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The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper is a young adult fantasy novel first published in 1973. The second book in the series of the same name, apparently the first book, Over Sea, Under Stone, was written for a younger audience and provides more of a prequel than a beginning point. This book tells the tale of Will Stanton, who on his eleventh birthday learns that he is an Old One, a member of a group with magical powers who represent the Light, opposed to the members of the Dark. Cooper uses colorfu...
Stop me if you've heard this one: A boy living in England discovers on his 11th birthday that he has special powers. An early encounter with an enemy leaves him with a scar. With guidance from a few mentors, he is trained and learns about the Dark, which he can vanquish by collecting several ancient objects.Well, putting aside my increasing irritation with J.K. Rowling's lack of originality, I really enjoyed this (earlier) novel, which was surprisingly well-written. (Especially compared with A W...
I remember as a kid getting totally swept away by this book. As an adult, I think it's a powerfully atmospheric book, with the looming dark ever present. Fun to revisit and still good, though I wish I wanted to gush over it as much as I used to.2022 re-read: I loved it more this time. Some of the issues were a bit more glaring (the world acts and Will gets swept along from one odd thing to the next without really being in control of anything), but the writing was lovely. And I felt the magic way...
Reread. I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie—and more importantly, I saw Darcy's furious reaction to the trailer for the upcoming movie, and I realized that I didn't remember these books well enough to be properly furious myself. I read the first two in the series, in the wrong order, when I was much younger, but didn't recall being particularly engaged by them, which was why I never continued. I figured that, rereading them as an adult, I'd see the error of my ways.Sadly, I didn't. I still
Originally read: 1979My absolute favorite series as a child. One of these days I need to reread it. (ETA: see below.) A bit like Harry Potter, but darker in tone (and of course, Will Stanton predates Harry Potter by decades). A shame that Hollywood's treatment of this classic book was so epically bad. It should be noted that while technically this is book two in the series, the saga really begins here, with Over Sea, Under Stone being a prequel of sorts.Reread: 2013I first read this book when I
Having not enjoyed the first book in this series we were glad to have given the second book a go. Parts of this book were immensely enjoyable, magical and atmospheric and perfect Christmas reading. Much of this story rated 5 stars for us, we loved the mystery, the intertwining of folklore, the family dynamics, the snow and the magic. The downsides for us was the battle between good and evil, this didn't appeal to us but that's a personal preference. This story seemed inspired by The Box of Delig...
With The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper sets the stage for a sweeping fantasy saga about nothing in particular.When Will Stanton, an English lad from an unusually large family, turns twelve, he finds out he is an Old One - a being of great and mysterious powers who can hop in and out of human time and space anytime he chooses. Occasionally assisted by Merriman Lyon, who was once called Merlin and is now passing himself off as an archaeology professor, Will sets off to assist The Light, who are goo...
The Dark Is Rising does no wrongEach word in place so perfectly;And I have loved you oh so longCherishing your company.Young Will was my delight,Merriman my heart of goldChristmas cheer my heart of joyAll thanks, my lady Cooper.You have been ready at my handTo grant me what I often crave:A wintry chill across the landVillains dark and a child brave.Black Rider was my delight,Maggie Barnes my heart of goldChristmas menace my heart of joyAnd tragic Walker to sting the soul.Thy battles betwixt D
3.5 . . . maybe. A good story; well told. It fits neatly between The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. Very English; magical realm beyond the mundane; contemporary (more or less) to the time of writing; YA that should appeal to adults, but it doesn't have the--dare I use this word?--magic.William, the eleven year old protagonist, is too passive. He floats through the book's big crises more as observer than an actor. Great things happen around him, but the reader does not feel that William i...
Getting my brother (12) to read is liking getting a cat to take a bath, getting a high-schooler to go to school, getting a cheerleader to go to computer club.All those really difficult things in life.I read this series myself about a year or two ago, so when he needed a book to do for literature in his homeschool, I suggested that he pick this one and I'd do it with him.He moaned and groaned and hated life, that he'd have to do something so awful as reading.I just shrugged and told him to suck i...
The one of my heart. But not entirely a book of childhood. Unlike the rest of the series, this one is layered all through young adulthood for me. I read it countless times as a wee thing, of course, but it was also my book on a horrible flight home from Oxford after Trinity Term, and what I read the week I retired my first guide dog, and what I read in tiny pieces in the month after I lost my eye. Looking at that list is one of those foreheadslap moments where you notice that narrative refrain i...
The Dark is Rising is a memorable and imaginative fantasy novel by the British author Susan Cooper, first published in 1973. This novel, for readers of maybe 9 and above, gave its name to a series of five contemporary fantasy books written between 1965 and 1977. They form an Arthurian quintet, in which the forces of the Dark and the Light are pitched against each other in a battle for humanity. The Dark Is Rising, although the second novel in the series, remains the most popular, and it is possi...
2.5 stars. I really thought I was going to like this more than I did. It was well-written and the premise of a story was interesting. I just never really got into the story and found myself waiting for something exceptional to happen. Unfortunately, it didn't. That said, it wasn't a bad book and, being short, it didn't take too long to get through.
I suspect that the books of this sequence are among the most beautiful I've read. I get that feeling especially with this book. The tone here has changed already from the Blyton-esque kids-on-a-great-adventure of the first book, and the character is different accordingly. It's almost a bildungsroman, for all that we only see less than a month of an eleven year old boy's life.One of the main things I love about this sequence, particularly from this book on, is the characterisation. Where Simon, J...
'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 goldPlayed to wake the Sleepers, oldest of the old;Power from the green witch, lost beneath the sea;All s...
Though this is the second of a series, it can easily be read as a novel complete in itself. A wonderfully creepy midwinter story, in which 11-year-old Will discovers that he has been born into a magical tradition, it explores the pagan roots of midwinter festivals, and draws on the gods of pre-Christian England, as well as the powers of nature, such as snow, rain, rivers, trees, and mountains. It is a compelling and atmospheric book: it's an excellent and imaginative novel for children, but it a...
I’m trying to think of how many other books’ sequels are more notable than the books themselves. The Dark is Rising is the second book in the sequence, yet it was the one that got adapted into an apparently awful film, and it was the one that gave its title to the entire series. I suppose I can see why. Of the first two books, it more stereotypically conforms to the monomyth and has that “epic” quality one desires in “epic fantasy”. Over Sea, Under Stone is firmly a juvenile adventure, whereas t...
12/15/16: More of my Christmas reading. This time, I'm struck as I never was as a teen how very bleak Cooper's universe of Light and Dark is. The Old Ones, for all they come from human families (presumably, if Will Stanton is representative) are not even a little bit human, and Light and Dark clash in ways that care nothing for individual men and women. Their battle isn't for the sake of human salvation, it's for things and forces far, far beyond human concerns. This becomes most evident in Silv...
Overall I'd say I prefer stories about heroes who become, rather than who are chosen. But if it the author is relying on fate, how better than to use time travelers and incorporate all the myths of the British Isles?The compressed time period of the winter holidays works well. I like that Will has a close and involved family, parents included, such that the author had to take him outside of time to be in any danger. The story is well-paced, the villains ambiguous, and the whole thing is enormous...