Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
The Dark is Rising: The Complete Sequence (The Dark is Rising #1-5)
by
Susan Cooper (Goodreads Author)
Joined by destiny, the lives of the Drew children, Will Stanton, and a boy named Bran weave together in an exquisite, sometimes terrifying tapestry of mystery and quests. In the five-title series of novels known as The Dark Is Rising Sequence, these children pit the power of good against the evil forces of Dark in a timeless and dangerous battle that includes crystal sword...more
Paperback, 1082 pages
Published
August 31st 2010
by Margaret K. McElderry Books
(first published 1984)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
This series is fantastic, and has been horridly overlooked, particularly so seeming that our current culture seems so fascinated with all things Potter. Not that The Dark Is Rising is anything like Harry Potter - not at all. It's thickly steeped in Celtic and Arthurian legend, is relentless in its exploration of a myriad of layers of history and time, and simply reeks of magic. I love this series, and have for years. Within the past two years, I introduced these books to my wife, who seethed wit...more
14 likes · like · see review
view 2 comments
Aug 01, 2007
Kerry
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone, but especially kids/teens
I just finished the final book in the series the other day, and it was pretty great. As a whole, Cooper's The Dark is Rising series was well written, and the stories flowed from one to the other without being too repetitive. I really enjoyed jumping right in to each book, and they went by pretty fast. While it is definitely a series for a younger audience, I was impressed by how intricately it went into the different Arthurian legends and such. I loved the character of Will, how he was able to b...more
Aug 19, 2007
Rebecca
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone
Shelves:
best-books-ever,
to-re-read
If you like:
-Harry Potter
-Philip Pullman
-Narnia
-King Arthur
-magic
-myth
-funny things
-English people
-any people
-big ideas
-reading
-books
you will love:
The Dark is Rising sequence.
(any of the above is sufficient.)
These are the books that made me love reading, that made me sneak a flashlight under the covers at night to pick up where my father had last read aloud. The sequence begins mundanely, with three children going on holiday in Cornwall in Over Sea Under Stone, and ends in a battle of Arthurian...more
-Harry Potter
-Philip Pullman
-Narnia
-King Arthur
-magic
-myth
-funny things
-English people
-any people
-big ideas
-reading
-books
you will love:
The Dark is Rising sequence.
(any of the above is sufficient.)
These are the books that made me love reading, that made me sneak a flashlight under the covers at night to pick up where my father had last read aloud. The sequence begins mundanely, with three children going on holiday in Cornwall in Over Sea Under Stone, and ends in a battle of Arthurian...more
Broader in scope and skill than Harry Potter, deeper in characterization and theme than Lord of the Rings, The Dark Is Rising Sequence is a modern-day addition to the King Arthur mythos. New insight is brought to the battle between Light and Dark, but while nearly all the players are new the atmosphere is the same.
This is Susan Cooper's magnum opus; she never wrote anything quite so good again. It's usually billed as childrens' fare because the main characters are young, but the writing is excel...more
This is Susan Cooper's magnum opus; she never wrote anything quite so good again. It's usually billed as childrens' fare because the main characters are young, but the writing is excel...more
Jun 28, 2007
Wealhtheow
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone and anyone
Shelves:
fantasy
This is literally my favorite fantasy book in the entire world.
This is probably my favourite series of books of all time.
Over Sea Under Stone is aimed at the youngest audience of the five books, but it's still readable and the prose is lovely. The characters are instantly recognisable as children, rather than the mini-adults some writers make children, and they're easy to identify with. If nothing else, you have to be charmed by Barney. There's real suspense in this book: if your heart isn't in your mouth while Barney and Simon are crawling through the tunn...more
Over Sea Under Stone is aimed at the youngest audience of the five books, but it's still readable and the prose is lovely. The characters are instantly recognisable as children, rather than the mini-adults some writers make children, and they're easy to identify with. If nothing else, you have to be charmed by Barney. There's real suspense in this book: if your heart isn't in your mouth while Barney and Simon are crawling through the tunn...more
Okay, the first thing to keep in mind is that Susan Cooper wrote these books long before JK Rowling was writing, so if you see the parallels of an English boy who discovers he has magical powers on his eleventh birthday...well, you just have to suck it up and admit that Cooper did it first.
