Things are unraveling in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's masterful trilogies set in a universe that seems, here more than ever, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Institutions are failing, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and disquieting lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is draining from authorities, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the treasuries of corporations, the control of rioters. "Some force is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says businessman a trader character, keeping a observant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Things we thought were firm and strong are deteriorating and giving way."
Core Enigma and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that propels the concluding book, which picks up where the previous book concluded. This is, reportedly, Pullman's final foray into the carefully crafted, infinitely beguiling universe he first introduced three decades past, with the launch of His Dark Materials. It's a realm whose geography corresponds to that of our world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and reason and act like us, but are accompanied by animal souls, essences in creature form; where the air are populated with enchantresses and legendary creatures, but below, transports are caught and beverages is drunk, and middle-aged professors carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first encountered as a 12-year-old in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then saw again as a baby in the first volume, the prequel with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a adult: still distinctly the prickly and determined main character of the earlier books, but older, sadder, warier, less sure. This restraint is heightened by her division from her daemon, Pan – but it was also, paradoxically, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to go off in search of that childlike part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an trait which he epitomises as her "vision"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the incitements of The Secret Commonwealth, which followed the protagonist undertake a wandering voyage across Europe and into the Caucasus, encountering with marvel and peril on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in action, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the church's ruling body, and the author's deliciously chilling incarnation of austere, bureaucratic evil – is under recent guidance, and asserting its power. Marcel Delamare – our protagonist's uncle, who faults her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of head of the church's High Council, and is set on using his recently acquired power to extend the church's control. Malcolm Polstead, who saved baby Lyra to refuge along a swollen Thames as an child in La Belle Sauvage, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in espionage: he is assigned to Geneva to find out more about his plans. And beneath all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and valuable rose oil which appears mysteriously to be the origin of a societal and economic upheaval rippling out from Central Asia. The extract is regarded by some as a tradeable commodity, by different parties as a research-based or mystical phenomenon, and by others still – the zealous "highland figures" – as a source of evil; an affront that must be obliterated. The dilemma of where it comes from, its meaning, and whether it should be removed or protected is escalating in importance.
Like the first series, Lyra's decisions, and her future, are shown to be inextricably connected with the future of the world
In the previous volume, these storylines ran largely in side by side. In the conclusion, they converge. Similar to the original series, Lyra's movements and her fate are unveiled to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the universe. Her private mission to reconnect with her soul and rediscover her vision becomes the key conflict in a broader battle with an authoritarian system which, as these systems always have, is seeking to stifle independence of reason, originality and culture: all the inner, defiant ways in which humans can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Philosophical Struggles
The novel begins with the unveiling of a set of unusual fissures in the structure of the planet's atmosphere: gateways that seem to open into other worlds. An example of a opening appears to be the origin of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The church, with its leader at its leadership, labels these portals as a challenge to the institution's doctrine and endeavors to destroy them. As Lyra begins to move from inflexible logic and revert to feeling, yet, her certainty that these sites must be protected – that their meaning and what they offer is in some way vital – strengthens. "Dust, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or whatever we name it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a poetic tussle between purity and knowledge is prepared.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
