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Dec 13, 2009

Nikki rated it:

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.
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Dec 13, 2009

Tyas rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jun 04, 2007

Lexish rated it:

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 More...

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Aug 01, 2010

Erin rated it:

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’t quite understand why Will had suddenly lost all of his powers that he learns in The Dark is Rising, but I guess that maybe he didn't use them due to his More...

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Sep 03, 2011

Stuart rated it:

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...

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Sep 03, 2011

Andres rated it:

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 T More...

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Jul 19, 2011

Sienna rated it:

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 More...

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Jun 20, 2011

Jill rated it:

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...

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Apr 02, 2011

Melissa rated it:

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 More...

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Mar 09, 2011

Nikki rated it:

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 strike More...

12 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2011

robyn rated it:

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 i More...

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Dec 23, 2010

RL rated it:

"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 c More...

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May 02, 2010

Barky rated it:

Will Stanton has been sent to Wales to recover from an illness. Heâ€™s forgotten almost everything about being an Old One and about his quest. Being in Wales, however, revives Will, and reminds him that heâ€™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 â€“ a singularly strange young man whose nature and powers even More...

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Apr 17, 2010

Janis rated it:

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 t More...

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Nov 06, 2009

Angie rated it:

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...

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Sep 14, 2009

Danielle rated it:

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...

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Jan 29, 2012

Nikki rated it:

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 More...

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Mar 11, 2011

Robyn rated it:

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...

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May 12, 2010

Rich rated it:

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 mid More...

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Sep 28, 2007

Jessica rated it:

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.

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Feb 09, 2012

Nicole rated it:

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 More...

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Dec 10, 2011

Heidi rated it:

Wow. I whole-heartedly agree with this book receiving the Newbery Medal. It was amazing. Definitely my favorite in the series so far. What a story full of mystery and secrets that shocked me when they were revealed. (If I'd been paying attention and putting things together, I might have guessed. But I didn't and I'm glad I didn't because the surprise was awesome.)

I am thrilled I did the audio version, because Richard Mitchley's Welsh was brilliant! I LOVED Bran's Welsch lesson and I More...

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Nov 17, 2011

Dorothea rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Mar 26, 2011

B. Jay rated it:

The mysterious Will. a newly born Old One, returns in the fourth installment of the childrens fantasy series The Dark is Rising. Despite knowing that this book had won the 1976 Newbery Medal, and was a favorite of fans, I still had my reservations based on the nature of the previous childrens books in the series as well as the briefness of the novel.
I'm glad to say I was pleasantly suprised at how truly great The Grey King is. Just when you think yo have this series figured out, Susan Co More...

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May 10, 2010

Damon rated it:

While I don't know that these are best read end to end like this, at least it keeps me from forgetting subtle details of the story. Not that these are particularly subtle, I guess - I don't intend that as a slight to the writing or storytelling, just that maybe it's hard to add a lot of subtlety to adolescent fiction about the epic battle between good and evil.

In any event, good stuff here. And lots of Welsh, which seems like a language it would be near-impossible for me to speak More...

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May 01, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Combined review of The Grey King and Silver on the Tree: I feel the same about these two books as I did with the last couple in the series - good stories, poor characterization. And the more I read of them, the more irritated I became by the way all the characters just Know what to do; they'll be standing there, faced with some incomprehensible situation, and then they suddenly understand that they have to act in a certain way. While it might be comforting to think that in such a situation, the More...

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Jul 24, 2009

Debbie (Readerbuzz) rated it:

At last! I made it through a book in The Dark is Rising seriesâ€¦though, to do it, I had to listen to it on audiotape. This was the last book in the series. Somehow I felt like I was missing a lot by not reading the earlier books. I didnâ€™t understand how Will came to know he was an Old One. What does it really mean to be an Old One? Were there earlier mentions of Arthur and Guinevere? What else did Will have to obtain other than the harp? What is the difference between the Dark and the Light? We More...

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Mar 23, 2009

Veronica rated it:

It's a shame I didn't read this series when I was younger, but although they are "children's books", I'm enjoying discovering them now. I think this is my favourite, along with the second book, The Dark is Rising; not coincidentally, both feature Will. I like them because the characters seem to have more freedom of action and initiative than in the other books, and they are also spookier and more gripping. There is real tension in this book, which was absent from Greenwitch (the weakes More...

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Dec 02, 2009

Ki rated it:

this book is about the boy whose name is Willaim Stanton had went to Wales because of his serious illness. he didn't remember something, but when he saw the dog which named Cafall. he remembered something that the dark will be rising soon and he is last-born of Old one. he tried to save the world form Dark with Bran Davies who is owner of the dog. for that, they found the golden harp from the High Maginc for waking the Sleepers to fight against the lord of the Drak, Grey King. Finally Will wake More...

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Jul 23, 2011

Greg rated it:

I think I've lost my steam in this series. I fulfilled enough of my childhood in reading the first three books to make it to my copy of The Grey King, which I received as a gift and tried to read as a kid without prior knowledge of the characters. I didn't make it then, but now that I know what's going on and am less intimidated by the Welsh, I still found the book dull and wound up skimming the second half. The writing started to fall into too many descriptive traps, and much of the action surr More...

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