These are AMAZING books. I was trying to think of which one I liked best, but they're all so good! Much darker than most children's fantasy. Very scary. When I was 10, I didn't sleep for days after reading "T...more
These are AMAZING books. I was trying to think of which one I liked best, but they're all so good! Much darker than most children's fantasy. Very scary. When I was 10, I didn't sleep for days after reading "T...more
This was my absolute favorite series of children/early adolescent books. If I recall correctly (I reread all of these just a few years ago) Susan Cooper does not make so noticeable a shift in dumbing down the language or sentence structure for young readers, which I like a lot. It's a fantasy-ish story, but set in, well, what would have been current day for Susan Cooper at the time of writing it. It is difficult to review all of these books at once, because some are better than others, and they...more
Will Stanton has a strange eleventh birthday. Let's just say ordinary time (chronos, to borrow a term from M. L'Engle) stops -- and that isn't the most fantastic thing. As the story unfolds, Arthur makes an appearance...but I can't say more without giving away the plot.
I'm captivated each time I read this series. (digression: don't read them in the order listed on goodreads.) Especially memorable is Cooper's portrayal of Light and Dark interactions with "ordinary people:" the servants of the Dar...more
I'm captivated each time I read this series. (digression: don't read them in the order listed on goodreads.) Especially memorable is Cooper's portrayal of Light and Dark interactions with "ordinary people:" the servants of the Dar...more
Long before there was Harry Potter, there was Will Stanton.
Again, my aunt Michele (who is probably barely talking to me just now, apologies again) was the wonderful person who gave me this book. She gave it to me for my 11th birthday, and someone else gave me scented pillows, and I can still smell those pillows everytime I opened the book. Sadly, my copy has finally disintegrated, so I shall have to replace it again before Christmas of this year.
This book is wonderful - magic, mystery, great bad...more
Again, my aunt Michele (who is probably barely talking to me just now, apologies again) was the wonderful person who gave me this book. She gave it to me for my 11th birthday, and someone else gave me scented pillows, and I can still smell those pillows everytime I opened the book. Sadly, my copy has finally disintegrated, so I shall have to replace it again before Christmas of this year.
This book is wonderful - magic, mystery, great bad...more
2 likes · like · see review
I'm sure most of you friends who might end up reading this review have already read this series, but for anyone who hasn't, these books are the pre-Potter classics that may have really sparked J.K.'s joy of reading when she was a girl (in fact, I do remember reading one particular article in which Rowling mentions Susan Cooper as a favorite hero).
So Shelly Radmall and I were talking about being Anglophiles when we were chatting last at a girls' night out. I asked her if she'd read these books as...more
So Shelly Radmall and I were talking about being Anglophiles when we were chatting last at a girls' night out. I asked her if she'd read these books as...more
I read two or three of these books as a kid, so when a full set emerged from one of those Mystery Grocery Bags we all have in our upstairs closets, I decided to give them a go. These five books are easy to read - two of them are barely thicker than a catalog - and were pleasant ways to pass the time, but I can't claim that I'm wowed by Cooper's art.
In fact, I'd say I liked these books less as an adult than as a kid, which is unusual for me. The premise is interesting: a timeless and epic battle...more
In fact, I'd say I liked these books less as an adult than as a kid, which is unusual for me. The premise is interesting: a timeless and epic battle...more
I reread all 5 of these books over the last couple of weeks, because I remembered loving them so much as a kid but was unable to remember any details. In fact, I remember finding them confusing and dreamlike back then, so this time I wanted to pay attention and see if I could make it more concrete in my mind. So, they definitely hold up, not like certain other books I could name (*cough Wrinkle in Time cough*). Most of my reactions to reading these are based on my previous experiences, so it's g...more
1 like · like · see review
When I was still in MG (which is about four years ago), I remember reading one of the Dark is Rising book, only that I forgot the title. So when Christal/okaasan (it's a long story involving my phone) offered to lend me the book (I saw it at her place), I eagerly took the chance.
And the series is fantastic! I really do love English fantasy. I'll be reviewing all five books at a go, so while I'll try to avoid the spoilers, well, I'm only human.
So let's start with the first book Over Sea, Under St...more
And the series is fantastic! I really do love English fantasy. I'll be reviewing all five books at a go, so while I'll try to avoid the spoilers, well, I'm only human.
