Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Grey King (The Dark is Rising #4)

by Susan Cooper (Goodreads Author)

4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 · rating details · 15,893 ratings · 361 reviews

"Fire on the Mountain Shall Find the Harp of Gold Played to Wake the Sleepers, Oldest of the Old..."

With the final battle between the Light and the Dark soon approaching, Will sets out on a quest to call for aid. Hidden within the Welsh hills is a magical harp that he must use to wake the Sleepers - six noble riders who have slept for centuries.

But an illness has robbed Wi...more

Paperback, 192 pages

Published May 8th 2007 by Margaret K. McElderry Books (first published 1975)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

The Most Deserving Newbery

34th out of 90 books — 1,578 voters

Newbery Medal Winner Books

33rd out of 91 books — 203 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Dec 13, 2009 Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites, arthurian, fantasy, children-s-and-ya, based-on-myth-saga-etc

The Grey King is possibly my favourite book of this sequence -- and I swear that's not only because it's set in my home country. It's a lovely, lovely book. This is the most layered of the books, I think -- by which I mean this is the book that has the most to offer for people of all ages. There are the more open and obvious emotions of Bran -- grief, pride, arrogance -- and the more complex grief and guilt of Owen Davies, which I'm not sure a younger reader would be able to fully understand.

Th...more The Grey King is possibly my favourite book of this sequence -- and I swear that's not only because it's set in my home country. It's a lovely, lovely book. This is the most layered of the books, I think -- by which I mean this is the book that has the most to offer for people of all ages. There are the more open and obvious emotions of Bran -- grief, pride, arrogance -- and the more complex grief and guilt of Owen Davies, which I'm not sure a younger reader would be able to fully understand.

The characters in this book are all excellent. We have one new main character, completing our six, and that is, of course, Bran. He's a very interesting character, I find. His aloofness and exclusion is well done without being over done, I think, and the moments when he acts just like a normal boy with Will are beautiful. He's incredibly human, and yet he's also princely/kingly at times... the juxtaposition of the two is as interesting with him as it is with Will. It's not just Bran who proves an interesting character, though: I'm also drawn to Owen Davies and John Rowlands. Both of them are so human. Owen is so unfair to Bran, in some ways, and yet it's clear he loves him and wants to do well by him. John is one of those people who is truly good and unwittingly (most of the time) serves the Light: it's interesting to see a character like that, beyond the fact that he's purely likeable.

This is also the book in which the hints at an Arthurian background blossom a little. Still not as much as in the last book, but we've gone from realising Merriman is Merlin at the end of the first book to seeing the real King Arthur and his son.

My true favourite scene in the whole sequence comes in the very last page of this book: "Bran went to Davies and put his arm round his waist, and stood close. It was the first gesture of affection between the two that Will had ever seen. And wondering, loving surprise woke in Owen Davies's worn face as he looked down at the boy's white head, and the two stood there, waiting."

Reread again in December 2009. Beautiful. Made me cry. Swept me off into its little world as always.(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Dec 13, 2009 Tyas rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arthurian, fantasy, susan-cooper

Will Stanton was recovering in a Welsh village from hepatitis; he felt like he had forgotten something really, really important, but he couldn't really remember what... until he met Bran Davies, a boy drained of all colours, except for his tawny eyes. And then Will remembered: a prophecy (that the Old Ones found in Greenwitch) mentioning a raven boy and a dog with silver eyes.

A raven boy... with white skin and white hair, but eyes unmistakably raven.

After Cornwall in Greenwitch, now we get to s...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 04, 2007 Lexish rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: middle school onwards

Shelves: newbery

This is one of the most well-written young adult books I've ever read. They don't write 'em like this anymore, kids! There's a reason Susan Cooper won the Newberry Medal for this. Her incredible, melodic descriptive language and her ability to interweave history, mythology, legend, and good old-fashioned fiction bring this book far beyond a traditional "boy with special powers" book. If you appreciate the English language and if you have an interest in history and legend, this one is for you. Su...more

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 10, 2012 Maria M. Elmvang rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, 3-stars, audiobook, fantasy, owned

A 3.5 star review.

