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The Dark Is Rising #1-5
The Complete Dark is Rising Sequence, 5 Books
"When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back,With these mysterious words, Will Stanton discovers on his 11th birthday that he is no mere boy. He is the Sign-Seeker, last of the immortal Old Ones, destined to battle the powers of evil that trouble the land. His task is monumental: he must find and guard the six great Signs of the Light, which, when joined, will create a force strong enough to match and perhaps overcome that of the Dark. Embarking on this endeavor is dangerous as well as deeply rewarding; Will must work within a continuum of time and space much broader than he ever imagined.
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone."
Susan Cooper, in her five-title Dark Is Rising Sequence, creates a world where the conflict between good and evil reaches epic proportions. She ranks with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in her ability to deliver a moral vision in the context of breathtaking adventure. No one can stop at just one of her thrilling fantasy novels. Among many other prestigious awards, The Dark Is Rising is a Newbery Honor Book and a Carnegie Medal Honor Book.
#1- Over Sea, Under Stone
#2- The Dark Is Rising
#3- Greenwitch
#4- The Grey King
#5- Silver on the Tree
1045 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1984
183 people are currently reading
10121 people want to read
About the author
Susan Cooper
168 books2,431 followersSusan Cooper's latest book is the YA novel "Ghost Hawk" (2013)
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's Sunday Times; her first boss was James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
Cooper wrote her first book for young readers in response to a publishing house competition; "Over Sea, Under Stone" would later form the basis for her critically acclaimed five-book fantasy sequence, "The Dark Is Rising." The fourth book in the series, "The Grey King," won the Newbery Medal in 1976. By that time, Susan Cooper had been living in America for 13 years, having moved to marry her first husband, an American professor, and was stepmother to three children and the mother of two.
Cooper went on to write other well-received novels, including "The Boggart" (and its sequel "The Boggart and the Monster"), "King of Shadows", and "Victory," as well as several picture books for young readers with illustrators such as Ashley Bryan and Warwick Hutton. She has also written books for adults, as well as plays and Emmy-nominated screenplays, many in collaboration with the actor Hume Cronyn, whom she married in 1996. Hume Cronyn died in 2003 and Ms. Cooper now lives in Marshfield MA. When Cooper is not working, she enjoys playing piano, gardening, and traveling.
Recent books include the collaborative project "The Exquisite Corpse Adventure" and her biography of Jack Langstaff titled "The Magic Maker." Her newest book is "Ghost Hawk."
Visit her Facebook pages: www.facebook.com/SusanCooperFanPage
www.facebook.com/GhostHawkBySusanCooper
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's Sunday Times; her first boss was James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
Cooper wrote her first book for young readers in response to a publishing house competition; "Over Sea, Under Stone" would later form the basis for her critically acclaimed five-book fantasy sequence, "The Dark Is Rising." The fourth book in the series, "The Grey King," won the Newbery Medal in 1976. By that time, Susan Cooper had been living in America for 13 years, having moved to marry her first husband, an American professor, and was stepmother to three children and the mother of two.
Cooper went on to write other well-received novels, including "The Boggart" (and its sequel "The Boggart and the Monster"), "King of Shadows", and "Victory," as well as several picture books for young readers with illustrators such as Ashley Bryan and Warwick Hutton. She has also written books for adults, as well as plays and Emmy-nominated screenplays, many in collaboration with the actor Hume Cronyn, whom she married in 1996. Hume Cronyn died in 2003 and Ms. Cooper now lives in Marshfield MA. When Cooper is not working, she enjoys playing piano, gardening, and traveling.
Recent books include the collaborative project "The Exquisite Corpse Adventure" and her biography of Jack Langstaff titled "The Magic Maker." Her newest book is "Ghost Hawk."
Visit her Facebook pages: www.facebook.com/SusanCooperFanPage
www.facebook.com/GhostHawkBySusanCooper
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 709 reviews
September 15, 2007
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 with anticipation for the next time we would sit down so I could read to her. I'll do the same, given time, with my daughter - I'm really looking forward to that.
If you're a fan in any way of L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time series, I have a feeling you'll dig these books. They're very much their own work, but I'm trying to give you a place to leap forth from.
If you're a fan in any way of L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time series, I have a feeling you'll dig these books. They're very much their own work, but I'm trying to give you a place to leap forth from.
December 1, 2014
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 "The Dark Is Rising." Also, you can read the first two books out of order--most people seem to read "The Dark Is Rising" before they read "Over Sea Under Stone." They will feel like they were written by two different people, because "Over Sea Under Stone," is like a lighthearted children's adventure story, and "The Dark Is Rising" is much more, well, DARK.
Also, the stories are very much tied to the legend of King Arthur, if that is what floats your boat. Won't say any more...you just have to read it yourself!
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 "The Dark Is Rising." Also, you can read the first two books out of order--most people seem to read "The Dark Is Rising" before they read "Over Sea Under Stone." They will feel like they were written by two different people, because "Over Sea Under Stone," is like a lighthearted children's adventure story, and "The Dark Is Rising" is much more, well, DARK.
Also, the stories are very much tied to the legend of King Arthur, if that is what floats your boat. Won't say any more...you just have to read it yourself!
August 19, 2007
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 proportions in Silver on the Tree. Read this book—it is fluid, well-plotted, excellently characterized, funny, scary, tragic, and awesome.
-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 proportions in Silver on the Tree. Read this book—it is fluid, well-plotted, excellently characterized, funny, scary, tragic, and awesome.
February 12, 2018
The five books in ‘The Dark is Rising Sequence’ are among my most treasured books from my childhood. I have the old Puffin paperbacks, which cost my aunt $2.75 each when she bought them for my 11th birthday. I have read them so many times they are battered and creased and faded. I read them again this Christmas as part of an international reading challenge initiated on Twitter by British authors Robert Macfarlane and Mary Bird. Thousands of readers joined in to read The Dark is Rising, Book 2 in the series, which takes place between Midwinter Eve (20th December) and Twelfth Night (5th January). Some read it in one big gulp (like me) and others read each chapter on the date that corresponded with events in the book (i.e 1-2 chapters a day). Readers shared their memories of the book, discussed the meaning of symbols and events, created original art, found kindred spirits. It was absolutely wonderful.
I went on to read all five books in the series:
Over Sea, Under Stone is the first book in the series, and was written by Susan Cooper in response to a publishing content organised to honour the memory of Edith Nesbit, one of the great Golden Age children’s writers. She did not finish the manuscript in time to enter, and the book was subsequently turned down by more than twenty publishers, before being accepted by Jonathan Cape and published in 1965.
It tells the story of Simon, Jane and Barney who go to Cornwall on a holiday with their family and end up being caught up in a quest to find the lost Holy Grail. Drawing on Arthurian mythology but set in contemporary times, the book introduces the children’s Great-Uncle Merry, a professor at Oxford who ends up revealing mysterious powers. The book is more like an old-fashioned mystery than a traditional fantasy, except with eerie unsettling moments of darkness and magic, particularly towards the end.