So let's start with the first book Over Sea, Under St...more
Apr 08, 2012
Helen (Helena/Nell)
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Helen (Helena/Nell) by:
Winifred McEwen
There are five novels in this sequence, which is for young readers, perhaps nine upwards, I’d guess, though ten is suggested on the jackets. I missed them in my own childhood. The first (Over Sea, Under Stone) must have seen the light of day in the early seventies, and by then I was seventeen or eighteen and had read The Lord of the Rings several times, as well as a huge range of science fantasy for adults. But had I been ten when it was first printed, I would have loved it.
I would have loved it...more
I would have loved it...more
I probably should wait until I'm finished re-reading these (I read them a few years ago when I was looking for a fantasy series for my nephew and just recently picked them up again for fun) but patience is not something I'm known for. I love this series. It's far superior to many young adult series, and while it's not quite as extensive or in-depth as Harry Potter (and as a result has less developed characters and plot)I find it impressive in its own way. The connections with the Arthurian legen...more
Just forget all about that ghastly film with Christopher Ecclestone entitled "The Legend of the Seeker". The film loosely took the concept of the first book in this series and ran with it in the entirely wrong direction. I first read this series when I was in secondary school, and have just finished re-reading it after many years. Think of it as a cross between Lord of the Rings, His Dark Materials and Harry Potter: three of the most well known child/adult books. The Dark is Rising is set in Eng...more
I was in Washington, D.C. last weekend, doing a meandering tour of various monuments with a big family group when we ended up at the long grassy expanse of Washington Mall. But our clear view of the Washington Monument was obstructed by a cluster of huge white tents that covered the grass for blocks. What...? Surprise -- The National Book Fair! As a devout bibliophile, I couldn't believe my luck as I deliriously bid my companions adieu for the rest of the day and picked up a schedule of author r...more
These books took Susan Cooper more than a decade to finish. There's nothing quite like them. At once tremendously cozy and intimate in the English way, they also deal with an epic battle between the Light and the Dark, which are analogous to good and evil, but not quite the same. I'm reminded of the early Dr. Who stories in an odd way -- big tales told in a small compass.
I get the sense that JK Rowling was inspired by these books when writing her Harry Potter series; they have young main charact...more
I get the sense that JK Rowling was inspired by these books when writing her Harry Potter series; they have young main charact...more
The first book in this sequence of five was originally published in 1965, so you might think that these books are quite dated, but you’d be wrong. There is the occasional hint that it isn’t a modern book, but nothing that detracts from the story, or from the characters.
My first introduction to this series came when I picked up The Grey King at a jumble sale a good few years ago. That was at least ten years ago, probably more. I really enjoyed the book, although I do remember being a bit annoyed...more
My first introduction to this series came when I picked up The Grey King at a jumble sale a good few years ago. That was at least ten years ago, probably more. I really enjoyed the book, although I do remember being a bit annoyed...more
After hearing a lot about this series, I was very disappointed in how pedestrian it was. Perhaps the rest of the series is better, but this one was very formulaic and not especially exciting. Following along with C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, it all starts on a rainy day with a bunch of British kids bored and playing in a big house. They start their adventure by finding an attic behind a wardrobe rather than actually in it. At one point, the dark side attempts to seduce one...more
1 like · like · see review
I once again admit to buying a book (series) for the wrong reason: I saw the movie preview for "The Dark is Rising", noticed Christopher Eccleston, and said "I gotta get me some of that!" ;)
As it turns out, the book series, start to finish, was great. It's a nice fantasy series that incorporates a fair bit of Arthurian legend. The Drew children, in the first book, are nice kids who have a great adventure. The Stanton family (actually introduced in the second book) are a large, loving family wher...more
As it turns out, the book series, start to finish, was great. It's a nice fantasy series that incorporates a fair bit of Arthurian legend. The Drew children, in the first book, are nice kids who have a great adventure. The Stanton family (actually introduced in the second book) are a large, loving family wher...more
The Dark Is Rising is my first review on GoodReads, simply because it deserves to be. I can look back over more than 20 years of an insatiable hunger for the written word, and in the misty distance shine these books that started it all for me. That's not to say I didn't read before Susan Cooper, but I had never been so emotionally tethered to a story. In the person of Will Stanton, and his suddenly fierce friendship with Bran Davies, there remain to this day notes that resonate for me. Together...more
I was given these as a christmas present by a friend who knew I had a penchant for things that evoked the feeling of old English winters. There's something about the mythology that drives these books that conjures the sense of hiding indoors by a roaring fire while the winter winds blow cold outside. It's like Lloyd Alexander transposed to the modern day, or a reflection of Alan Garner. Easy reads, definitely written with kids in mind, but the stories are timeless.
