Things are falling apart in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's masterful trilogies set in a universe that seems, here more than ever, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An invisible force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is shifting from governments, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the treasuries of conglomerates, the hands of rioters. "Something is at work, stealthily, very subtly", says merchant a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and strong are weakening and failing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Exactly what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that animates this final volume, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, according to many, the author's concluding excursion into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling realm he first unveiled in the distant past, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a domain whose geography corresponds to that of the real world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans look and reason and act like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, beings in animal form; where the heavens are filled with enchantresses and mythical beasts, but beneath those skies, transports are taken and beverages is consumed, and middle-aged scholars carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a young girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a infant in the first volume, the origin story with which Pullman began the series, is now a adult: still clearly the spiky and tenacious heroine of the previous installments, but more mature, melancholic, warier, less certain. This circumscription is amplified by her separation from her daemon, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which led him to leave her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to leave in quest of that youthful part of Lyra which she appears to have shed (an quality which he epitomises as her "imagination"), and her mission to rejoin with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous journey across the continent and into the mountain region, encountering with amazement and danger on the way. But from the beginning, deeper currents were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the faith's governing authority, and the author's brilliantly sinister incarnation of austere, procedural malice – is under recent guidance, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's family member, who faults her for his family member's death – has worked himself into the office of leader of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is set on using his newfound influence to broaden the institution's rule. Another protagonist, who carried baby Lyra to refuge along a overflowing river as an young boy in the first book, is now an Oxford don with a sideline in spycraft: he is assigned to Geneva to discover more about Delamare's aims. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and valuable rose oil which seems somehow to be the origin of a societal and economic disturbance emanating out from the region. The extract is seen by certain groups as a tradeable commodity, by alternate groups as a research-based or spiritual wonder, and by further factions – the fanatical "highland figures" – as a origin of evil; an challenge that must be destroyed. The question of its origins, its significance, and if it should be eliminated or protected is escalating in importance.
Like His Dark Materials, our protagonist's deeds, and her destiny, are demonstrated to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the universe
In its predecessor, these narratives ran mostly in tandem. In this final book, they converge. Like His Dark Materials, the protagonist's actions and her destiny are unveiled to be deeply woven with the fate of the realm. Her individual journey to reconnect with her companion and regain her creativity becomes the primary conflict in a wider war with an controlling regime which, as such regimes typically do, is attempting to quell freedom of reason, creativity and expression: all the inner, rebellious ways in which people can be free.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The story begins with the discovery of a collection of strange cracks in the fabric of the Earth's air: gateways that appear to open into other worlds. One such window appears to be the origin of the much debated botanical substance. The church, with its leader at its leadership, labels these windows as a problem to the church's beliefs and endeavors to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to shift from inflexible rationalism and revert to feeling, yet, her belief that these locations must be preserved – that their significance and what they offer is mysteriously crucial – grows. "Dust, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a poetic conflict between purity and experience is prepared.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
