Things are falling apart in the concluding book of The Book of Dust, the next of Philip Pullman's grand trilogies set in a universe that appears, here more than ever, as a intense and skewed version of our own. Organizations are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along new and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "currency is failing, and no one knows why". Control is draining from authorities, and pooling in the halls of religious leaders, the treasuries of corporations, the hands of crowds. "An element is at work, very quietly, gradually", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the trade routes from his place in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and solid are faltering and collapsing."
The Central Mystery and Lyra's Journey
Just what that force might be, and ways to oppose it, is the mystery that propels this final volume, which continues where its predecessor concluded. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's concluding foray into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating universe he first revealed three decades past, with the publication of Northern Lights. It's a world whose geography corresponds to that of the real world, but whose history diverges and shifts with ours; where the individuals look and think and behave like us, but are accompanied by external spirits, beings in beast form; where the heavens are teeming with witches and gryphons, but below, vehicles are taken and tea is consumed, and older academics carry fancy shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in La Belle Sauvage, the introductory book with which Pullman began this trilogy, is now a adult: still distinctly the spiky and determined main character of the prior volumes, but more mature, sadder, warier, less certain. This circumscription is amplified by her separation from her animal guide, Pan – but it was also, unexpectedly, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to depart in search of that innocent part of her which she appears to have shed (an aspect which he represents as her "vision"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the catalysts of its predecessor, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with wonder and peril on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The religious council – the faith's controlling power, and Pullman's masterfully eerie representation of strict, bureaucratic malice – is under fresh command, and asserting its power. The antagonist – Lyra's uncle, who faults her for his family member's death – has manoeuvred himself into the role of leader of the Magisterium's governing body, and is determined on using his newfound influence to broaden the church's rule. Another protagonist, who carried baby the heroine to refuge along a swollen Thames as an young boy in La Belle Sauvage, is now an university scholar with a additional duty in intelligence work: he is assigned to a key location to find out more about his plans. And behind all of this is the mystery surrounding the rare and valuable essential oil which appears mysteriously to be the origin of a societal and economic upheaval emanating out from the region. The oil is seen by various factions as a tradeable good, by others as a research-based or esoteric wonder, and by yet others – the extremist "mountain dwellers" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an affront that must be obliterated. The question of its source, its meaning, and if it should be eliminated or protected is escalating in importance.
Like His Dark Materials, Lyra's deeds, and her destiny, are shown to be inextricably connected with the destiny of the universe
In the previous volume, these plots ran largely in side by side. In the conclusion, they come together. Similar to the original series, her movements and her destiny are shown to be deeply linked with the fate of the universe. Her private journey to reunite with her companion and recover her creativity becomes the key conflict in a broader war with an authoritarian regime which, as such authorities often attempt, is attempting to quell autonomy of thought, originality and culture: all the inner, defiant ways in which individuals can be independent.
Atmospheric Fissures and Ideological Conflicts
The novel opens with the unveiling of a series of curious cracks in the structure of the Earth's atmosphere: portals that look to give on to other worlds. An example of a window seems to be the origin of the highly contested rose oil. The authority, with Delamare at its helm, labels these windows as a challenge to the institution's beliefs and endeavors to destroy them. As our protagonist begins to shift from strict rationalism and return to instinct, nevertheless, her certainty that these places must be protected – that what they stand for and their value is somehow crucial – strengthens. "Cosmic particles, or the extract, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The setting for a philosophical struggle between purity and experience is prepared.
Narrative Pacing and Protagonist Growth
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
