Tings are collapsing in the last installment of Pullman's latest trilogy, the next of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a world that appears, now more than ever, as a energized and slanted version of our own. Institutions are failing, or reorganizing themselves along new and disturbing lines. An hidden force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from governments, and gathering in the chambers of religious leaders, the treasuries of conglomerates, the hands of mobs. "An element is at work, very quietly, imperceptibly", says trader Mustafa Bey, keeping a observant eye on the trade routes from his seat in an city cafe. "Things we thought were firm and durable are deteriorating and collapsing."
Key Puzzle and Her Quest
Just what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the question that propels this final volume, which resumes where its predecessor ended. This is, according to many, the author's final venture into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling realm he first introduced in the distant past, with the launch of the first trilogy. It's a world whose landscape maps on to that of the real world, but whose chronicles diverges and shifts with ours; where the humans appear and reason and act like us, but are paired by daemons, beings in beast form; where the skies are filled with witches and gryphons, but below, buses are taken and drinks is drunk, and mature academics carry luxury shopping bags. The protagonist, whom we first encountered as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in La Belle Sauvage, the prequel with which the author began the series, is now a adult: still recognisably the prickly and tenacious protagonist of the previous installments, but more mature, more sorrowful, more careful, less certain. This circumscription is intensified by her split from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, ironically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Merging Narratives
His choice to go off in search of that innocent part of her which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her journey 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, facing with marvel and danger on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in action, and sinister powers at work. The church authority – the faith's ruling body, and Pullman's deliciously chilling representation of austere, administrative evil – is under recent guidance, and asserting its power. The antagonist – the heroine's relative, who blames her for his sibling's death – has positioned himself into the office of head of the Magisterium's ruling assembly, and is intent on using his fresh power to extend the institution's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who saved young the heroine to security along a swollen Thames as an young boy in the prequel, is now an university scholar with a secondary role in intelligence work: he is dispatched to a key location to find out more about Delamare's intentions. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and costly essential oil which seems somehow to be the origin of a social and financial upheaval emanating out from the region. The substance is regarded by some as a tradeable commodity, by others as a research-based or esoteric wonder, and by further factions – the zealous "highland figures" – as a wellspring of malevolence; an challenge that must be eradicated. The dilemma of its source, what it stands for, and whether it should be eliminated or protected is becoming urgent.
Similar to His Dark Materials, our protagonist's deeds, and her future, are demonstrated to be deeply linked with the fate of the world
In The Secret Commonwealth, these plots ran mostly in tandem. In the conclusion, they come together. Like the original series, the protagonist's choices and her path are shown to be deeply woven with the fate of the realm. Her private mission to rejoin with her companion and recover her vision becomes the central struggle in a wider battle with an oppressive regime which, as such authorities typically do, is attempting to quell autonomy of thinking, innovation and expression: all the internal, rebellious ways in which humans can be liberated.
Atmospheric Fissures and Philosophical Struggles
The novel opens with the unveiling of a collection of unusual cracks in the fabric of the planet's sky: gateways that seem to open into other worlds. An example of a window appears to be the origin of the much debated rose oil. The church, with its leader at its leadership, labels these windows as a challenge to the religion's orthodoxy and sets out to eliminate them. As our protagonist begins to turn away from strict reason and back to feeling, yet, her belief that these locations must be preserved – that their meaning and what they provide is somehow essential – increases. "The substance, or rose oil, or the vision, or the field of roses, or whatever we call it," she says, "we need it." The stage for a Blakean conflict between purity and maturity is prepared.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
