Customer Reviews

The Dark Is Rising Sequence: Silver on the Tree; The Grey King; Greenwitch; The Dark Is Rising; and Over Sea, Under Stone

5 star:		(182)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This series of books made me want to be a writer when I grew up. I remember distinctly reading these books and realizing the power that authors have to create a world and populate it with living characters. Ms. Cooper has created a universe in which magic lives just under the surface of the "real" world--her theme, that the power of magic is accessible to believers, and that we have a responsibility to fight against evil in both the real and magical realms, continues to resonate with me and many other readers.

I highly recommend The Dark is Rising series to children and adults. It's for a slightly older audience than the Harry Potter series, and makes a nice next level for kids who want more.

I am thrilled that the series is still available and I am adding it to my collection in the hope of passing it on to the children in my life. That, and I'm going to re-read them myself-- they're just too good to pass up!

I first stumbled upon Susan Cooper's THE DARK IS RISING sequence when I was in sixth grade. I was required to read a Newberry Award-winning book and do a report, and the cover of THE GREY KING looked kind of cool, so I gave it a shot. Fifteen years later I still can't believe I haven't heard more about this series.

C.S. Lewis set the standard for children's fantasy literature with THE NARNIA CHRONICLES, and Susan Cooper has equaled Lewis' accomplishment in these books. In some ways, the stories are much better because Cooper's target audience is a bit older, wiser, and more mature. Evil characters are not always obvious in Cooper's world, nor are they always super-intelligent. Cooper weaves elements of Arthurian legend and Welsh mythology into modern day England in a way that tends to swallow the reader whole. Even as an adult I find these books rich and enjoyable; it is easy to forget that one is reading 'children's literature'.

Fans of THE NARNIA CHRONICLES or HARRY POTTER will find that THE DARK IS RISING is another series readers will enjoy no matter what their age may be. My one caveat would be to parents of young children: there are scenes in these stories that may not be appropriate for children under the age of 10 or so. As always, be aware of what your children are reading. Once your children have reached an appropriate age, however, I would highly recommend THE DARK IS RISING for both you and your children!

I first read this series when I was in grade school, and fell in love with the magic! I wished that I could have been one of the Old Ones, having incredible powers, immortality, and (because of these qualities) dangerous adventures. Nearly 15 years later, I was searching for a gift for a young relative in the family and found The Dark Is Rising series again. I made the purchase fully intending to give it away. That cousin never got the books. I just had to re-read them. And was enchanted once again!

The storyline is great for kids, as one of the main characters, Will Stanton is 11 years old. The magic is fantastic....one of the powers, the ability to make people forget, could definitely be useful. I can think of a couple of instances where I would have loved to use it on my parents! Traveling through time has similar benefits....

But this is not a series just for children. The themes of constant struggle between good and evil, and the means by which evil seeks to attract followers are well developed, with details older readers appreciate. The story about Hawkins is a great example. He is clearly used by both sides, and he makes choices that have hard consequences for himself and others. Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse, and his character demonstrates that people are not entirely good (deserving of extraordinary responsibility) or entirely bad (deserving of condemnation). There is an incredible attention to small details. You definitely pick these up with each reading. There is also enough familiar mythology/folk legend in the stories to make them not only believable, but feel like it is happening now. The series is wonderful. If you like imaginative, gripping stories, I highly recommend this series for adults and children!

When the Dark is 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.

I am 32 now, and first read The Dark is Rising when I was 11. I am now buying the set for my 9 year old daughter. I can still remember the poems better than any I learned in class. The writing is so multi-faceted, so defined. Like Will being the seventh son of a seventh son, and Merriman Lyon being Merlin. Although I applaud JK Rowling for the way she has turned kids onto books with Harry Potter, this is far, far better, and was ahead of its time. If Susan Cooper had had the marketing clout that JK Rowling has, this book would be better known and more widely read. In a time when Celtic music and influences are at their height (think River Dance, the Corrs) these books are in their prime. As an adult, read this series before giving to a child. The magic and the writing will never leave you, they are truely classics. Start with The Dark is Rising, and read Over Sea..... as a prequel afterwards. Equally suitable for girls or boys.

