Things are unraveling in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the next of the author's grand trilogies set in a world that manifests, here more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Organizations are failing, or reorganizing themselves along new and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is draining from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the coffers of conglomerates, the grasp of crowds. "Something is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an city cafe. "Things we thought were secure and strong are weakening and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Precisely what that element might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that propels the concluding book, which resumes where the previous book ended. This is, reportedly, Pullman's last foray into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating realm he first unveiled in the distant past, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose geography aligns with that of the real world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals look and think and behave like us, but are paired by animal souls, essences in creature form; where the heavens are teeming with sorceresses and mythical beasts, but underneath, vehicles are caught and beverages is drunk, and middle-aged academics carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the first volume, the origin story with which the author began the series, is now a adult: still distinctly the spiky and tenacious main character of the prior volumes, but older, sadder, warier, less sure. This limitation is heightened by her split from her soul companion, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
The daemon's resolve to go off in pursuit of that innocent part of the heroine which she seems to have lost (an aspect which he represents as her "creativity"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled Lyra undertake a picaresque trek across Europe and into the mountain region, facing with wonder and danger on the way. But from the outset, deeper currents were in action, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the church's controlling power, and the author's brilliantly sinister embodiment of austere, procedural wickedness – is under new leadership, and flexing its muscles. The antagonist – the heroine's uncle, who holds responsible her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of leader of the authority's governing body, and is intent on using his recently acquired authority to expand the institution's control. Malcolm Polstead, who saved baby Lyra to security along a flooded Thames as an child in the first book, is now an academic with a secondary role in intelligence work: he is sent to Geneva to discover more about his aims. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and costly rose oil which manifests somehow to be the source of a societal and financial disturbance emanating out from Central Asia. The extract is regarded by some as a marketable good, by others as a empirical or spiritual miracle, and by further factions – the extremist "men from the mountains" – as a source of malevolence; an insult that must be destroyed. The dilemma of where it comes from, its significance, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is escalating in importance.
Similar to the first series, our protagonist's actions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inextricably connected with the future of the world
In the previous volume, these plots ran largely in parallel. In the conclusion, they come together. Like the first trilogy, her movements and her path are shown to be inseparably entwined with the fate of the realm. Her private journey to reunite with her soul and recover her imagination becomes the central battleground in a larger battle with an oppressive system which, as such authorities often attempt, is seeking to suppress freedom of reason, originality and culture: all the personal, rebellious ways in which humans can be liberated.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The book begins with the discovery of a collection of curious openings in the structure of the planet's atmosphere: gateways that appear to lead to different dimensions. A particular portal appears to be the source of the fiercely disputed botanical substance. The church, with Delamare at its leadership, designates these openings as a challenge to the religion's orthodoxy and aims to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to shift from rigid rationalism and revert to feeling, nevertheless, her certainty that these sites must be protected – that what they stand for and what they offer is somehow vital – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we require it." The stage for a Blakean conflict between innocence and maturity is established.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