I was glad to see that I finally warmed to Will in this one, and I really liked Bran. His heritage was perhaps slightly contrived, but I thought it worked well enough. I'm not really sure I get what the Grey King was trying to do though... perhaps just work chaos, because he also knew who Bram was?

I'm still not blown away by this series, but it is turning out to be better than I'd originally thought, and now it would just be silly not to finish it ;-)

1 like · like · see review

Aug 01, 2010 Erin Reilly-Sanders rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, juvenile, fiction

After trying to start a different book (The Great Tree of Avalon by T.A. Barron) and stopping it after one disk because nothing was happening, this book cascaded upon my ears in welcome relief. While there isn't really a rapidly moving plot, there is a barely present sense of deep menace that somehow manages to drive the book forward. I didn

like · see review

Jan 29, 2013 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars

Cooper ditches her winning formula from Greenwitch, letting go of the three children from the first and third books of the series, and settling in with Will Stanton. Unfortunately this means we're back to the magical Will, the last of the Old Ones, essentially watching as various mystical events happen around him. He's a bit more active in this book than in The Dark Is Rising (the last book that focused solely on him), but the result is almost as boring. Again the colorful British mythology stan...more

like · see review

Dec 31, 2012 Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-and-ya, arthurian, based-on-myth-saga-etc, fantasy

It's pretty much a tradition for me now to reread this series at this time of year, so I wanted to get it done before we move into 2013. The 2012 reread of The Dark is Rising sees me struggling with anxiety and depression issues, and I nearly didn't get round to reading this, this year. But it is my comfort reading, so it was a good idea that I just planted myself firmly down with the book in hand today -- the same old battered copy as always, of course.

To my mind, this is the point in the seque...more It's pretty much a tradition for me now to reread this series at this time of year, so I wanted to get it done before we move into 2013. The 2012 reread of The Dark is Rising sees me struggling with anxiety and depression issues, and I nearly didn't get round to reading this, this year. But it is my comfort reading, so it was a good idea that I just planted myself firmly down with the book in hand today -- the same old battered copy as always, of course.

To my mind, this is the point in the sequence where more subtlety begins to come in. Owen Davies' shame, Guinevere's betrayal, John Rowlands' speech about how the Light can be as cruel in its absolute cold justice as the Dark in its horrors, from the point of view of humanity... I still feel like I'm discovering this world, every little bit of it, noticing little things like where in Silver on the Tree Will still doesn't understand quite how it is that Old Ones do what they do, and Merriman says he's still too close to human...

Obviously, I think these books reward rereading, or I wouldn't keep doing it, though, so I think I'm preaching to those who understand where I'm coming from, if not quite to the converted. I do think these books are beautiful and worthy, though. I do sometimes wonder what the story would be like, turned round the other way, like Jacqueline Carey does to Lord of the Rings in Banewreaker/Godslayer.

Thinking about it right now, it reminds me of Assassin's Creed 3. Spoilers for that follow: (view spoiler)(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Sep 03, 2011 Stuart rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is a bit of a mixed bag for me. Though I loved Will Stanton in DARK IS RISING, here he is a more distant figure- too much Old One and not enough human and relatable. I missed, enormously, the presence of the Drew children and Merriman- the later of whom only appears briefly, and the former are not mentioned at all. The secondary characters provide some interest- Will and John Rowland have a conversation about individual value vs. greater good that may be the philosophical high point of...more

like · see review

Sep 03, 2011 Andres rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Finally this series has a book that almost hits all the right notes, but it's a shame that it had to happen so late, in the second to last book.

Pro: Will is finally Seeking on his own! Merriman isn't there to help or lead or whatever.
Con: Instead of being led to the Thing of Power, he stumbles onto it. Not much of a challenge, but slightly more interesting.

Pro: New location, new characters, new "bad guy".
Con: At its heart, this is just another hunt for a Thing of Power.

Pro: The dangers to Will a...more Finally this series has a book that almost hits all the right notes, but it's a shame that it had to happen so late, in the second to last book.