The second book in the series, The Dark is Rising, was published in 1973. It tells the story of Will Stanton, seventh son of a seventh son, who turns 11 on Midwinter Eve, and finds his safe and comfortable world threatened by strange and eerie events. For Will is, he discovers, an Old One, destined to fight on behalf of the Light against the ancient and malevolent forces of the Dark. Merriman Lyon – the character of Great-Uncle Merry – returns as the Oldest of the Old Ones, and becomes Will’s guardian and mentor. Will needs to find Six Signs if he is to defeat the forces of darkness this midwinter and help fulfil a mysterious prophecy:
“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.”
Of all the books in the series, The Dark is Rising is my favourite, perhaps because it was the first I ever read, perhaps because of the vividness of the setting (a small snow-bound English village that seems outwardly normal but is still shadowed with magic, menace and danger), perhaps because I loved the idea of an ordinary boy who finds himself the carrier of an extraordinary destiny. The book as a ALA Newbery Honor Book in 1974, and is often named on lists of the best books for children ever published.
Greenwitch, the third in the series, brings Simon, Jane and Barney back to the little Cornish village where they had discovered the lost Holy Grail. Jane watches an ancient ritualised offering to the sea and makes a wish that then helps the Light unlock the secrets of the Grail. Greenwitch is the favourite of many female readers of this series, because the key protagonist is a girl and she triumphs not because of any battle of strength, but because she is compassionate and empathetic.
The Grey King, the fourth book, returns to the point-of-view of Will. He wakes after a long and terrible illness with no memory of his role as an Old One and at risk from the forces of the Dark who seek to strike him own while he is vulnerable. Sent to Wales to recuperate, Will meets an albino teenager called Bran who has a strange dog like a wolf. Guided only by snatches of memory, Will and Bran must find the golden harp that will waken the Sleepers under the hill. This is my favourite second of the series, again because of the setting – the wild mountains and moors of Wales is brought so wonderfully to life – and also because of the sense of the great struggle between the forces of good and evil. The Grey King won the 1976 Newbery Medal.
Silver on the Tree is the final book in the series, and brings Will and Bran together with Simon, Jane and Barney and their mysterious Great-Uncle Merry. They are searching for a magical crystal sword which will enable them to cut the mystical mistletoe, the ‘silver on the tree’, in the final battle against the Dark. Drawing on Welsh mythology and stories of a drowned land, the suspense is heightened by the presence of a hidden enemy, someone who is trusted but betrays them in the end.
It was truly wonderful to re-read this series, which had such a powerful shaping force upon my imagination as a child. And a great deal of the pleasure came from sharing it with like-minded people. The twitter book club set up by Robert Macfarlane and Mary Bird intends to choose other great works of fantastical literature to read over the year. I’ll can’t wait to be a part of it.
I went on to read all five books in the series:
Over Sea, Under Stone is the first book in the series, and was written by Susan Cooper in response to a publishing content organised to honour the memory of Edith Nesbit, one of the great Golden Age children’s writers. She did not finish the manuscript in time to enter, and the book was subsequently turned down by more than twenty publishers, before being accepted by Jonathan Cape and published in 1965.
It tells the story of Simon, Jane and Barney who go to Cornwall on a holiday with their family and end up being caught up in a quest to find the lost Holy Grail. Drawing on Arthurian mythology but set in contemporary times, the book introduces the children’s Great-Uncle Merry, a professor at Oxford who ends up revealing mysterious powers. The book is more like an old-fashioned mystery than a traditional fantasy, except with eerie unsettling moments of darkness and magic, particularly towards the end.
The second book in the series, The Dark is Rising, was published in 1973. It tells the story of Will Stanton, seventh son of a seventh son, who turns 11 on Midwinter Eve, and finds his safe and comfortable world threatened by strange and eerie events. For Will is, he discovers, an Old One, destined to fight on behalf of the Light against the ancient and malevolent forces of the Dark. Merriman Lyon – the character of Great-Uncle Merry – returns as the Oldest of the Old Ones, and becomes Will’s guardian and mentor. Will needs to find Six Signs if he is to defeat the forces of darkness this midwinter and help fulfil a mysterious prophecy:
“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.”
Of all the books in the series, The Dark is Rising is my favourite, perhaps because it was the first I ever read, perhaps because of the vividness of the setting (a small snow-bound English village that seems outwardly normal but is still shadowed with magic, menace and danger), perhaps because I loved the idea of an ordinary boy who finds himself the carrier of an extraordinary destiny. The book as a ALA Newbery Honor Book in 1974, and is often named on lists of the best books for children ever published.
Greenwitch, the third in the series, brings Simon, Jane and Barney back to the little Cornish village where they had discovered the lost Holy Grail. Jane watches an ancient ritualised offering to the sea and makes a wish that then helps the Light unlock the secrets of the Grail. Greenwitch is the favourite of many female readers of this series, because the key protagonist is a girl and she triumphs not because of any battle of strength, but because she is compassionate and empathetic.
The Grey King, the fourth book, returns to the point-of-view of Will. He wakes after a long and terrible illness with no memory of his role as an Old One and at risk from the forces of the Dark who seek to strike him own while he is vulnerable. Sent to Wales to recuperate, Will meets an albino teenager called Bran who has a strange dog like a wolf. Guided only by snatches of memory, Will and Bran must find the golden harp that will waken the Sleepers under the hill. This is my favourite second of the series, again because of the setting – the wild mountains and moors of Wales is brought so wonderfully to life – and also because of the sense of the great struggle between the forces of good and evil. The Grey King won the 1976 Newbery Medal.
Silver on the Tree is the final book in the series, and brings Will and Bran together with Simon, Jane and Barney and their mysterious Great-Uncle Merry. They are searching for a magical crystal sword which will enable them to cut the mystical mistletoe, the ‘silver on the tree’, in the final battle against the Dark. Drawing on Welsh mythology and stories of a drowned land, the suspense is heightened by the presence of a hidden enemy, someone who is trusted but betrays them in the end.
It was truly wonderful to re-read this series, which had such a powerful shaping force upon my imagination as a child. And a great deal of the pleasure came from sharing it with like-minded people. The twitter book club set up by Robert Macfarlane and Mary Bird intends to choose other great works of fantastical literature to read over the year. I’ll can’t wait to be a part of it.
Read
February 8, 2019A dstinctive feature of this series of five children's books is that there are two distinctive groups of view point characters. A "normal" family group of three siblings who are the lead characters in Under Sea and over Stone and in Greenwich, while a boy with magical powers is the lead in the remaining three novels The Dark is Rising, The Grey King and The Silver on the Tree.
