Things are collapsing in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the next of the author's masterful trilogies set in a universe that appears, in this volume especially, as a energized and tilted version of our own. Organizations are weakening, or reassembling themselves along novel and disquieting lines. An invisible force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is draining from governments, and accumulating in the chambers of religious leaders, the vaults of business empires, the grasp of rioters. "An element is at work, stealthily, imperceptibly", says trader a merchant figure, keeping a watchful eye on the trade routes from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were firm and solid are faltering and failing."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that force might be, and how to counteract it, is the question that drives the concluding book, which continues where its predecessor ended. This is, reportedly, Pullman's concluding excursion into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating universe he first introduced in the distant past, with the release of His Dark Materials. It's a world whose terrain aligns with that of this world, but whose past veers and changes with ours; where the people appear and think and act like us, but are paired by external spirits, beings in animal form; where the skies are teeming with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but beneath those skies, vehicles are ridden and beverages is consumed, and middle-aged scholars carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a young girl in the original trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in the first volume, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still clearly the sharp and determined heroine of the prior volumes, but older, more sorrowful, more cautious, less certain. This circumscription is heightened by her separation from her soul companion, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
The daemon's resolve to go off in quest of that youthful part of the heroine which she may have forgotten (an trait which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her mission to rejoin with him, were the catalysts of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled Lyra undertake a adventurous journey across Europe and into the mountain region, facing with marvel and risk on the way. But from the beginning, profound shifts were in play, and darker forces at work. The church authority – the religious ruling body, and the author's deliciously chilling representation of austere, administrative wickedness – is under recent guidance, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – the heroine's family member, who faults her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the position of head of the Magisterium's governing body, and is set on using his recently acquired power to extend the institution's control. Another protagonist, who rescued baby Lyra to refuge along a flooded Thames as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is sent to the city to learn more about Delamare's aims. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the scarce and costly rose oil which appears in some way to be the source of a social and financial disturbance spreading out from that area. The substance is regarded by some as a tradeable product, by alternate groups as a research-based or spiritual wonder, and by others still – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of evil; an challenge that must be obliterated. The question of where it comes from, its meaning, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is escalating in importance.
Like His Dark Materials, our protagonist's decisions, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inseparably connected with the fate of the world
In its predecessor, these storylines ran mostly in parallel. In the conclusion, they merge. Similar to the first trilogy, her movements and her destiny are revealed to be deeply linked with the fate of the universe. Her private quest to rejoin with her daemon and regain her creativity becomes the primary conflict in a larger conflict with an controlling regime which, as these systems always have, is attempting to stifle freedom of reason, innovation and art: all the inner, resistant ways in which individuals can be independent.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The story begins with the finding of a set of strange openings in the fabric of the Earth's air: portals that appear to lead to different dimensions. A particular portal seems to be the origin of the much debated mystical extract. The authority, with its leader at its helm, labels these windows as a challenge to the religion's beliefs and endeavors to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from rigid rationalism and return to instinct, however, her belief that these sites must be preserved – that what they stand for and what they provide is in some way crucial – strengthens. "The substance, or the substance, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or whatever we name it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a philosophical tussle between purity and experience is set.
Narrative Pacing and Character Development
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
