Greenwitch (The Dark is Rising, #3) in Into the Forest

Sep 10, 2017 mark monday rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: legendarium, inbetweenworld

Synopsis: Children shouldn't play with dead things, wild things, or green things; but if they do, they shouldn't stint on the compliments. A little empathy goes a long way!

This middle volume of Cooper's wonderful series is the second and last to center on the Drew siblings, "the three from the track". Three cheerful, curious, and often very excitable kids who never wore out their welcome. Yay for the Drews! See you all again in book five.

I really liked watching eerie series protagonist Will Stan Synopsis: Children shouldn't play with dead things, wild things, or green things; but if they do, they shouldn't stint on the compliments. A little empathy goes a long way!

This middle volume of Cooper's wonderful series is the second and last to center on the Drew siblings, "the three from the track". Three cheerful, curious, and often very excitable kids who never wore out their welcome. Yay for the Drews! See you all again in book five.

I really liked watching eerie series protagonist Will Stanton through their eyes. All of the little moments when they catch him acting like he's much older than his actual age or hiding his powers were fun and also, well, eerie. Especially that surprising moment when he just up and runs off of a cliff. Odd kid, that Will.

Cooper's focus on a Wild Green Magic that exists outside of the Light and the Dark was thoughtful and compelling. She gives the pre-Christian pagan forces of nature their proper due and I loved how she made those forces indomitable, beyond the control of either the legions of good or ill. Neither good nor bad intentions matter to Nature. Nature will do Nature, and that's that, thanks for playing. Women are also centralized in a way that I don't recall seeing much of in the other books (besides the final moments of the last book): in the pagan ritual that creates the Greenwitch of course, but also in how Jane Drew proves herself to be the true hero of the story - simply by being her brave, kind self. Her normal self is her best self; a wonderful way to be.

I particularly enjoyed the portrait of Greenwitch as a petulant and very dangerous elemental being subject to its own seething, unpredictable nature. A kind of child, but one that cannot be bullied - only swayed, with kindness. The confrontation between Greenwitch and a rogue agent of the Dark was riveting. Some people really shouldn't sass the Green, let alone try to boss them around. They might find themselves trapped and tormented on a ghost ship until the end of time. Oops, spoiler alert!

Overall, one of the lesser volumes in the series, but still a fascinating and resonant experience. ...more

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Jul 17, 2011 Sienna rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2011

Wow, I really loved this one. Ancient Cornish rituals! Rufus, the preternaturally helpful dog! Gypsy caravans! Hallucinatory visions of the past coming to life! And, of course, some incredibly beautiful language. Cooper beautifully expressed (through the eyes of ordinary, if perceptive, children) just how odd the Old Ones must seem when seen together. The Drew children are better developed in this one, a much-needed spotlight on Jane in this otherwise male-dominated sequence, and even the Dark's ...more

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