Although Susan Cooper has been resident for some years now in the USA all five books are firmly rooted in Britain of the late 1960s and early 70s developing a strong sense of landscape - that of Cornwall in Under Sea and Over stone and Greenwitch, the Thames valley between Christmas and New Year in The Dark is rising, or Wales in The Grey King and The Silver on the Tree.
Increasingly the childrens' plunge into magic and mystery angles into Arthurian legend. Recommended for youngsters, it is the kind of series that can grow with the reader as the books become more complex, and have more magical, fantastical and mythological elements as they progress.
Although Susan Cooper has been resident for some years now in the USA all five books are firmly rooted in Britain of the late 1960s and early 70s developing a strong sense of landscape - that of Cornwall in Under Sea and Over stone and Greenwitch, the Thames valley between Christmas and New Year in The Dark is rising, or Wales in The Grey King and The Silver on the Tree.
Increasingly the childrens' plunge into magic and mystery angles into Arthurian legend. Recommended for youngsters, it is the kind of series that can grow with the reader as the books become more complex, and have more magical, fantastical and mythological elements as they progress.
August 6, 2016
You know what is weird? Grown adults reading or re-reading kids books and then complaining about plot issues or problems with the mythological underpinnings that no 10 year old would ever spot.
I loved these when I read them aged 9 or 10, and have very fond memories of feeling enveloped within their world.
I loved these when I read them aged 9 or 10, and have very fond memories of feeling enveloped within their world.
July 10, 2017
This is one of the best fantasy series out there. Many years before J.K. Rowling thought of a wizarding school and a great fight of good v. evil, Susan Cooper came up with this Arthurian fantasy. I discovered it when I was younger (by accident) and I recently discovered this omnibus and thought, "I just HAVE to see if it's as good as I remember!" And it was! It still held my attention, it still had menace, suspense, and the heroism of good against evil! I highly recommend it to fans of Harry Potter and Narnia.
Book 1 - Over Sea, Under Stone
I remember having found this series in my local library when I was in middle school and loved it. The first book I read was GREENWITCH, but then I went back and read the whole series.
When I saw that the whole series was in one volume, I decided to go back and relive my youth. Would it be as good? The answer is yes!
I am still enthralled and thrilled. The suspense and the wonder is still there. I love it!
Book 2 - The Dark Is Rising
I saw the movie of this a while back. I remember at the time thinking that I didn't remember reading that book. Well, there's a reason! There's no comparison between the book and the film!
Merriman is back and so is the Dark. Sinister horseman, time travel, magic imbued in trees, and Twelfth Night.
Book 3 - Greenwitch
Back to Cornwall and the Dark is threatening once again. Merriman, Will, and the children from the first book. Jane has a more prominent part in this one, and Will seems to have matured with his power.
Book 4 - The Grey King
So powerful. The darkest of the books yet. We are in Wales in the wilderness. A secret comes forth.
Book 5 - Silver on the Tree
The final fight against the Dark! The Drews, Will Stanton, Bran, and Uncle Merry go to Wales for the final battle.
Book 1 - Over Sea, Under Stone
I remember having found this series in my local library when I was in middle school and loved it. The first book I read was GREENWITCH, but then I went back and read the whole series.
When I saw that the whole series was in one volume, I decided to go back and relive my youth. Would it be as good? The answer is yes!
I am still enthralled and thrilled. The suspense and the wonder is still there. I love it!
Book 2 - The Dark Is Rising
I saw the movie of this a while back. I remember at the time thinking that I didn't remember reading that book. Well, there's a reason! There's no comparison between the book and the film!
Merriman is back and so is the Dark. Sinister horseman, time travel, magic imbued in trees, and Twelfth Night.
Book 3 - Greenwitch
Back to Cornwall and the Dark is threatening once again. Merriman, Will, and the children from the first book. Jane has a more prominent part in this one, and Will seems to have matured with his power.
Book 4 - The Grey King
So powerful. The darkest of the books yet. We are in Wales in the wilderness. A secret comes forth.
Book 5 - Silver on the Tree
The final fight against the Dark! The Drews, Will Stanton, Bran, and Uncle Merry go to Wales for the final battle.
November 23, 2024
this is the most underrated fantasy series ever. i reread it every year since 6th grade, and this reread is super special cos i finally bought my own copy!! with my scholarship money :3
this series taught me so much about arthurian and welsh legends - i really wanna go to wales now. the prose is easy to read, yet vivid and rich in imagery and subtle symbolisms. 20th century prose just hits different. on the surface it's just a battle between the good and evil, but it explores so much about humanity and family and friendship and loyalty and even identity - it's really worth a read.
the children, especially will and bran, have a mature side but they still are somewhat a child at heart, which i appreciate. in fantasy most teen mc's lose their innocence once they get shoved into the plot.
i love love love this series with all of my heart - it's legit better than narnia. my friends laugh at me for reading it so much, but it's genuinely that good.
this series taught me so much about arthurian and welsh legends - i really wanna go to wales now. the prose is easy to read, yet vivid and rich in imagery and subtle symbolisms. 20th century prose just hits different. on the surface it's just a battle between the good and evil, but it explores so much about humanity and family and friendship and loyalty and even identity - it's really worth a read.
the children, especially will and bran, have a mature side but they still are somewhat a child at heart, which i appreciate. in fantasy most teen mc's lose their innocence once they get shoved into the plot.
i love love love this series with all of my heart - it's legit better than narnia. my friends laugh at me for reading it so much, but it's genuinely that good.
August 13, 2022
Fantastic and well-written series set in the modern day (well, at least in the 20th century) based off Arthurian mythology. I read and loved this series as a kid, I really need to re-read this.
September 15, 2013
I first read these books about twenty years ago, when I was just 9 years old. I subsequently forgot about them, although certain images and scenes have been rumbling around in my head for the better part of a decade. These scenes had managed to imprint themselves very deeply, so that long after the name of the author and the titles of the books were forgotten, I kept coming back to these flashes.
Recently I managed to get someone to identify the story on the scifi stackexchange. I immediately purchased this box set and read through all five books in about two days time.
Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed. The books are terrible. I know that at least two of them are Newberry award winners, but I really found them unbearably difficult to read. In fact, I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to slog through at the age of nine. The books tell of an ancient and ongoing battle between the Light and the Dark, with champions on either side striving to take control of the earth and humanity. Arthurian legend is Heavily recycled. There are objects of power, Edith Blyton type children running about on quests, and seemingly all-powerful beings who nevertheless are always just one step behind the enemy.
The storyline is just barely clear. The characters are extremely flat. Substantial explanation and pontificating on the part of a narrator. At no point toes one actually feel that the characters actually worked through a problem. The answer is always just suddenly clear, or someone swoops in to save the day. I found it almost impossible to relate to them.
Bottom line: I would probably not recommend these to my nine-year-old self. Better to get an early start on true epic fantasy from Jordan, Rothfuss and Sanderson.