Pro: Will is finally Seeking on his own! Merriman isn't there to help or lead or whatever.
Con: Instead of being led to the Thing of Power, he stumbles onto it. Not much of a challenge, but slightly more interesting.

Pro: New location, new characters, new "bad guy".
Con: At its heart, this is just another hunt for a Thing of Power.

Pro: The dangers to Will and company are more "real" here than in the previous 3 books. There's a guy with a gun who shoots a loved one dead, for goodness sake!
Con: Dangers yes, but still only a notch above harassment. If this is truly a battle between two forces heading toward the end game, they're not playing hard enough to convince us that it's for keeps. You know, it's for the world, forever and ever and ever. Try a little harder, the Dark!

A bit of my old complaints (capitalizing things, lack of explanations) still stand. Here we have capitalized the Spell of Helledd and the Spell of Caer Garadawg, Old Speech, and the Law is mentioned again somewhere. At this point they're mumbo jumbo words that I'm sure are referring to real myths or legends, but since they're just thrown out here without making it a part of larger cohesive whole, they come off as something used to spice up the story and not used in any special way to make it the author's own, to make it belong to the world of the story being written about here rather than just coming off as an un-footnoted reference.

And speaking of, a whole subplot is almost lost to too subtle of an allusion (if one is not familiar enough with Arthurian legend). This is very frustrating to run into because not everyone is going to know enough to get the hints, and may leave them wondering what the hell all of that was about. If you can spend many words lavishly describing the scenery, or reiterating the same gobbledegook about the Dark and the Light in each book, you can throw in a passage explaining who everybody is to avoid confusing a reader.

"But the next book will explain it all!" one might say in defense of hundreds of pages of lukewarm adventure and vague explanations. "Much too late to redeem everything that has passed" says I.

Really, I can see that this book was much better than the previous three (though I can't figure why it would have won the Newbury Medal) but it still carries the same flaws, though to a lesser extent. The quick resolution and ending leave much to be desired, so I can only hope that unanswered questions are tied up in the next one. But after 4 books of just okay adventures and magic, I can't imagine the last book making up for it all.(less)

like · see review

Jul 19, 2011 Sienna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

Wales, place that I've never been but for which I nevertheless feel an inordinate amount of love and kinship! What can I say? I own everything Gorky's Zygotic Mynci released, even with the high proportion of lackluster songs at the end of their long, fruitful band-life, and couldn't help singing inwardly (earworm alert) when one of the characters said "Bore da."

Pay no heed to the horrible computer-generated faces on the cover: this whirlwind story is as beautiful as they are creepy, the complete...more

like · see review

Jun 20, 2011 Jill rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: newbery-medal

Another Newbery winner that is one in a series of books. I don't understand why they do that, other than to encourage their audience to read the other books. I'm trying to read through the list of winners and reading through an entire series of books was not part of the plan. After being bent out of shape reading through The High King that throws you right in to the story with little explanation as to what happened leading up to the book not to mention difficult to pronounce names and places I w...more

like · see review

Apr 02, 2011 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult

The Grey King is the 4th book in the Dark is Rising series. If you have not read the first three books, I highly recommend you do or you will be somewhat lost with this book. For those not familiar with the series (and this could be considered a spoiler) it involves an age old battle of the Light vs the Dark. There are great objects of power that both sides want and Will Stanton (youngest of the Old Ones of the light) has been busy collecting them as he is the sign seeker.

This time, Will has a...more The Grey King is the 4th book in the Dark is Rising series. If you have not read the first three books, I highly recommend you do or you will be somewhat lost with this book. For those not familiar with the series (and this could be considered a spoiler) it involves an age old battle of the Light vs the Dark. There are great objects of power that both sides want and Will Stanton (youngest of the Old Ones of the light) has been busy collecting them as he is the sign seeker.

This time, Will has a new quest. After a dreadful sickness causes him to lose a lot of his strength, he is sent to family in Wales to recover. There he starts to regain his memories as a Old One and meets a new friend in Bran. Bran is a unique boy, he was born albino and his best friend is a dog as unusual as him. As he remembers, Will realizes that he must find a golden harp and wake the sleepers (whoever they may be) and he'll need Bran's help along the way. But he is weak, and the dark is always looming.

