Things are falling apart in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the second of the author's masterful trilogies set in a universe that seems, in this volume especially, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or reassembling themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the vaults of business empires, the control of mobs. "Some force is at work, stealthily, gradually", says trader a trader character, keeping a watchful eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Things we thought were secure and solid are deteriorating and giving way."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the mystery that drives The Rose Field, which picks up where its predecessor concluded. This is, reportedly, the author's final foray into the intricately constructed, endlessly enchanting world he first revealed 30 years ago, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose landscape aligns with that of the real world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the people appear and reason and behave like us, but are paired by daemons, beings in animal form; where the air are populated with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but underneath, buses are taken and tea is drunk, and mature academics carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first introduced to as a child in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a baby in the first volume, the introductory book with which the author began The Book of Dust, is now a young woman: still recognisably the sharp and tenacious main character of the prior volumes, but older, sadder, more careful, less certain. This circumscription is intensified by her separation from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which made him desert her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to leave in quest of that innocent part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an trait which he epitomises as her "imagination"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous trek across Europe and into the mountain region, meeting with marvel and peril on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The church authority – the church's controlling power, and the author's deliciously chilling embodiment of strict, procedural wickedness – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's family member, who blames her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the position of president of the authority's High Council, and is determined on using his fresh power to expand the church's dominium. A key character, who carried young Lyra to security along a swollen river as an child in the first book, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is assigned to the city to learn more about Delamare's plans. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the uncommon and precious rose oil which manifests in some way to be the origin of a social and financial crisis spreading out from that area. The substance is viewed by various factions as a marketable product, by different parties as a scientific or spiritual phenomenon, and by yet others – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of evil; an insult that must be eradicated. The dilemma of its source, its meaning, and if it should be eliminated or preserved is becoming urgent.
As in the first series, the heroine's decisions, and her fate, are shown to be inseparably connected with the fate of the universe
In The Secret Commonwealth, these plots ran broadly in side by side. In this final book, they merge. Similar to His Dark Materials, Lyra's movements and her path are revealed to be inseparably woven with the destiny of the world. Her individual journey to rejoin with her companion and regain her creativity becomes the key battleground in a wider battle with an controlling government which, as such authorities often attempt, is striving to stifle independence of thought, innovation and culture: all the inner, rebellious ways in which people can be liberated.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The story begins with the finding of a series of strange cracks in the fabric of the world's sky: windows that look to give on to alternate realities. One such portal manifests to be the source of the much debated botanical substance. The church, with its leader at its helm, designates these openings as a challenge to the church's orthodoxy and endeavors to eradicate them. As Lyra begins to move from strict logic and revert to instinct, yet, her conviction that these places must be defended – that their significance and what they provide is mysteriously vital – increases. "Cosmic particles, or the substance, or the vision, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we call it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a philosophical struggle between purity and maturity is set.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