Recently I managed to get someone to identify the story on the scifi stackexchange. I immediately purchased this box set and read through all five books in about two days time.
Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed. The books are terrible. I know that at least two of them are Newberry award winners, but I really found them unbearably difficult to read. In fact, I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to slog through at the age of nine. The books tell of an ancient and ongoing battle between the Light and the Dark, with champions on either side striving to take control of the earth and humanity. Arthurian legend is Heavily recycled. There are objects of power, Edith Blyton type children running about on quests, and seemingly all-powerful beings who nevertheless are always just one step behind the enemy.
The storyline is just barely clear. The characters are extremely flat. Substantial explanation and pontificating on the part of a narrator. At no point toes one actually feel that the characters actually worked through a problem. The answer is always just suddenly clear, or someone swoops in to save the day. I found it almost impossible to relate to them.
Bottom line: I would probably not recommend these to my nine-year-old self. Better to get an early start on true epic fantasy from Jordan, Rothfuss and Sanderson.
June 6, 2007
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 even feature different protagonists (all related to the same storyline) in some cases. My two favorites were The Dark is Rising, and the Grey King. But right now I'm having a difficult time expressing why they were my favorites as a kid, except perhaps that they captured, in exactly the way I needed them to at the time, the recurring theme in children's literature of finding an extraordinary purpose in your life at that stage of introduction to adolescence...Harry Potter does this probably most famously these days, but The Dark is Rising series has a more archaic, or perhaps more classical, feel to the story, characters, and writing.
January 4, 2009
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 tunnel, you have no soul. More detailed review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The Dark Is Rising, the second book, seems to be for a bit older audience. It constantly amazes me how well even minor characters, like Paul Stanton, are developed. Will Stanton is both human and alien -- as he should be. His coming of age rings very true: one moment he's accepting his power, but the next he's still a young boy setting fire to things. I have a more detailed review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Greenwitch is the shortest book. It's the one I think of as focusing more on Jane -- I got to care about her more in this one. Again, the characters are amazingly believable, and there's real tension and suspense. Longer review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The Grey King is lovely. It introduces the final member of the Six, Bran Davies. It's also set in Wales, which naturally endears it to me. The characters in this book are all believable and spectacular. And the very end, where Owen and Bran stand together, brings a lump to my throat every time. Proper review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Silver On The Tree is the final book. Everything comes together here. More tension, more glorious characters -- and a wonderful ending that kinda makes me want to kill Susan Cooper for what she's done to some of my favourite characters. Full review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The background mythology is extremely interesting and drawn from all parts of the UK. The movie stripped all of this away, among other things, so I boycotted it.
(Sorry my html wasn't working; the links would've looked more elegant...)
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 tunnel, you have no soul. More detailed review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The Dark Is Rising, the second book, seems to be for a bit older audience. It constantly amazes me how well even minor characters, like Paul Stanton, are developed. Will Stanton is both human and alien -- as he should be. His coming of age rings very true: one moment he's accepting his power, but the next he's still a young boy setting fire to things. I have a more detailed review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Greenwitch is the shortest book. It's the one I think of as focusing more on Jane -- I got to care about her more in this one. Again, the characters are amazingly believable, and there's real tension and suspense. Longer review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The Grey King is lovely. It introduces the final member of the Six, Bran Davies. It's also set in Wales, which naturally endears it to me. The characters in this book are all believable and spectacular. And the very end, where Owen and Bran stand together, brings a lump to my throat every time. Proper review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Silver On The Tree is the final book. Everything comes together here. More tension, more glorious characters -- and a wonderful ending that kinda makes me want to kill Susan Cooper for what she's done to some of my favourite characters. Full review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The background mythology is extremely interesting and drawn from all parts of the UK. The movie stripped all of this away, among other things, so I boycotted it.
(Sorry my html wasn't working; the links would've looked more elegant...)
October 12, 2009
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 they and the Drew kids endure courage and fear, loss and triumph, horror and beauty. Every day I spent as a boy reading these pages was filled with a wonder and a desire for the world to be as magical and mysterious as Will's world. And when the story drew to a close, I remember vividly the very real loneliness of knowing that I would never again follow these friends into a new story. But there was delight, too, from a truly wonderful story never to be forgotten.
My own years go by and too many things change, but I still come back to these stories again, over and over. I've read them aloud to my first child. I can't wait to read them aloud again to my two younger children, as much to revisit the fictional friends who anchor me to the wonder and magic of youth as to share that magic with my daughters and son.
My own years go by and too many things change, but I still come back to these stories again, over and over. I've read them aloud to my first child. I can't wait to read them aloud again to my two younger children, as much to revisit the fictional friends who anchor me to the wonder and magic of youth as to share that magic with my daughters and son.
May 21, 2017
A series I have enjoyed for many years. It is a children's book, so not for everyone.
To understand the whole you obviously need to read all the books. However, I would suggest starting with the second book The Dark is Rising (same name as the whole).
My favorite in the series, and the first I read, was The Grey King. I did not feel that I suffered for doing so, in fact maybe it was why I liked the entire series.
Enjoy...if you dare..
To understand the whole you obviously need to read all the books. However, I would suggest starting with the second book The Dark is Rising (same name as the whole).
My favorite in the series, and the first I read, was The Grey King. I did not feel that I suffered for doing so, in fact maybe it was why I liked the entire series.
Enjoy...if you dare..
April 8, 2012
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 because I was a sucker for anything with magic in it. Now, going back, I worry about that a bit, because some of the things I loved were neither well-written nor well-conceived. At the age of nearly fifty-nine I wonder whether some adult influence might have introduced me to the mysteries of science, rather than science fiction. But the imagination was my master, and to some extent that continues to be true.
I imagine that anyone who read this sequence, and loved it, at the right age would battle to the death on its behalf. Even at my age, I can witness to the fact that the pace is compelling, that the style is slick and convincing, that there is at least one strong female character (thank goodness). Of the five novels, The Dark is Rising is the second, Greenwitch the third, The Grey King the fourth, and Silver on the Tree the last.
So what’s the plot?
Will Stanton, the youngest of the children in the series, is also one of the ‘Old Ones’, which is a bit like being a Time Lord in Doctor Who. He is the seventh son of a seventh son, and he must be the character most kids would identify with, unless you’re a girl, in which case you may be stuck with Jane Drew. Not quite so sure about Jane. “The world where we live is a world of men, ordinary men, and although in it there is the Old Magic of the earth, and the Wild Magic of living things, it is men who control what the world shall be like.”
Okay and . . .
“. . . beyond the world is the universe, bound by the law of the High Magic, as every universe must be. And beneath the High Magic are two . . . poles . . . that we call the Dark and the Light. No other power orders them. They merely exist. The Dark seeks by its dark nature to influence men so that in the end, through them, it may control the earth. The Light has the task of stopping that from happening.”
