Things are unraveling in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the next of the author's grand trilogies set in a universe that seems, here more than ever, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Organizations are crumbling, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An hidden force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from governments, and gathering in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of conglomerates, the control of crowds. "An element is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the Silk Roads from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and durable are deteriorating and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and The Protagonist's Path
Just what that element might be, and ways to oppose it, is the question that propels the concluding book, which picks up where its predecessor ended. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's concluding foray into the carefully crafted, endlessly enchanting realm he first introduced 30 years ago, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose geography maps on to that of our world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and think and behave like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, essences in beast form; where the heavens are filled with witches and mythical beasts, but underneath, vehicles are taken and drinks is consumed, and middle-aged academics carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the first volume, the introductory book with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a young woman: still clearly the prickly and determined main character of the previous installments, but more mature, sadder, more cautious, less certain. This limitation is intensified by her separation from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
Pan's decision to depart in search of that youthful part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an quality which he represents as her "vision"), and her journey to reunite with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous trek across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with amazement and danger on the way. But from the beginning, underlying forces were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The religious council – the faith's controlling power, and Pullman's masterfully eerie incarnation of strict, administrative malice – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's uncle, who blames her for his sister's death – has positioned himself into the role of president of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his recently acquired power to expand the church's rule. A key character, who rescued young Lyra to refuge along a overflowing river as an young boy in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a sideline in intelligence work: he is sent to the city to find out more about his aims. And beneath all of this is the mystery surrounding the uncommon and costly essential oil which appears somehow to be the source of a societal and financial crisis rippling out from that area. The substance is seen by certain groups as a tradeable commodity, by others as a scientific or esoteric miracle, and by others still – the zealous "men from the mountains" – as a origin of darkness; an insult that must be eradicated. The issue of where it comes from, what it stands for, and if it should be eliminated or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.
As in the original trilogy, the heroine's decisions, and her destiny, are shown to be inextricably entwined with the fate of the realm
In the previous volume, these narratives ran broadly in side by side. In the conclusion, they merge. As in the original series, Lyra's choices and her destiny are unveiled to be inseparably entwined with the future of the universe. Her individual mission to reunite with her companion and regain her vision becomes the central conflict in a larger conflict with an authoritarian regime which, as such authorities always have, is striving to suppress autonomy of thought, originality and expression: all the internal, rebellious ways in which humans can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The book starts with the discovery of a series of strange cracks in the structure of the planet's atmosphere: portals that appear to lead to other worlds. An example of a window manifests to be the origin of the highly contested rose oil. The Magisterium, with its leader at its leadership, classifies these windows as a threat to the institution's orthodoxy and endeavors to eliminate them. As Lyra begins to shift from strict reason and return to instinct, nevertheless, her conviction that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is in some way vital – increases. "Dust, or the extract, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or whatever we label it," she says, "we need it." The scene for a poetic struggle between innocence and experience is set.
Story Tempo and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