1 like · like · see review
I started this "sequence" because of Ali's five-star review, as well as the generally effusive praise from Goodreaders, many of whom seem to consider it as good if not better than the Harry Potter "sequence." Unfortunately, it's just not for me, at least not now (although I probably would have liked it a bit more twenty-five years ago). In addition, the comparison of Susan Cooper to J.K. Rowling is, in my view, ludicrous (stunningly so).
I got through the first two books in the sequence and, cont...more
I got through the first two books in the sequence and, cont...more
I actually read the second book in the series first while on vacation and devoured it in two days. My mother had found The Dark is Rising and The Grey King at a bookstore and immediately thought of me, not knowing that they were two books in a series. Despite this unintended blunder, I received the other three books and could not put them down. Even as I write this review, the images of Will and Bran on the train, at the tree, on the mountain at the end, are vivid in my imagination. The only neg...more
First off, I have just read the first book of the series, The Dark Is Rising. And, by the way, it was a good read (like the website). It has its ups and downs (mainly ups), but what I really like is the scenery described in the book throughout. It is ver vivid, and shows thought and related context.
The book is about a boy named Will, who lives in England, and finds out on his birthday that he is not just any 11 year old boy. He is and Old One, men and women who have been around since the begin...more
The book is about a boy named Will, who lives in England, and finds out on his birthday that he is not just any 11 year old boy. He is and Old One, men and women who have been around since the begin...more
Incredible series of books. They're young adult literature, but I re-read them every few months because I love them so much. They've got a taste of King Arthur in there, which might be part of it, but its only a very little bit, so you can ignore it if you don't happen to care too much about that kind of thing. It's the classic "light against dark" story, but it feels like you're reading it for the first time. There are amulets and magic and old wizards and black horsemen and magical swords and...more
While I enjoyed all five books, some were a bit better than others, one was a Newberry Honor Book and another was a Newberry winner. Still, this is a sequence and reading them in order does matter. I loved the characters (the three Drew children, Will Stanton, Bran), and Susan Cooper added new characters throughout. I really enjoyed the combination of science fiction elements (i.e. time travel) with traditional mythology and quest themes. I like that the children are given adult-level responsibi...more
Before Harry Potter even considered uttering one misbegotten bastardized Latin phrase, Susan Cooper wrote the Dark is Rising series. Heavily reliant on Welsh mythology, incredibly sympathetic main character (in Will), beautiful, lyrical, and amazing. Every kid should read these books.
They are also wonderful on tape.
They are also wonderful on tape.
1 like · like · see review
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| love this series! | 9 | 35 | Dec 05, 2012 07:52pm |
![The Dark Is Rising (The Dark Is Rising Sequence) [UNABRIDGED]](http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1181028949s/1105527.jpg)
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...
Share This Book
3 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“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.”
—
51 people liked it
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.”
“When the Dark comes rising six shall turn it back;
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; Water, fire, stone;
Five will return and one go alone.
Iron for the birthday; bronze carried long;
Wood from the burning; stone out of song;
Fire in the candle ring; water from the thaw;
Six signs the circle and the grail gone before.
Fire on the mountain shall find the harp of gold
Played to wake the sleepers, oldest of old.
Power from the Green Witch, lost beneath the sea.
All shall find the Light at last, silver on the tree.”
—
41 people liked it
More quotes…
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; Water, fire, stone;
Five will return and one go alone.
Iron for the birthday; bronze carried long;
Wood from the burning; stone out of song;
Fire in the candle ring; water from the thaw;
Six signs the circle and the grail gone before.
Fire on the mountain shall find the harp of gold
Played to wake the sleepers, oldest of old.
Power from the Green Witch, lost beneath the sea.
All shall find the Light at last, silver on the tree.”
