Things are collapsing in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the second of the author's magisterial trilogies set in a world that manifests, here more than ever, as a intense and skewed version of our own. Organizations are weakening, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An invisible force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of business empires, the grasp of mobs. "Something is at work, very quietly, gradually", says businessman a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his place in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and durable are faltering and failing."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Just what that element might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that animates this final volume, which resumes where its predecessor concluded. This is, according to many, the author's concluding venture into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating universe he first unveiled 30 years ago, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose geography maps on to that of the real world, but whose past diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals look and think and behave like us, but are accompanied by daemons, beings in beast form; where the air are populated with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but below, buses are ridden and beverages is sipped, and older academics carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a 12-year-old in the original trilogy, and then met once more as a infant in the first volume, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a young woman: still distinctly the spiky and tenacious protagonist of the earlier books, but more mature, sadder, more careful, less sure. This circumscription is amplified by her division from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to leave in pursuit of that innocent part of the heroine which she may have forgotten (an quality which he epitomises as her "creativity"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of the prior book, which saw the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across the continent and into the mountain region, meeting with marvel and peril on the way. But from the outset, profound shifts were in motion, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the religious controlling power, and the author's deliciously chilling incarnation of rigid, procedural wickedness – is under new leadership, and showing its strength. Marcel Delamare – Lyra's family member, who holds responsible her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the role of leader of the church's High Council, and is intent on using his fresh influence to broaden the religion's rule. Another protagonist, who saved young the heroine to safety along a overflowing river as an young boy in the first book, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in espionage: he is assigned to the city to discover more about his aims. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and valuable botanical extract which seems mysteriously to be the origin of a societal and financial upheaval rippling out from that area. The oil is viewed by some as a marketable commodity, by others as a research-based or esoteric phenomenon, and by yet others – the extremist "highland figures" – as a origin of darkness; an challenge that must be obliterated. The issue of where it comes from, its significance, and whether it should be destroyed or safeguarded is coming rapidly to the fore.
Similar to the first series, Lyra's actions, and her fate, are shown to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the universe
In its predecessor, these narratives ran largely in tandem. In the conclusion, they come together. Similar to His Dark Materials, Lyra's movements and her fate are revealed to be deeply woven with the fate of the world. Her private mission to reconnect with her companion and regain her vision becomes the central conflict in a broader conflict with an controlling system which, as such authorities typically do, is striving to suppress autonomy of thought, innovation and art: all the internal, defiant ways in which individuals can be free.
Cosmic Openings and Ideological Conflicts
The book starts with the discovery of a collection of curious fissures in the fabric of the Earth's air: windows that look to give on to alternate realities. One such opening manifests to be the origin of the much debated mystical extract. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its helm, designates these openings as a challenge to the church's beliefs and endeavors to eradicate them. As the heroine begins to move from strict reason and back to instinct, yet, her certainty that these places must be defended – that what they stand for and what they offer is mysteriously crucial – strengthens. "The substance, or the extract, or the vision, or the field of roses, or no matter what we name it," she says, "we need it." The setting for a Blakean struggle between innocence and maturity is set.
Plot Rhythm and Protagonist Growth
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
