Tings are collapsing in the concluding book of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a world that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Organizations are weakening, or reassembling themselves along new and troubling lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from governments, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the treasuries of business empires, the control of rioters. "Something is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a observant eye on the Silk Roads from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were secure and solid are weakening and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Just what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that drives this final volume, which continues where its predecessor left off. This is, reportedly, Pullman's concluding foray into the elaborately built, deeply captivating universe he first revealed 30 years ago, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a world whose geography corresponds to that of the real world, but whose past veers and changes with ours; where the humans look and reason and act like us, but are joined by daemons, essences in animal form; where the air are teeming with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, vehicles are caught and tea is sipped, and older academics carry Harrods shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first met as a child in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the prequel, the prequel with which the author began this trilogy, is now a mature individual: still clearly the sharp and tenacious heroine of the previous installments, but more mature, more sorrowful, more cautious, less sure. This restraint is amplified by her separation from her soul companion, her daemon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to leave in search of that childlike part of the heroine which she seems to have lost (an quality which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which saw Lyra undertake a adventurous trek across Europe and into the mountain region, encountering with marvel and risk on the way. But from the outset, deeper currents were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the faith's controlling power, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister embodiment of rigid, procedural wickedness – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. The antagonist – the heroine's relative, who faults her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the position of head of the authority's governing body, and is set on using his recently acquired power to expand the institution's control. A key character, who rescued young Lyra to security along a flooded river as an young boy in the prequel, is now an academic with a sideline in spycraft: he is sent to the city to find out more about his intentions. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and precious botanical extract which seems in some way to be the cause of a societal and economic disturbance emanating out from Central Asia. The substance is viewed by some as a marketable good, by others as a empirical or esoteric wonder, and by yet others – the zealous "highland figures" – as a wellspring of evil; an insult that must be destroyed. The issue of where it comes from, its significance, and whether it should be destroyed or preserved is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in the original trilogy, our protagonist's actions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the world
In The Secret Commonwealth, these plots ran largely in side by side. In this final book, they merge. Similar to the original series, her movements and her path are shown to be inextricably entwined with the fate of the realm. Her individual journey to reconnect with her daemon and recover her creativity becomes the key battleground in a larger battle with an controlling regime which, as such regimes typically do, is striving to quell independence of thinking, creativity and art: all the inner, rebellious ways in which humans can be free.
Atmospheric Fissures and Moral Battles
The story starts with the discovery of a collection of unusual openings in the fabric of the planet's atmosphere: portals that appear to lead to different dimensions. An example of a opening manifests to be the point of the much debated mystical extract. The authority, with its leader at its helm, designates these windows as a challenge to the religion's beliefs and endeavors to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to shift from strict reason and revert to instinct, yet, her belief that these locations must be defended – that their meaning and their value is in some way essential – grows. "The substance, or the extract, or the vision, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a poetic struggle between innocence and experience is established.
Plot Rhythm and Character Development
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