Bran is a very unique character for this book. But his dog is even more fantastic. There is a mysterious sense surrounding both and Bran has a lot of interesting history. Will played a fairly prominent role in this book as he is probably my favorite character in all of the series. Surprisingly, Merriman was barely in this one and I found I missed his character. There were a few side characters, but they weren't developed as much as they could have been.

This one had a fairly exciting plot but it was a bit more on the serious side and some of it was pretty dark material for a childrens book. That being said, it wasn't offensive, just upsetting at parts. There was a lot of adventure and I think the bad guys were definitely more menacing in this book which made for a good read. This book can move slow at parts and doesn't describe some of the background for those not familiar with Arthurian legend. But despite that, its still a pretty good read.

I do love this series and all the books are well worth reading in the series. I highly recommend it for anyone.

The Grey King
Copyright 1975
208 pages

Review by M. Reynard 2011(less)

like · see review

Mar 09, 2011 Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, children-s-and-ya

The Grey King is possibly my favourite book of the sequence, and definitely one of my favourite books of all time. The things I noticed in this read through -- my full review, more of an overview of all the times I've read it, is here -- were mostly about the Welshness of it, and about the complexities of Will's relationship with the Light and humanity, and how exactly Bran is related to the Light.

John Rowlands' little speech about the coldness at the heart of the Light always strikes me -- it's...more The Grey King is possibly my favourite book of the sequence, and definitely one of my favourite books of all time. The things I noticed in this read through -- my full review, more of an overview of all the times I've read it, is here -- were mostly about the Welshness of it, and about the complexities of Will's relationship with the Light and humanity, and how exactly Bran is related to the Light.

John Rowlands' little speech about the coldness at the heart of the Light always strikes me -- it's a moral ambiguity that isn't always present (e.g. in Harry Potter). Several times we see that Will isn't really human, and we have to question how justified his goals are. Is the Light any better placed to dictate what humanity will do than the Dark? Although, thinking about it, what the Dark will do to humanity is rarely really articulated: it remains a formless fear, and the more potent for that, I think, as the reader brings their own understanding to that.

Once you've read the whole sequence, you do know that the Light is right, I think, because of how they handle their victory -- though at the same time, that coldness at the heart never goes away -- but you never see anything from the point of view of the Dark... I've read rewrites of The Lord of the Rings where Sauron was not evil. It'd be interesting to read a rewrite of The Dark is Rising, in that sense! How could one talk up the Dark and make it sound like the better choice... Clearly some people choose to be of the Dark: Merriman tells Will that the Lords of the Dark choose it, they aren't born into it as those of the Light are. That would be very interesting to know: what makes people choose to become Lords of the Dark? There is the painter, in Greenwitch, who is very lonely, very unhappy, an outcast... I think perhaps he's the clearest elaboration on this, though there is something about it in Silver on the Tree, too -- people so blinded by ideas that they lose all sense of right and wrong.

In any case, the other thing that really gets me about these books is they make my heart ache for Wales. Now I'm home in Wales, that's a slightly different experience, but I really don't know of any other book that invokes the feeling of Wales for me so strongly. Or I didn't, before, anyway: now I've read more Welsh writing, I'm starting to see that in other books. But The Dark is Rising is still the strongest.(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Jan 27, 2011 robyn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mythopoeia, coming-of-age, magic, perfect-books

This is the fourth book of the Dark is Rising sequence, and the standout of the series. It's set in Wales, and while half of the book is entirely concerned with mundane human matters - a dispute over sheep, a flat tire, a boy with a chip on his shoulder, long-standing grudges - all the while there's a tension rising beneath the surface that will finally explode in a powerful, surprising confrontation between Light and Dark.

