Things are unraveling in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the next of the author's masterful trilogies set in a world that manifests, here more than ever, as a charged and tilted version of our own. Institutions are failing, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and disquieting lines. An unseen 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 states, and gathering in the chambers of theocrats, the vaults of conglomerates, the grasp of rioters. "Something is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and strong are weakening and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Just what that force might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that drives this final volume, which picks up where the previous book ended. This is, by all accounts, Pullman's concluding venture into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling world he first revealed in the distant past, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a world whose terrain aligns with that of this world, but whose chronicles tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans appear and reason and act like us, but are paired by external spirits, beings in animal form; where the skies are filled with sorceresses and gryphons, but underneath, transports are caught and drinks is consumed, and older professors carry fancy 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 baby in the first volume, the prequel with which Pullman began the series, is now a young woman: still distinctly the sharp and determined main character of the prior volumes, but older, more sorrowful, more cautious, less certain. This limitation is amplified by her separation from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
His choice to depart in search of that childlike part of Lyra which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her mission to rejoin with him, were the driving forces of the prior book, which followed the protagonist undertake a wandering trek across the continent and into the Caucasus, encountering with wonder and risk on the way. But from the start, underlying forces were in action, and malevolent elements at work. The church authority – the religious governing authority, and Pullman's deliciously chilling embodiment of rigid, administrative malice – is under recent guidance, and asserting its power. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's family member, who blames her for his sibling's death – has worked himself into the position of head of the Magisterium's governing body, and is determined on using his recently acquired influence to broaden the religion's rule. Another protagonist, who rescued young the heroine to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an university scholar with a sideline in espionage: he is dispatched to Geneva to learn more about his aims. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and costly essential oil which seems somehow to be the cause of a societal and financial disturbance emanating out from the region. The extract is viewed by some as a marketable commodity, by different parties as a scientific or esoteric wonder, and by further factions – the extremist "highland figures" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an affront that must be destroyed. The dilemma of its origins, what it stands for, and whether it should be removed or protected is coming rapidly to the fore.
Like His Dark Materials, Lyra's actions, and her future, are demonstrated to be deeply entwined with the future of the world
In the previous volume, these storylines ran mostly in parallel. In this final book, they come together. Like the first trilogy, her movements and her fate are unveiled to be inseparably entwined with the destiny of the world. Her personal quest to rejoin with her daemon and rediscover her vision becomes the central conflict in a wider battle with an oppressive system which, as these systems typically do, is striving to quell freedom of thinking, innovation and expression: all the personal, resistant ways in which individuals can be free.
Cosmic Openings and Philosophical Struggles
The book begins with the finding of a series of unusual fissures in the fabric of the world's air: gateways that seem to lead to other worlds. One such opening manifests to be the point of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The authority, with the antagonist at its head, classifies these windows as a challenge to the religion's doctrine and sets out to destroy them. As Lyra begins to move from strict logic and return to instinct, however, her belief that these places must be protected – that what they stand for and what they offer is somehow essential – grows. "Dust, or the extract, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we label it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a poetic tussle between naivety and experience is prepared.
Plot Rhythm and Personal Evolution
At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