Needless to say, Will (who is young but Old) is on the side of the Light and so are the other children, and their great uncle “Merriman” who disappears into the twilight at the end (sorry, that’s a spoiler, though you would have guessed anyway) and is also, probably, Merlin. There’s a lot of Arthur in this sequence, but also various other mythological threads, and Herne the Hunter drops in more than once. (Herne really gets around in children’s fiction and one day perhaps someone will draw some conclusions about that.)
“From time to time the Dark has come rising and has been driven back” and this sequence focuses on the biggest rising of all. For the children the task is to “drive it back, so that the world of men may be free.”
Yes, it is a bit vague, but on the other hand, Dark is not exactly bad, and Light is not exactly good, which is in Susan Cooper’s favour. There are bits of prophetic poetry here and there, from which the favourable outcomes can always be predicted. And some of the well-tried recipes for children’s fiction are operational: no parents in evidence, for example. Children pitched against villains and defeating them. Children with insight that adults do not have. And lots of mystical language and allusion. In two of the novels, Welsh names and terms are particularly evocative.
I think, of the five novels, the title novel –The Dark is Rising – which is where Will Stanton comes into his own, is the strongest. It is set at Christmas, in England, and the Dark invokes mammoth snow (among other things) and the pace is wonderful. But all the five books are readable, enjoyable, do that thing, whatever it is, create a spell.
I worry a bit about the mixing of myth in children’s fiction. While reading this I had at the back of my mind Alan Garner (who also draws on the Mabinogion, but far more disturbingly and more consistently, and as he goes on, he is not really writing for children); J R R Tolkien (because you can’t read this without being aware of the influence); E Nesbit; J K Rowlings; John Masefield; and C S Lewis. By no means a comprehensive list, of course.
On balance, I think Lewis is strengthened by being able to draw on one consistent myth – the Christian story, in which he believed, though many of his readers may not. Tolkien is head and shoulders above the rest, to me, because he creates a whole world of his own, in a way that has never been paralleled (but then I would say this, because I have been his slave since I was about ten years old). Rowlings scrapes up scraps and remoulds them, and they are scraps that work again and again: witches and Old Stuff and no parents in the vicinity. Masefield invokes Herne the Hunter too, but also history and poetry and dream.
I don’t think Susan Cooper believes in Arthurian legend in the same way that Lewis believes in Christianity, though there may be a credible pantheistic thing going on. I don’t know a lot about Susan Cooper, but I think it to her credit that she conceived this sequence as five short novels and stuck to that. No sequels. No spillage. No merchandising.
On the downside, she uses the word ‘malevolent’ and ‘malevolence’ an awful lot. When the Dark creeps up, so does a feeling of imminent malevolence. It takes over everything. Something impish in me wants to banish this by slightly taking the piss, and I’m reminded that Joss Whedon, who exploits the whole nineteenth century vampire myth-kitty, manages to have fun at the same time.
So in the end, I’m not sure how good I think these novels are. I’m only sure that I’m now the wrong age to judge. But when I was the age to have enjoyed them, I am sure they would have had me riveted. I hope I would have emerged with my sense of humour intact, but I’m not 100% sure.
I would have loved it because I was a sucker for anything with magic in it. Now, going back, I worry about that a bit, because some of the things I loved were neither well-written nor well-conceived. At the age of nearly fifty-nine I wonder whether some adult influence might have introduced me to the mysteries of science, rather than science fiction. But the imagination was my master, and to some extent that continues to be true.
I imagine that anyone who read this sequence, and loved it, at the right age would battle to the death on its behalf. Even at my age, I can witness to the fact that the pace is compelling, that the style is slick and convincing, that there is at least one strong female character (thank goodness). Of the five novels, The Dark is Rising is the second, Greenwitch the third, The Grey King the fourth, and Silver on the Tree the last.
So what’s the plot?
Will Stanton, the youngest of the children in the series, is also one of the ‘Old Ones’, which is a bit like being a Time Lord in Doctor Who. He is the seventh son of a seventh son, and he must be the character most kids would identify with, unless you’re a girl, in which case you may be stuck with Jane Drew. Not quite so sure about Jane. “The world where we live is a world of men, ordinary men, and although in it there is the Old Magic of the earth, and the Wild Magic of living things, it is men who control what the world shall be like.”
Okay and . . .
“. . . beyond the world is the universe, bound by the law of the High Magic, as every universe must be. And beneath the High Magic are two . . . poles . . . that we call the Dark and the Light. No other power orders them. They merely exist. The Dark seeks by its dark nature to influence men so that in the end, through them, it may control the earth. The Light has the task of stopping that from happening.”
Needless to say, Will (who is young but Old) is on the side of the Light and so are the other children, and their great uncle “Merriman” who disappears into the twilight at the end (sorry, that’s a spoiler, though you would have guessed anyway) and is also, probably, Merlin. There’s a lot of Arthur in this sequence, but also various other mythological threads, and Herne the Hunter drops in more than once. (Herne really gets around in children’s fiction and one day perhaps someone will draw some conclusions about that.)
“From time to time the Dark has come rising and has been driven back” and this sequence focuses on the biggest rising of all. For the children the task is to “drive it back, so that the world of men may be free.”
Yes, it is a bit vague, but on the other hand, Dark is not exactly bad, and Light is not exactly good, which is in Susan Cooper’s favour. There are bits of prophetic poetry here and there, from which the favourable outcomes can always be predicted. And some of the well-tried recipes for children’s fiction are operational: no parents in evidence, for example. Children pitched against villains and defeating them. Children with insight that adults do not have. And lots of mystical language and allusion. In two of the novels, Welsh names and terms are particularly evocative.
I think, of the five novels, the title novel –The Dark is Rising – which is where Will Stanton comes into his own, is the strongest. It is set at Christmas, in England, and the Dark invokes mammoth snow (among other things) and the pace is wonderful. But all the five books are readable, enjoyable, do that thing, whatever it is, create a spell.
I worry a bit about the mixing of myth in children’s fiction. While reading this I had at the back of my mind Alan Garner (who also draws on the Mabinogion, but far more disturbingly and more consistently, and as he goes on, he is not really writing for children); J R R Tolkien (because you can’t read this without being aware of the influence); E Nesbit; J K Rowlings; John Masefield; and C S Lewis. By no means a comprehensive list, of course.
On balance, I think Lewis is strengthened by being able to draw on one consistent myth – the Christian story, in which he believed, though many of his readers may not. Tolkien is head and shoulders above the rest, to me, because he creates a whole world of his own, in a way that has never been paralleled (but then I would say this, because I have been his slave since I was about ten years old). Rowlings scrapes up scraps and remoulds them, and they are scraps that work again and again: witches and Old Stuff and no parents in the vicinity. Masefield invokes Herne the Hunter too, but also history and poetry and dream.
