Things are collapsing in the last installment of The Dust Trilogy, the next of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that seems, now more than ever, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Establishments are failing, or reassembling themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is shifting from authorities, and pooling in the halls of theocrats, the treasuries of conglomerates, the control of crowds. "An element is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says businessman a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were stable and solid are faltering and collapsing."
Core Enigma and Her Quest
Exactly what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that drives the concluding book, which resumes where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's final excursion into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced in the distant past, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography maps on to that of the real world, but whose past veers and changes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and act like us, but are joined by animal souls, souls in beast form; where the air are filled with sorceresses and mythical beasts, but below, transports are ridden and beverages is consumed, and older scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the prequel, the prequel with which the author began this trilogy, is now a adult: still distinctly the sharp and persistent main character of the earlier books, but aged, sadder, warier, less certain. This circumscription is intensified by her split from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which led him to leave her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to go off in pursuit of that innocent part of Lyra which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed Lyra undertake a adventurous trek across the continent and into the Caucasus, meeting with amazement and risk on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in motion, and darker forces at work. The religious council – the religious governing authority, and Pullman's masterfully eerie incarnation of strict, procedural malice – is under recent guidance, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – our protagonist's family member, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the office of leader of the authority's High Council, and is determined on using his recently acquired authority to extend the institution's dominium. A key character, who carried baby the heroine to security along a overflowing Thames as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a secondary role in espionage: he is dispatched to the city to discover more about his plans. And behind all of this is the enigma surrounding the scarce and precious essential oil which seems somehow to be the cause of a social and financial disturbance rippling out from Central Asia. The extract is regarded by some as a commercial product, by alternate groups as a scientific or esoteric phenomenon, and by further factions – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a wellspring of evil; an affront that must be destroyed. The issue of its origins, its significance, and if it should be eliminated or protected is becoming urgent.
Similar to the first series, the heroine's deeds, and her future, are demonstrated to be inextricably connected with the future of the world
In its predecessor, these narratives ran largely in tandem. In the conclusion, they converge. Similar to His Dark Materials, the protagonist's movements and her destiny are revealed to be inextricably linked with the future of the universe. Her private journey to rejoin with her companion and recover her creativity becomes the primary conflict in a larger conflict with an oppressive system which, as such authorities typically do, is striving to stifle freedom of thought, originality and art: all the internal, resistant ways in which people can be independent.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The book begins with the unveiling of a series of unusual fissures in the fabric of the Earth's air: windows that appear to open into different dimensions. A particular opening appears to be the origin of the fiercely disputed botanical substance. The Magisterium, with its leader at its helm, labels these portals as a threat to the institution's doctrine and aims to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from strict rationalism and return to feeling, nevertheless, her belief that these locations must be preserved – that their meaning and what they offer is in some way vital – grows. "Dust, or the extract, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or whatever we name it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a poetic tussle between innocence and maturity is established.
Narrative Pacing and Protagonist Growth
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
