Things are unraveling in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the next of the author's masterful trilogies set in a universe that manifests, now more than ever, as a intense and slanted version of our own. Organizations are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along unfamiliar and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Power is draining from authorities, and accumulating in the halls of theocrats, the coffers of corporations, the grasp of rioters. "Something is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and solid are deteriorating and giving way."
The Central Mystery and Her Quest
Just what that element might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that propels the concluding book, which picks up where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, the author's last foray into the intricately constructed, endlessly enchanting universe he first unveiled in the distant past, with the release of Northern Lights. It's a realm whose geography corresponds to that of this world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals look and think and act like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, beings in animal form; where the skies are teeming with witches and gryphons, but underneath, buses are caught and tea is drunk, and middle-aged scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first introduced to as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in the first volume, the origin story with which Pullman began the series, is now a adult: still recognisably the spiky and determined main character of the earlier books, but more mature, more sorrowful, more careful, more doubtful. This restraint is amplified by her separation from her daemon, Pan – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which made him desert her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
Pan's decision to leave in pursuit of that childlike part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "imagination"), and her mission to rejoin with him, were the incitements of its predecessor, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the mountain region, encountering with wonder and risk on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The religious council – the faith's governing authority, and Pullman's masterfully eerie representation of strict, bureaucratic malice – is under recent guidance, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – Lyra's uncle, who blames her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the office of leader of the church's governing body, and is determined on using his newfound authority to broaden the church's dominium. Another protagonist, who carried young the heroine to safety along a swollen Thames as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an academic with a secondary role in spycraft: he is sent to a key location to discover more about Delamare's aims. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the scarce and precious botanical extract which seems mysteriously to be the origin of a societal and economic crisis spreading out from the region. The oil is seen by some as a tradeable product, by different parties as a empirical or mystical miracle, and by yet others – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a origin of evil; an insult that must be eradicated. The question of its source, what it stands for, and if it should be eliminated or protected is becoming urgent.
Like the original trilogy, Lyra's decisions, and her future, are revealed to be inseparably entwined with the future of the realm
In its predecessor, these plots ran mostly in parallel. In the conclusion, they come together. As in His Dark Materials, the protagonist's choices and her fate are unveiled to be inextricably woven with the future of the universe. Her private journey to rejoin with her companion and regain her imagination becomes the central battleground in a broader battle with an authoritarian regime which, as these systems often attempt, is attempting to suppress independence of thought, innovation and expression: all the inner, resistant ways in which humans can be independent.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The story begins with the discovery of a collection of strange openings in the fabric of the planet's sky: portals that appear to lead to alternate realities. A particular window appears to be the origin of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The authority, with the antagonist at its leadership, designates these openings as a problem to the religion's orthodoxy and aims to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to shift from strict logic and back to intuition, nevertheless, her conviction that these locations must be defended – that their meaning and what they provide is in some way crucial – grows. "Cosmic particles, or the substance, or the creativity, or the field of roses, or whatever we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a poetic conflict between naivety and experience is established.
Narrative Pacing and Character Development
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