I don’t think Susan Cooper believes in Arthurian legend in the same way that Lewis believes in Christianity, though there may be a credible pantheistic thing going on. I don’t know a lot about Susan Cooper, but I think it to her credit that she conceived this sequence as five short novels and stuck to that. No sequels. No spillage. No merchandising.
On the downside, she uses the word ‘malevolent’ and ‘malevolence’ an awful lot. When the Dark creeps up, so does a feeling of imminent malevolence. It takes over everything. Something impish in me wants to banish this by slightly taking the piss, and I’m reminded that Joss Whedon, who exploits the whole nineteenth century vampire myth-kitty, manages to have fun at the same time.
So in the end, I’m not sure how good I think these novels are. I’m only sure that I’m now the wrong age to judge. But when I was the age to have enjoyed them, I am sure they would have had me riveted. I hope I would have emerged with my sense of humour intact, but I’m not 100% sure.
November 11, 2013
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 they definitely satiate an English and Welsh appetite for all things classic regarding: good vs. evil/wholesome children following a good-old mystery regarding ancient British lore/and exquisite details of the European countryside. She said she wanted me to post this series so she could check it out. So, there they are! Enjoy! I can't wait to share these with Rees in four or five years.
(They are so well-written, they really should be considered adult literature, but they're usually branded for kids as the main characters are children, though they are pretty mature and intellectual kids...)
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 they definitely satiate an English and Welsh appetite for all things classic regarding: good vs. evil/wholesome children following a good-old mystery regarding ancient British lore/and exquisite details of the European countryside. She said she wanted me to post this series so she could check it out. So, there they are! Enjoy! I can't wait to share these with Rees in four or five years.
(They are so well-written, they really should be considered adult literature, but they're usually branded for kids as the main characters are children, though they are pretty mature and intellectual kids...)
August 2, 2007
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 be both a young boy and this ageless being at once. He was very well rounded and likeable. But I think Barney was my favorite character by far. So cheeky and sweet. I must admit though that I didn't like one part of the ending, and while I'm sure Cooper had her reasons, I didn't want the characters to forget. If you want to understand that, read the books.
December 22, 2015
I think I loved this when I read it at the proper age -- 12 or so, I suppose. I know I read the series, and still have all of them. Almost 40 years later, though, it appeals to me much less. The presentation of the "old ones," the Light vs the Dark, etc., just seems simplistic and pretentious. Long on mythic symbols and swirling mists and short on compelling story. My kids seemed to enjoy it, though (I read it aloud.). Actually, my son particularly enjoyed Will's nearly instant acceptance of his role. "Usually the character questions himself and is all conflicted when he finds out that he is a hero who has to save the world, but not Will!" I think he found this funny. Bumped my rating up from 2 stars to three because I'm so far beyond the intended audience age group, but, as I said, if I'd rated this when I first read it I imagine I'd have given it a 4 or 5.
July 8, 2012
One of the classics that introduced me to fantasy and mythology as a kid, and I still re-read and enjoy now.
The writing is simple, elegant and vivid, the characterisation much more detailed and complex than one might expect from books aimed at children, and the descriptions of settings are always spot on, so real that you can smell them.
The writing is simple, elegant and vivid, the characterisation much more detailed and complex than one might expect from books aimed at children, and the descriptions of settings are always spot on, so real that you can smell them.
November 25, 2023
So only books 1-2 out of 5 were familiar, while I was sure I had read the whole thing before. Odd.
It wasn't as strong as I remembered, but still I guess above average in terms of interest & quality. I mainly just can't be bothered anymore with the 'take these steps to solve the puzzle' fantasy story type. The characters are sweet though.
It wasn't as strong as I remembered, but still I guess above average in terms of interest & quality. I mainly just can't be bothered anymore with the 'take these steps to solve the puzzle' fantasy story type. The characters are sweet though.
August 2, 2010
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 of the children but of course the kid doesn't give in. It sort of just follows a lot of the plot elements without the fantastical magical stuff and the moral dilemma that adds depth. As far as fantasy goes, the magical content is so low that it's nearly not existent, being confined to a couple mysterious occurrences such as a dog howling weirdly and a hypnotic voice. The link to Arthurian tales seems week, just some sort of excuse for a back-story and a Peggy Parish style kids mystery.
May 3, 2023
The Dark Is Rising Sequence, was a wonderful 5 book set by Susan Cooper. I loved it all, I really liked how each of the five books focused on a certain member of the group. Each of the cast of characters, with their own separate personalities and abilities. The stories Through all 5 books had to each be worked through and blended into the next needed solution, from the first to uncover age old secrets through many generations so to protect the world from the darkness... that was intent on winning over all of the light and goodness that was left in the world, to turn it all into dark and evil. But this wasn't just a simple war, it was more like their last chance, and if light wasn't to win the battle, there would never be another chance to save the world. The sequence ending was both to be rejoiced and mourned, the end of the exciting sequence and its beloved good characters. I have to say I will miss Professor Merriman also known as Great-Uncle-Merry.
January 3, 2019
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 baddies (who would win - The Dark Rider v Voldemort)and a series of books that enthral me even now.
If you like Harry Potter - you will love this.
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 baddies (who would win - The Dark Rider v Voldemort)and a series of books that enthral me even now.
If you like Harry Potter - you will love this.
November 22, 2009
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.
January 25, 2010
My all time favorite fantasy series. I make a point to re-read this series every year to drink in Cooper's enlivening of old Celtic myths twined through an eleven-year-old protagonist. Her prose is seamless, her story compelling. If you like fantasy that's about the characters yet still gives you an aura of magic, I dare you to put this series down.
May 26, 2015
My absolute favourite series as a child. It's such a shame that no one knows about this series -- it's so sublime.
July 23, 2025
May: Big Bopper #5 of 12
Over Sea, Under Stone
Many reviews I've read of this book focus on comparing it to other works, often Harry Potter is bandied about. This is more Famous Five (there's even a dog) meets a bit of Celtic mythology. There's little to no magic in the first installment Over Sea, Under Stone. That's largely because our three protagonists are devoid of magic themselves. So we start with a kid's book but not a particularly compelling one. I can't see any reason to recommend the first book to someone except as an effort in completionism. It reminds me of The Magician's Nephew and how it sets up Narnia but also never really felt like the beginning of the series. Cooper definitely has a more subtle touch than a lot of other fantasy authors. In this case it's too subtle.
The Dark is Rising
Much like The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe sits in most people's minds as the true beginning of the Narnia series, The Dark is Rising is pretty much the beginning of Cooper's series. The Drew children's adventures in the earlier book read as almost a completely different narrative. Even though Will Staunton our protagonist here will later work with the Drews, they're incredibly different. And the difference is magic.
The Drews are the aforementioned Famous Five while Will is the last of the Old Ones and soon to be a great magician. Sort of a great magician..... He gets given some serious powers and you think that they're going to make him all mighty but in either a great move or a frustrating one, Cooper keeps reminding us that our Will is still just a child. In fact in a later work we learn that though he is the final Old One, he is also the least powerful of the Old Ones.