I first read The Dark is Rising when I was 11, the same age as the main character. I had already devoured the Chronicles of Narnia and loved the genre. Reading that book was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. It is ten years later, and I have read all five books at least half a dozen times, and The Dark is Rising probably 25 or 30 times. I simply never tire of these amazing novels. They opened a whole world to me, full of Welsh and Cornish legends, magic, and so much more. Before there was Harry Potter, there were these novels. Having read J.K. Rowling's series, which is very nice, I can say with no hesitation that these books are a thousand times better. This series is a must-read for both children and adults. I cannot recommend it enough.

I was given this set a few Christmases ago by my grandma. The covers looked mildly interesting, but I had other things to read. So it went on the shelf, sitting there for about a year.

Then, one night, I REALLY wanted to read but had nothing on hand. Sighing in an immensely theatrical way, I plucked OVER SEA, UNDER STONE off the shelf and sat down with it.

Far from being a boring or absurd story -- as I had sort of expected -- I was instantly swept up into the amazingly real, terrifying, and vivid landscape of the series, and learned a lot about King Arthur to boot. Upon finishing the book I snatched up THE DARK IS RISING and devoured it. Compared to THE DARK IS RISING, OVER SEA, UNDER STONE seemed a bit boring -- and it wasn't. That's how good the second one was! (It remains my favorite to this day; I loved the Signs, the setting, Will's personality...ah, to experience it freshly again...) Then I read Greenwitch, which was about the size of ten stacked pieces of cardstock, and then finished the rest.

People say these books have pagan themes and that Christians (like me) shouldn't read them. If there is one thing I hate more than anything, it is censorship, especially when The Churchy Folk (not to be confused with actual, caring Christians)start harranging you because you "read the wrong books". Most often, as with the case of Harry Potter (which does not deserve the hate that's been thrown on it AT ALL) the Churchy Folk have not bothered to read the "pagan book" themselves, assuming that since their cousin's uncle's stepson's grandfather's daughter, who runs An Obscure Christian Magazine, gave them a bad review of the book on the premise that it is unchristian, they decide that reading them will give them a one-way, irreversible ticket to Hell.

Sure.

Anyway, for Christians: These books do have a bit of a nonChristian viewpoint, but as a previous reviewer said, if you can't trust your kids not to turn away from God on the premise of a few sentences, clearly you have other, much bigger, problems. They are going to be saturated in atheistic propaganda all their life -- so what you should do is force them to challenge their faith early on. An unchallenged belief is feeble at best, but thinking deeply and coming up with answers on your own is crucial. Otherwise, what happens when a non-Christian challenges it themself with a question your child has never thought of before? And the walls came crashing down....

It's a great set of books. Read them, enjoy them, ponder them -- just don't take them too seriously. You'll be fine.

PS. I was asked their order in an email but couldn't get back, so here it is just in case:

1. Over Sea, Under Stone
2. The Dark Is Rising
3. Greenwitch
4. The Grey King
5. Silver On the Tree


Rating: Very Good

It's great to start to see Susan Cooper around the place again. With all of the Potter hype and the renewed interest in the wonderful Diana Wynne Jones, Susan Cooper deserves some time in the limelight for the outstanding Dark is Rising sequence. She's steeped in anglo-saxon mythology in much the same way as Alan Garner, but has created a much warmer and more accessible world than Garner.

The first book in the sequence was clearly originally written as a stand-alone book, but I would guess it planted seeds of ideas which took a decade to germinate when she picked up the story again. After the long gap, the next four books came quite thick and fast (coinciding with my childhood) and the writing of them is dynamic and exciting. The characters are fantastic, with the Merlin figure Merry being one of the most endearing attempts to create that arch-sorcerer. They are great fun from start to finish and are as intelligent, fresh and fantastic as when I first read them nearly thirty years ago (ouch!).

I first read The Dark is Rising as a child, and was ensnared by Susan Cooper's enchanting story of Will Stanton and his quest for the Six Signs, ensnared more deeply than any other book I had read before it. This book introduced me to fantasy and the wonder of the Middle Ages--the author uses a unique blend of fact, fantasy, and history in this series, with some Celtic lore, some proven facts, and just enough pure magic to make it enjoyable.

