Rose Field Chronicles: Philip Pullman's Gripping Conclusion to the Northern Lights Trilogy

Things are falling apart in the final volume of Pullman's latest trilogy, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that appears, now more than ever, as a charged and skewed version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along unfamiliar and troubling lines. An hidden force "is ruining the air and the seasons"; at the same time, "money's going bad, and no one knows why". Authority is shifting from states, and gathering in the halls of religious leaders, the vaults of conglomerates, the grasp of crowds. "Some force is at work, very quietly, very subtly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the Silk Roads from his post in an city cafe. "Aspects we thought were firm and solid are faltering and failing."

The Central Mystery and The Protagonist's Path

Exactly what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that drives this final volume, which resumes where its predecessor ended. This is, by all accounts, the author's concluding excursion into the carefully crafted, deeply captivating universe he first unveiled in the distant past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a realm whose landscape corresponds to that of this world, but whose past veers and changes with ours; where the individuals appear and think and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, beings in beast form; where the air are filled with witches and legendary creatures, but underneath, buses are taken and tea is drunk, and middle-aged professors carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a child in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a toddler in the prequel, the introductory book with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the sharp and persistent heroine of the earlier books, but more mature, melancholic, more careful, less certain. This restraint is intensified by her separation from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the catalyst which made him desert her in the first place.

Merging Narratives

The daemon's resolve to leave in quest of that childlike part of Lyra which she appears to have shed (an trait which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her quest to reconnect with him, were the incitements of the prior book, which followed the protagonist undertake a adventurous trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, encountering with amazement and peril on the way. But from the outset, underlying forces were in motion, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the church's governing authority, and Pullman's masterfully eerie incarnation of austere, administrative wickedness – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. Marcel Delamare – the heroine's family member, who faults her for his sister's death – has manoeuvred himself into the position of head of the church's High Council, and is intent on using his newfound power to broaden the religion's rule. A key character, who carried young Lyra to refuge along a overflowing Thames as an child in the prequel, is now an Oxford don with a sideline in espionage: he is assigned to a key location to find out more about Delamare's aims. And behind all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and costly rose oil which manifests in some way to be the source of a social and financial crisis rippling out from that area. The substance is seen by some as a tradeable good, by alternate groups as a scientific or mystical phenomenon, and by yet others – the zealous "mountain dwellers" – as a source of malevolence; an affront that must be eradicated. The question of its origins, what it stands for, and whether it should be destroyed or safeguarded is escalating in importance.

Similar to His Dark Materials, Lyra's deeds, and her destiny, are revealed to be inseparably linked with the destiny of the realm

In The Secret Commonwealth, these storylines ran mostly in side by side. In this final book, they come together. As in His Dark Materials, the protagonist's choices and her destiny are revealed to be inseparably woven with the destiny of the world. Her personal mission to reconnect with her soul and rediscover her creativity becomes the central battleground in a broader conflict with an controlling regime which, as such regimes typically do, is seeking to suppress freedom of thinking, innovation and culture: all the inner, rebellious ways in which people can be independent.

Dimensional Rifts and Ideological Conflicts

The story begins with the unveiling of a collection of unusual cracks in the makeup of the Earth's air: windows that look to open into different dimensions. A particular portal appears to be the source of the much debated botanical substance. The Magisterium, with Delamare at its leadership, labels these windows as a threat to the church's beliefs and sets out to eradicate them. As the heroine begins to shift from strict reason and return to feeling, however, her certainty that these locations must be preserved – that their meaning and what they offer is mysteriously vital – grows. "Dust, or rose oil, or the creativity, or the botanical realm, or no matter what we name it," she says, "we require it." The stage for a philosophical conflict between innocence and experience is established.

Narrative Pacing and Character Development

At 640 pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the