mostly in tandem. In this final book, they converge. Like the first trilogy, Lyra's movements and her destiny are shown to be inseparably entwined with the future of the universe. Her private mission to reconnect with her soul and regain her imagination becomes the key struggle in a wider war with an authoritarian system which, as such authorities always have, is attempting to quell freedom of thinking, innovation and culture: all the internal, rebellious ways in which humans can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The book begins with the unveiling of a set of curious fissures in the makeup of the planet's atmosphere: portals that look to lead to other worlds. A particular opening appears to be the point of the highly contested rose oil. The Magisterium, with the antagonist at its helm, labels these windows as a threat to the institution's doctrine and endeavors to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to shift from strict rationalism and back to instinct, yet, her belief that these sites must be protected – that what they stand for and their value is somehow vital – grows. "Dust, or the extract, or the vision, or the field of roses, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a philosophical conflict between purity and experience is prepared.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