Will Stanton is in Wales, ostensibly to recover from a long illness. In r...more

like · see review

Dec 23, 2010 RL rated it 3 of 5 stars

"But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you p...more

like · see review

May 02, 2010 Karin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark, fantasy, arthurian-legend, juvenile-fiction, newbery-winner, borrowed-from-the-library

Will Stanton has been sent to Wales to recover from an illness. He’s forgotten almost everything about being an Old One and about his quest. Being in Wales, however, revives Will, and reminds him that he’s there for a purpose. He must find the harp, wake the sleepers, and defeat the Grey King. As he talks to his relatives and their neighbors, Will slowly discovers where he must go and what he must do. He and his new friend, Bran – a singularly strange young man whose nature and powers even Will...more

like · see review

Apr 17, 2010 Janis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Children's fantasy novel. Newbery Award, 1976. Book #4 is The Dark is Rising Sequence.

Susan Cooper makes me want to visit the British Isles even more than I did previously! In this book, Will Stanton recuperates from a serious illness by visiting family in Wales. Cooper does a wonderful job of sharing how to pronounce Welsh words. I listened to the audiobook while reading the novel (though not at the same time, which I wish I HAD done). This audiobook had a different narrator from the others--R...more

like · see review

Nov 06, 2009 Angie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: belovedbookshelf, nostalgireads, ya

Time to start in on my favorite Arthurian novels. Somehow Robin Hood and King Arthur--the best of the best when it came to British mythology and lore--have always gone together in my mind. Truth be told, I've been mildly obsessed with both ever since I was a girl and I have a soft spot in my heart for the first encounter I had with each in novelized form. As far as Robin Hood goes, that was Robin McKinley's The Outlaws of Sherwood. With Arthurian lore, it was Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising Se...more Time to start in on my favorite Arthurian novels. Somehow Robin Hood and King Arthur--the best of the best when it came to British mythology and lore--have always gone together in my mind. Truth be told, I've been mildly obsessed with both ever since I was a girl and I have a soft spot in my heart for the first encounter I had with each in novelized form. As far as Robin Hood goes, that was Robin McKinley's The Outlaws of Sherwood. With Arthurian lore, it was Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising Sequence. The sequence is actually a five-book series following two groups of people embroiled in the centuries-old conflict between the Light and the Dark. The first group are the three Drew children--Simon, Jane, and Barney--who become involved through their connections with their mysterious Great-Uncle Merry. The second is a long line of warriors for the Light known as the Old Ones. They culminate in the last (and youngest) of the Old Ones--a deceptively ordinary boy by the name of Will Stanton. The books weave back and forth between these two groups, sometimes crossing paths, sometimes flying solo, until they all join forces in the final volume. The fourth (and my favorite) book is THE GREY KING.

THE GREY KING opens with Will Stanton delirious with fever. He is certain he has forgotten something vitally important, but cannot for the life of him remember what it was. Having contracted hepatitis, he is sent to stay with his aunt and uncle in Wales for his convalescence. Slowly, as he begins to regain his strength, his memory returns and it becomes clear why he has been sent to an all-but-forgotten valley in Wales at this particular moment in time. The key is in these lines from prophecy:

On the day of the dead, when the year too dies,
Must the youngest open the oldest hills
Through the door of the birds, where the breeze
breaks.
There fire shall fly from the raven boy,
And the silver eyes that see the wind,
And the Light shall have the harp of gold.

By the pleasant lake the Sleepers lie,
On Cadfan's Way where the kestrels call;
Though grim from the Grey King shadows fall,
Yet singing the golden harp shall guide
To break their sleep and bid them ride.

When light from the lost land shall return,
Six Sleepers shall ride, six Signs shall burn,
And where the midsummer tree grows tall
By Pendragon's sword the Dark shall fall.

Y maent yr mynyddoedd yn canu,
ac y mae'r arglwyddes yn dod.

Will soon encounters an unhappy young boy named Bran who lives with his father on a neighboring farm. With his white dog Cafall at his side, Bran introduces Will to the mist-shrouded land he calls home and, bit by bit, the lines of the prophecy begin to take shape. Together these two lost boys must join forces to defeat the Dark that is on the rise.

