Things are unraveling in the concluding book of The Dust Trilogy, the second of the author's grand trilogies set in a world that appears, here more than ever, as a energized and skewed version of our own. Establishments are crumbling, or reassembling themselves along new and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; concurrently, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Authority is flowing away from governments, and pooling in the offices of theocrats, the treasuries of corporations, the control of mobs. "An element is at work, silently, gradually", says merchant a merchant figure, keeping a vigilant eye on the ancient paths from his seat in an city cafe. "Elements we thought were stable and strong are weakening and collapsing."
Core Enigma and The Protagonist's Path
Precisely what that force might be, and ways to oppose it, is the question that drives the concluding book, which picks up where its predecessor ended. This is, according to many, the author's last venture into the intricately constructed, infinitely beguiling realm he first introduced in the distant past, with the publication of His Dark Materials. It's a domain whose landscape aligns with that of our world, but whose history veers and changes with ours; where the people appear and reason and behave like us, but are joined by external spirits, essences in beast form; where the skies are populated with sorceresses and gryphons, but beneath those skies, buses are ridden and drinks is drunk, and older scholars carry Harrods shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first met as a 12-year-old in the first trilogy, and then met once more as a toddler in the prequel, the origin story with which the author began the series, is now a mature individual: still clearly the sharp and tenacious protagonist of the earlier books, but aged, sadder, more cautious, less certain. This circumscription is heightened by her division from her animal guide, her daemon – but it was also, ironically, the trigger which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Converging Storylines
The daemon's resolve to leave in quest of that innocent part of Lyra which she appears to have shed (an aspect which he symbolizes as her "vision"), and her journey to reconnect with him, were the driving forces of its predecessor, which saw Lyra undertake a adventurous trek across Europe and into the Caucasus, facing with wonder and peril on the way. But from the outset, deeper currents were in play, and malevolent elements at work. The Magisterium – the church's controlling power, and the author's masterfully eerie representation of strict, administrative malice – is under recent guidance, and flexing its muscles. Lyra's uncle – our protagonist's relative, who blames her for his sister's death – has worked himself into the position of head of the authority's ruling assembly, and is determined on using his newfound influence to broaden the church's dominium. Another protagonist, who rescued infant the heroine to security along a flooded Thames as an 11-year-old in the first book, is now an academic with a secondary role in spycraft: he is dispatched to a key location to learn more about his aims. And underlying all of this is the enigma surrounding the uncommon and costly rose oil which appears in some way to be the cause of a social and economic disturbance spreading out from that area. The oil is seen by certain groups as a marketable commodity, by others as a scientific or spiritual phenomenon, and by yet others – the extremist "highland figures" – as a wellspring of darkness; an affront that must be eradicated. The issue of its source, what it stands for, and whether it should be destroyed or safeguarded is becoming urgent.
As in the first series, the heroine's deeds, and her destiny, are shown to be deeply entwined with the fate of the universe
In the previous volume, these plots ran mostly in parallel. In the conclusion, they come together. Like the first trilogy, her movements and her path are shown to be inextricably entwined with the destiny of the realm. Her private journey to reunite with her companion and regain her creativity becomes the primary struggle in a wider battle with an oppressive regime which, as such authorities typically do, is seeking to quell freedom of thinking, creativity and culture: all the personal, rebellious ways in which individuals can be liberated.
Dimensional Rifts and Moral Battles
The story begins with the discovery of a collection of unusual fissures in the structure of the Earth's atmosphere: portals that seem to open into other worlds. One such portal appears to be the source of the fiercely disputed mystical extract. The Magisterium, with its leader at its head, classifies these openings as a challenge to the religion's orthodoxy and endeavors to eliminate them. As the heroine begins to move from strict logic and revert to instinct, nevertheless, her belief that these places must be protected – that their significance and what they offer is mysteriously vital – strengthens. "Dust, or the substance, or the creativity, or the Rose Field, or whatever we name it," she says, "we require it." The scene for a philosophical struggle between purity and experience is prepared.
Story Tempo and Protagonist Growth
At over six hundred pages, The Rose Field|this volume|the