There's a very strange feeling through this book, at all times it feels very much like Will has no agency. He achieves a lot but it never really seems like it's off his own bat, rather that he's just following the path laid out for him and that there's always an adult to guide him at times of most need. I wonder if this in many ways is Cooper's deep understanding of what childhood is actually like. Either way, there's a continued subtlety to her writing. While characters will often tell us some lore they keep a lot back. Merriman/Merlin never reveals any more than necessary and that keeps the mystery and the sense of childhood alive. I think the dark could have been more frightening though.
Greenwitch
I'm not sure if this is the worst or the second worst of the series. It's pretty mundane and boring. Cooper doesn't give us anywhere near enough compelling dialogue with Tethys AKA the Ocean personified. Nor does the Greenwitch become much more than a snivelling old hag. The mixture of Old One Will with true magic powers, and the famous three Drew children from the first book with naught but a bit of a luck and a runny nose doesn't work very well. Merlin keeps talking about how crucial the Drew children are and will be, as if he's trying to justify to the reader their existence. And he finds a use for one of them at least. It's a shame because it seems like Cooper has done a pretty good job of capturing family life, and the interaction between brothers and sisters, particularly in a big family.
Again she's spot on in capturing childhood but there's always this feeling that the DARK that is rising is not all that powerful. The main antagonist in this story is a painter who lives in a gypsy caravan. It just doesn't feel all that serious. There's absolutely a pervasive darkness but it also feels like a schoolyard fancy rather than a threat across aeons.
Another incredibly frustrating part is that Will supposedly has all these magic powers and towards the end we see him and Merlin literally fly off into the sky and then plunge into the depths of the ocean without the need to breathe but for the rest of the book he's rather a bumbling fool.
In amongst the story Cooper drops little gems of wisdom.
The Grey King
Finally Cooper hits her straps. Of course the Arthurian legend fits so well amongst the Welsh folklore. The bits of language throughout are great. I immediately had a strong feeling Cooper was Welsh herself or at least caught up in the cause of trying to keep the language alive and running. I think she managed to weave the beautiful Welsh language into the text in a way that felt artful and not tokenistic or directly educational.
Welsh obviously lends itself much more kindly to Arthurian and Celtic myth than the English of the invaders. And in fact I wish Cooper had tied that narrative into the story. It's quite clear that the Saxons were the early elements of the dark. I wish this was more explicit and woven more tightly into language.
I know I've praised Cooper for her deft touch but once again in this book there are times when I felt she was actually too light on. Obviously we've got children but they often come up against, polecats, minks, weasels, foxes, such that it feels like we're in Redwall. My first thought is always why not just kick the weasels away? How can they really be that scary? Yes I recognise the protagonists are children and I know Cooper has done a great job of building a children's view of the world but it still just feels like the stakes are whether you get a plain or chocolate digestive with your cup of tea, not the end of the universe. Either way this is my favourite book in the series.
Another gem of wisdom.
Silver on the Tree
And so the series must come to an end. It's unsurprising we're back in Wales because the veil between ancient Celtic Britain and the present day has definitely felt the thinnest there. Cooper does a pretty good job of bringing it all together. Again there's this sense that Will and his chums are just plodding along the path set out for them by Merlin. That they have no real agency can be quite frustrating. I wish the drowned city had been more explicitly tied to Atlantis, or Doggerland.
The nasty little minks of the previous stories are now polecats. I mean are we really that frightened of polecats? The lessons at the end of the book are good but I just can't help but feel the overarching lesson of this series is listen to the competent adult and just do as your told.
Will is supposedly the last of the Old Ones but he barely uses his powers at all. We know he can fly, and swim to any depth without need for air, yet in this we again find him bumbling around and needing so much signposting and assistance to get where he's going. The ending was strange too because the light had to prove Bran was of his current time, but then when the Dark was defeated he could have gone back to live with Arthur. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to show that the decision to name him of the present robs him of the chance to go back in time and live with his father King Arthur. Cooper's work is subtle, there is no doubt of that, but at times I think it wasn't the subtlety but the lack of cohesion in the story telling that let it down. It often felt like she didn't have a plan from the start and kind of just wrote in a stream of consciousness. Cooper does match Tolkien's use of music and song with her fantasy. Which is fascinating because Tolkien's came from the epic tradition of the Vikings which is Cooper's dark, while Cooper's is very much from the Celtic history.
They finally explicitly point out that the invading vikings were the first waves of the dark. I wish this plot line had been developed a lot more.
And then Merlin gives them the world and that's that.
Over Sea, Under Stone
Many reviews I've read of this book focus on comparing it to other works, often Harry Potter is bandied about. This is more Famous Five (there's even a dog) meets a bit of Celtic mythology. There's little to no magic in the first installment Over Sea, Under Stone. That's largely because our three protagonists are devoid of magic themselves. So we start with a kid's book but not a particularly compelling one. I can't see any reason to recommend the first book to someone except as an effort in completionism. It reminds me of The Magician's Nephew and how it sets up Narnia but also never really felt like the beginning of the series. Cooper definitely has a more subtle touch than a lot of other fantasy authors. In this case it's too subtle.
The Dark is Rising
Much like The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe sits in most people's minds as the true beginning of the Narnia series, The Dark is Rising is pretty much the beginning of Cooper's series. The Drew children's adventures in the earlier book read as almost a completely different narrative. Even though Will Staunton our protagonist here will later work with the Drews, they're incredibly different. And the difference is magic.
The Drews are the aforementioned Famous Five while Will is the last of the Old Ones and soon to be a great magician. Sort of a great magician..... He gets given some serious powers and you think that they're going to make him all mighty but in either a great move or a frustrating one, Cooper keeps reminding us that our Will is still just a child. In fact in a later work we learn that though he is the final Old One, he is also the least powerful of the Old Ones.
There's a very strange feeling through this book, at all times it feels very much like Will has no agency. He achieves a lot but it never really seems like it's off his own bat, rather that he's just following the path laid out for him and that there's always an adult to guide him at times of most need. I wonder if this in many ways is Cooper's deep understanding of what childhood is actually like. Either way, there's a continued subtlety to her writing. While characters will often tell us some lore they keep a lot back. Merriman/Merlin never reveals any more than necessary and that keeps the mystery and the sense of childhood alive. I think the dark could have been more frightening though.
Greenwitch
I'm not sure if this is the worst or the second worst of the series. It's pretty mundane and boring. Cooper doesn't give us anywhere near enough compelling dialogue with Tethys AKA the Ocean personified. Nor does the Greenwitch become much more than a snivelling old hag. The mixture of Old One Will with true magic powers, and the famous three Drew children from the first book with naught but a bit of a luck and a runny nose doesn't work very well. Merlin keeps talking about how crucial the Drew children are and will be, as if he's trying to justify to the reader their existence. And he finds a use for one of them at least. It's a shame because it seems like Cooper has done a pretty good job of capturing family life, and the interaction between brothers and sisters, particularly in a big family.
