Things are collapsing in the final volume of The Dust Trilogy, the next of the author's grand trilogies set in a universe that manifests, here more than ever, as a charged and skewed version of our own. Institutions are weakening, or reorganizing themselves along novel and disturbing lines. An unseen force "is destroying the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Power is flowing away from governments, and pooling in the offices of religious leaders, the treasuries of conglomerates, the hands of crowds. "Some force is at work, silently, imperceptibly", says businessman Mustafa Bey, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his post in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were secure and durable are weakening and failing."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Just what that something might be, and how to counteract it, is the inquiry that drives the concluding book, which continues where The Secret Commonwealth left off. This is, according to many, Pullman's concluding foray into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling universe he first revealed three decades past, with the release of the first trilogy. It's a world whose geography aligns with that of our world, but whose history tacks and jibes with ours; where the humans look and think and act like us, but are joined by external spirits, essences in beast form; where the heavens are populated with witches and gryphons, but underneath, vehicles are caught and tea is sipped, and middle-aged academics carry fancy shopping bags. Lyra, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and then revisited as a baby in La Belle Sauvage, the introductory book with which Pullman began the series, is now a mature individual: still recognisably the prickly and persistent protagonist of the previous installments, but older, more sorrowful, more careful, less certain. This restraint is heightened by her split from her soul companion, Pantalaimon – but it was also, unexpectedly, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to leave in quest of that childlike part of Lyra which she seems to have lost (an quality which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a adventurous journey across Europe and into the mountain region, meeting with amazement and risk on the way. But from the start, deeper currents were in action, and sinister powers at work. The Magisterium – the religious controlling power, and Pullman's brilliantly sinister embodiment of strict, procedural malice – is under fresh command, and flexing its muscles. The antagonist – our protagonist's family member, who holds responsible her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the role of leader of the church's High Council, and is intent on using his recently acquired authority to broaden the church's dominium. Malcolm Polstead, who saved baby the heroine to security along a swollen Thames as an 11-year-old in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a sideline in spycraft: he is dispatched to the city to learn more about Delamare's plans. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the uncommon and precious botanical extract which manifests somehow to be the source of a societal and economic upheaval rippling out from Central Asia. The oil is seen by certain groups as a marketable commodity, by different parties as a scientific or mystical wonder, and by further factions – the zealous "highland figures" – as a source of darkness; an affront that must be eradicated. The question of its origins, its meaning, and whether it should be destroyed or protected is escalating in importance.
Similar to the original trilogy, the heroine's deeds, and her fate, are demonstrated to be inseparably linked with the destiny of the universe
In its predecessor, these plots ran broadly in side by side. In this final book, they converge. Like His Dark Materials, the protagonist's choices and her destiny are unveiled to be inextricably linked with the fate of the realm. Her private quest to reunite with her soul and regain her creativity becomes the primary conflict in a broader conflict with an authoritarian government which, as such regimes typically do, is attempting to quell independence of thought, creativity and culture: all the inner, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Dimensional Rifts and Moral Battles
The story begins with the discovery of a set of strange openings in the fabric of the Earth's atmosphere: portals that appear to lead to other worlds. One such window seems to be the source of the highly contested rose oil. The authority, with the antagonist at its leadership, labels these windows as a threat to the institution's beliefs and sets out to eliminate them. As Lyra begins to shift from strict rationalism and back to feeling, however, her belief that these locations must be defended – that their meaning and their value is mysteriously essential – grows. "Dust, or rose oil, or the vision, or the Rose Field, or no matter what we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The scene for a philosophical conflict between purity and knowledge is established.
Narrative Pacing and Protagonist Growth
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