This book is hauntingly beautiful and redolent with the lyrical Welsh language and an atmosphere as thick and rich as the fog surrounding the peak of Cader Idris. I love this entire series, but THE GREY KING is where it all comes together for me. And the character of Bran Davies is one of the main reasons why. What a compulsively sympathetic character Cooper created in Bran! Somehow she crafted a young boy with a heart full of pain and confusion, slammed on his head a powerful legacy, and managed to keep him so real it's breathtaking. My heart went out to him when I met him at 11 years old and it does the same today so many years later. The friendship between the two boys is tenuous and riveting to watch unfold as they both embody that incongruous and contradictory blend of youthful anguish and wisdom beyond their years. The supporting cast of characters is just as wonderful and varied, none of them fully good or evil, but inhabiting the many margins in between those absolutes. This is the most moving and heart wrenching of the books in the series and it is where the Arthurian legend comes into play most strongly as the identities of the raven boy, the eyes that see the wind, and the Sleepers themselves are revealed. The results are stunning and spur the reader on to read the next and final volume in the sequence. This, my friends, is a book of the finest kind. Winner of the 1976 Newbery Medal, and fully deserving of that honor, I recommend it (and the whole series) for fans of Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L'Engle, and anyone with a penchant for Arthurian tales.

Reading order: Over Sea Under Stone, The Dark is Rising, Greenwitch, The Grey King, and Silver on the Tree.(less)

like · see review

Sep 14, 2009 Danielle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked up this book because it was on the Newberry Medal shelving in the Children's section of my local public library. I am not disappointed that I read it, and perhaps my rating does not do it justice. The story is about a young boy who has a mysterious mission to stop the advancing Dark forces, and because of his health is sent to recover with some family friends in the Welsh countryside. He befriends a boy his age with a mysterious past and in their own ways they each discover their inner...more

like · see review

Jan 29, 2012 Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: based-on-myth-saga-etc, arthurian, children-s-and-ya, fantasy

This one is probably my favourite book of the series. It always makes me feel hiraeth. One day, I need to visit the parts of Wales these books are set in, really. And get someone to coach me on how to pronounce them: the section where Bran teaches Will is quite helpful, but not as good as hearing someone say the place names. Alas, I speak very little Welsh.

I think Bran is my favourite character of the series. Barney's cute, but Bran has more depth, with his troubled past and how much he has to d...more

5 likes · like · see review

Feb 18, 2013 Antony rated it 4 of 5 stars

Of all the books in this series, this is the one I like the best. Having read them when I was much younger, I didn't remember much, so I decided to reread the series. I have to say the first two books disappointed me. While the idea of the story was interesting, I didn't find the characters particularly engaging. There was something lacking in the first three books, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Something began to happen with the writing in Greenwitch (the third book), but I still couldn't...more

like · see review

Oct 11, 2012 Kevin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Finally Susan Cooper figured it out! The book was similar to the original in that there was a solid plot that the characters knew about and were highly involved in AND they also had something to do with the climax which hasn't happened since the first book. Also I was pleased to finally read about love (though it was in the past) and to have back story and relationship driven subplot. However, it still is shadowed by the previous book's problems and had only two characters followed into this boo...more

like · see review

Mar 11, 2011 Robyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, old-faves

I was disappointed at first to see Will Stanton solo again after his meeting with the Drew children in the previous book. This was quickly ignored however, as this book became possibly my favorite in the series. It is set in Wales, a country I had only vaguely heard of at that time, which to my pre-teen mind seemed terribly exotic, made more so by the intriguing bits of seemingly nonsensical Welsh language scattered about. Even the mini Welsh lesson in the middle of the book was not dull, explai...more

like · see review

May 12, 2010 Rich Stoehr rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arthurian, favorites, my-childhood

Before I read Susan Cooper's 'The Grey King' I had never even heard of it. It was just a title on a school reading list when I was in 5th grade, but the title was strange and caught on my imagination somehow. What I discovered when I picked it up was a world and a story that somehow changed the way I looked at books for the rest of my life.