Again she's spot on in capturing childhood but there's always this feeling that the DARK that is rising is not all that powerful. The main antagonist in this story is a painter who lives in a gypsy caravan. It just doesn't feel all that serious. There's absolutely a pervasive darkness but it also feels like a schoolyard fancy rather than a threat across aeons.
Another incredibly frustrating part is that Will supposedly has all these magic powers and towards the end we see him and Merlin literally fly off into the sky and then plunge into the depths of the ocean without the need to breathe but for the rest of the book he's rather a bumbling fool.
In amongst the story Cooper drops little gems of wisdom.
"A perilous wish!' she said. 'For where one may be made happy by harmless things, another may find happiness only in hurting."
The Grey King
Finally Cooper hits her straps. Of course the Arthurian legend fits so well amongst the Welsh folklore. The bits of language throughout are great. I immediately had a strong feeling Cooper was Welsh herself or at least caught up in the cause of trying to keep the language alive and running. I think she managed to weave the beautiful Welsh language into the text in a way that felt artful and not tokenistic or directly educational.
Welsh obviously lends itself much more kindly to Arthurian and Celtic myth than the English of the invaders. And in fact I wish Cooper had tied that narrative into the story. It's quite clear that the Saxons were the early elements of the dark. I wish this was more explicit and woven more tightly into language.
I know I've praised Cooper for her deft touch but once again in this book there are times when I felt she was actually too light on. Obviously we've got children but they often come up against, polecats, minks, weasels, foxes, such that it feels like we're in Redwall. My first thought is always why not just kick the weasels away? How can they really be that scary? Yes I recognise the protagonists are children and I know Cooper has done a great job of building a children's view of the world but it still just feels like the stakes are whether you get a plain or chocolate digestive with your cup of tea, not the end of the universe. Either way this is my favourite book in the series.
Another gem of wisdom.
"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... 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 people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else. You are like fanatics. Your masters, at any rate. Like the old Crusaders - oh like certain groups in every belief, though this is not a matter of religion, of course. At the centre of the Light is a cold white flame, just as at the centre of the Dark there is a great black pit bottomless as the Universe."
Silver on the Tree
And so the series must come to an end. It's unsurprising we're back in Wales because the veil between ancient Celtic Britain and the present day has definitely felt the thinnest there. Cooper does a pretty good job of bringing it all together. Again there's this sense that Will and his chums are just plodding along the path set out for them by Merlin. That they have no real agency can be quite frustrating. I wish the drowned city had been more explicitly tied to Atlantis, or Doggerland.
The nasty little minks of the previous stories are now polecats. I mean are we really that frightened of polecats? The lessons at the end of the book are good but I just can't help but feel the overarching lesson of this series is listen to the competent adult and just do as your told.
Will is supposedly the last of the Old Ones but he barely uses his powers at all. We know he can fly, and swim to any depth without need for air, yet in this we again find him bumbling around and needing so much signposting and assistance to get where he's going. The ending was strange too because the light had to prove Bran was of his current time, but then when the Dark was defeated he could have gone back to live with Arthur. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to show that the decision to name him of the present robs him of the chance to go back in time and live with his father King Arthur. Cooper's work is subtle, there is no doubt of that, but at times I think it wasn't the subtlety but the lack of cohesion in the story telling that let it down. It often felt like she didn't have a plan from the start and kind of just wrote in a stream of consciousness. Cooper does match Tolkien's use of music and song with her fantasy. Which is fascinating because Tolkien's came from the epic tradition of the Vikings which is Cooper's dark, while Cooper's is very much from the Celtic history.
They finally explicitly point out that the invading vikings were the first waves of the dark. I wish this plot line had been developed a lot more.
"The Norman rides always on the back of the Dark, as the Saxon did, and the Dane."
And then Merlin gives them the world and that's that.
"For remember", he said, "that it is altogether your world now. You and all the rest. We have delivered you from evil, but the evil that is inside men is at the last a matter for men to control. The responsibility and the hope and the promise are in your hands - your hands and the hands of the children of all men on this earth. The future cannot blame the present, just as the present cannot blame the past. The hope is always here, always alive, but only your fierce caring can it into a fire to warm the world."
January 26, 2012
I never read this series as a child, and in hindsight, I wish it'd been more available to me when I could've fully appreciated the magic and wonder of the series. As it stands, reading it for the first time as an adult, there were some parts that worked wonderfully, and other parts that just didn't sit well with me at all. As a whole, The Grey King is my favorite and I think the best of them all, but I did enjoy the ending of the last book. The series is worth reading, but if you're like me and going into it as an adult, don't expect Tolkien, Lewis, or Rowling. :)
My full reviews for each individual book may be found at my blog (except spoilers for each book). The links are below:
Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark is Rising
Greenwitch
The Grey King
Silver on the Tree
Happy Reading!
My full reviews for each individual book may be found at my blog (except spoilers for each book). The links are below:
Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark is Rising
Greenwitch
The Grey King
Silver on the Tree
Happy Reading!
December 11, 2012
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 going to be pretty idiosyncratic.... But now I'm remembering why I was so obsessed with Welsh history as a kid, and re-meeting Bran was like a ghost appearing--he was so familiar and so strange at the same time. And I think the reason that the books seemed so confusing and dreamlike to me as a kid is because when the magic starts happening, the logic gets very dreamlike. "So we're in this train, and people come by who I recognize, but they're coming from the short end of the train so there's no way they could have been down there. And then the train is a boat, and King Arthur comes by in his boat, and then somehow we ride the boat right up the hill to this tree...." I just really love it. Tried to get Jaden turned on to the first one, but he wasn't really up for it. Hopefully someday I'll add this to the Shared-with-Jaden shelf.
February 7, 2017
Una storia in vecchio stile "Isole Britanniche": vengono qui riprese le vicende della letteratura cavalleresca che prevedono riferimenti ad Artù e al Graal, ma anche qualche vicenda familiare e fantastica vista in altre opere fantasy scritte da scrittori e scrittrici provenienti da questa specifica regione del mondo. Il bene e il male si scontrano attraverso 5 volumi che si inseriscono perfettamente in quella specie di grande disegno messo insieme da nomi quali C.S. Lewis o J.R.R. Tolkien. Lo consiglio in particolare a chi non si sia già consumato gli occhi davanti a storie di questo tipo, ma credo che anche i lettori più esperti possano trovare in questi libri qualcosa di gradevole da leggere. La prosa di Susan Cooper è indubbiamente piacevole e per nulla scontata.
Giudizio effettivo 3.5
Giudizio effettivo 3.5
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