Since then, I've re-read 'The Grey King' more times than I can count, though there's nothing quite like the first time. The book comes in the middle of a seri...more

like · see review

Sep 28, 2007 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: readin2006

I know it's not a commonly held opinion among fans of The Dark is Rising sequence, but I actually have preferred the books with the Drews, rather than just Will Stanton, but this was still a great read. I'm grateful for the little Welsh pronunciation lesson Bran gave Will, otherwise I would have been way off the mark with the names. My only complaint is not enough Merriman, but overall it was really exciting and I'm anxious to start the final volume of the series.

1 like · like · see review

Nov 17, 2012 Wallace Johnson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Genre: I placed this title in my reading log under Junior Reads Fantasy.

Summary: A young boy, named Will Stanton, extremely ill and near death, traveled to Wales to recuperate with family. There he learned of his special powers as an Old One, and with his new friend Bran Davis, they go on various quest to battle the evils of darkness.

(a.) A definite strength to this fantasy title was the author’s style. With that said, I was able, throughout, to place vivid imagines in my mind, allowing me to se...more

like · see review

Aug 06, 2012 Kathryn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads, childrens, fantasy, young-adult

In elementary school, the best day of the month was the day the book order forms came. Four or five pages of newsprint from Scholastic or Apple or another children's publisher, stapled together, showing dozens of gateways to other worlds - I devoured them greedily, wishing I could buy all the books but knowing that there was a limit. (Poor Mom. She was never a reader herself, and she got a kid who screamed with delight when she unwrapped a dictionary on her eighth birthday. At least books were c...more In elementary school, the best day of the month was the day the book order forms came. Four or five pages of newsprint from Scholastic or Apple or another children's publisher, stapled together, showing dozens of gateways to other worlds - I devoured them greedily, wishing I could buy all the books but knowing that there was a limit. (Poor Mom. She was never a reader herself, and she got a kid who screamed with delight when she unwrapped a dictionary on her eighth birthday. At least books were cheaper than Cabbage Patch Kids or whatever it was the other girls were playing with. Although, in the quantities in which I read them...at least I liked rereading as much then as I still do now.)

The Grey King was one of those books. I must have been seven or eight when I read it for the first time and fell hopelessly in love with Wales in general and Bran Davies of Clwyd in particular. I've grown to appreciate the book more as I've gotten older; as an adult, I can understand John Rowlands and Owen Davies better, and the old rivalry between Owen Davies and Caradog Prichard over Gwen makes much more sense now than it did twenty years ago. And of course I know more of the Matter of Britain now, which helps me understand Bran a bit better as well.

Bran and Will are alike in that they both have dual natures, one side a little boy and one side remote, even strange. Bran's little-boy side is harder to reach than Will's, but it's there, and they manage to make friends. Bran is clearly lonely, though, much lonelier than Will among his large family and many friends at school, and the loss of Cafall is earth-shattering. That, too, I understand better now than I did when I put the first of many creases in this book's spine.

Like the other books in the sequence, The Grey King brings the setting alive. (Someday I must go to Snowdonia and see the breath of the Brenin Llywd hanging ragged around Cader Idris for myself.) Cooper uses local legend to great effect, intertwining her tale with the Matter of Britain. I heartily recommend The Grey King for both kids and adults. (You don't have to have read the first three books, but it helps.)

"Oh, yes," said Bran softly. "Yes, indeed. My father had a dog named Cafall."

(less)

like · see review

Aug 08, 2012 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the fourth book (out of five) in The Dark is Rising series and so far, one of my favorites. Will Stanton is young boy on the outside, but he’s also one of the “Old Ones,” who are in the midst of fighting a continuous battle against the dark forces that try to corrupt the world. In my opinion, the later books do not work well as stand alones. You really need to read the earlier ones to understand who the Old Ones are and grasped the overall story, so start at the beginning.

In this book W...more

like · see review

Feb 20, 2012 Tommy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi, fiction

I almost gave this book 4 stars. It did some things better than the other books. I thought this book did do a couple things better than the previous books. I thought the story behind Bran Davies, his mother, and father was quite compelling and Susan Cooper did a great job of creating mystery about that and revealing it at a good time.

I still think the missions weren't always clear. The whole second half of the book was about waking the Sleepers but beyond it being said in a poem there was no rea...more

like · see review

Feb 09, 2012 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: King Arthur lovers, medieval fantasy fans, those who enjoy folklore and Wales!

Recommended to Nicole by: Library

There's a part of each of these books that stays with me, and in The Grey King, it's Bran and Cafall that I've never forgotten through the years. A boy and his dog.... What greater combination could there be? Some rival it, but only because they too have the same feeling of "Alone in this world, I have you by my side."

Ah, but this was a turn for things, this book! There was not as much magic, and more relationships, more lore, more learning, I feel. The story was set in Wales, which is unusual f...more There's a part of each of these books that stays with me, and in The Grey King, it's Bran and Cafall that I've never forgotten through the years. A boy and his dog.... What greater combination could there be? Some rival it, but only because they too have the same feeling of "Alone in this world, I have you by my side."

Ah, but this was a turn for things, this book! There was not as much magic, and more relationships, more lore, more learning, I feel. The story was set in Wales, which is unusual for one, but wonderful for another. The culture came through as it did in all the books, gently and with renown, pushing the story forward, rather than distracting us with potential denseness like in some tales. And in this book, we take a turn for the different. We only have Will here, and it starts off on a slightly startling end, and leaves a lot of loose ends at its closing--much more than the other three books previously.

But Will isn't alone for very long as we run into the strangest and most immediately intimate character yet--in my opinion. His name is Bran, and he's unlike anyone you've met so far. There's a lot to him, and he has the seeds for great potential, and a lot of character development. You can't help but want to see how he'll grow, based on everything you can see he's grown up around, his origins, and then what happens throughout the course of the book. He's a character made to stir the waters, and to me... he's got a place very close to my heart. Him, and Cafall... his wonderful dog.

Maybe I'm sentimental, and maybe this strangely swift story seems a little haphazard, like it always does when Will's on his own without the Drew kids there to balance out his abruptness and goal-oriented mindset. But nonetheless, this book calls to me, because for all that Bran is not normal, he's the humanizing part of this book, very much.

Overall, it's a normal continuation. The next, and last book in the series, is Silver on the Tree. For those of you reading along, I'll see you there.(less)

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (42)

More editions...

Genres

Young Adult

306 users

Fantasy

75 users

Childrens

66 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

45 users

Mythology > Arthurian

43 users

Childrens > Juvenile

27 users

Childrens > Middle Grade

25 users

Young Adult > Young Adult Fantasy

24 users

Fantasy > Magic

22 users

Novels

12 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Susan Cooper

Susan Cooper was born in 1935, and grew up in England's Buckinghamshire, an area that was green countryside then but has since become part of Greater London. As a child, she loved to read, as did her younger brother, who also became a writer. After attending Oxford, where she became the first woman to ever edit that university's newspaper, Cooper worked as a reporter and feature writer for London'...more

More about Susan Cooper...

Books by Susan Cooper

The Dark is Rising (The Dark is Rising, #2)

Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark is Rising, #1)

Silver on the Tree (The Dark is Rising, #5)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Grey King

5 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Grey King

“He leaned forward suddenly, so that for an instant the strong, bearded face was clear; the voice softened, and there was an aching sadness in it. "Only the creatures of the earth take from one another, boy. All creatures, but men more than any. Life they take, and liberty and all that another man may have - sometimes through greed, sometimes through stupidity, but never by any volition but their own. Beware your own race, Bran Davies - they are the only ones who will ever harm you, in the end.” — 3 people liked it

“Go away," he said. "Go away. I wish you had never come here. I wish I had never heard of the Light and the Dark, and your damned old Merriman and his rhymes. If I had your golden harp now I would throw it in the sea. I am not a part of your stupid quest anymore, I don't care what happens to it. And Cafall was never a part of it either, or a part of your pretty pattern. He was my dog, and I loved him more than anything in the world, and now he is dead. Go away.” — 3 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Grey King
avg rating	preview: The Grey King Goodreads rating: 4.16 (15893 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222576.The_Grey_King?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349053168l/222576.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222576.The_Grey_King?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Grey King by Susan Cooper[/url]

The Grey King (The Dark is Rising #4)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website