The books related the quest of six people to stop the world from being taken over by the Dark after the Light has reigned in peace for so long. The series begins with the three Drew children, Simon, Jane, and Barney, who are set upon a quest under the guidance of their forbidding Uncle Merriman, in Over Sea, Under Stone, in which their quest is to find the Holy Grail. In the Dark is Rising, Will Stanton is introduced and, again under the guidance of Merriman, initiated as the last of the Old Ones, the guardians of the earth. His task is to find the six Signs. In Greenwitch, a traditional Celtic tradition is brought to light by Jane, the only girl in the group, that befriends the lonely spirit and asks for her help in deciphering the inscriptions on the grail. The Grey King is the fourth book, and perhaps the most powerful, for it introduces Bran, a freakish albino who has never been accepted. Will befriends Bran and finds out that Bran is not only part of the prophecies, he is key to their plans, for they must awaken the Sleepers, warriors who will aid them to fight the Dark. And finally, the last book, Silver on the Tree, in which all of them are reunited: Simon, Jane, Barney, Will, Bran, and Merriman. In it they discover how far the reach of the Dark is--and how powerful the Light can be.

All of the books start with poems that prophesize the actions in the books and give convoluted clues as to what will be needed to stop the dark forces of the earth from taking over the world. Mentioned are the Holy Grail, the Six Signs, Pendragon, the Greenwitch, Sleepers, harps, an entire verse in Welsh--don't try to understand them; just enjoy them in their beauty. When you finish the books, you'll look at them again and suddenly understand everything.

I re-read this series recently, wondering if it would still seem as good as it did when I was a child. And the answer is, it doesn't. But it still has a great deal to offer.
The five books are set in Britain, not tied particularly closely to any decade within the twentieth century. They are all quest stories, with the child heroes seeking various magical artefacts to help the Light in its struggle against the Dark.
"Over Sea, Under Stone" introduces Simon, Jane and Barney Drew, following a mysterious manuscript in search of a golden grail. This adventure takes place during the summer holidays in Cornwall, and introduces their enigmatic Great-Uncle Merriman.
"The Dark is Rising" is the story of Will Stanton, who comes into his power as an Old One, a champion of the Light, on his eleventh birthday. Assisted by Merriman, he is destined to find the Six Signs.
"Greenwitch" unites the Drews, Will and Merriman in Cornwall as they hunt for a second manuscript, lost in the hunt for the grail. But can they win out over the power of the Greenwitch?
"The Grey King" sends Will to Wales in search of the golden harp that is needed to wake the Sleepers, warriors of the Light. He meets Bran, a lonely and troubled boy, who proves to be surprisingly important in his search and the struggle against the Dark.
"Silver on the Tree" reunites all the characters as they search for the crystal sword, the last necessary artefact, and travel to the final confrontation with the Dark.
There's a great deal to like in these books. Cooper pitches the writing at a suitably adult level so that, while not too difficult for children, they never feel twee or condescending. They are suitably atmospheric, with the settings brought alive by good descriptive writing and a healthy injection of Celtic mythology. Many of the characters are interesting and likeable; Will is the stand-out in this regard. The two "Will" books, "The Dark is Rising" and "The Grey King" are the best of the series. There is more action and a greater sense of risk and tension in these books.
So why has my regard for this series dropped over the years? There are two reasons. The first is that, reading as an adult, I don't find the books all that well-grounded in their mythological territory. Tolkien wrote stories set in a world that feels real. Cooper's ideas of magic, Light and Dark, heroes and villains, are very thin by comparison. As a consequence, to me there is little sense of what is truly at stake in what is supposed to be an all-time epic struggle, little sense of real risk; and all too often there are deus ex machina solutions as the magical heroes suddenly "know", without explanation, just what they need to do to win out.
The second reason is "Silver on the Tree". I found this a weak end to the saga, with too many deus ex machina solutions and too many vitally important plot points coming out of nowhere (Mrs Rowlands being one, Bran's love for his human father another). Much of the book seemed pointless filler. The final confrontation lacked power (both with regard to Cooper's writing and in plot terms) and seemed all too easy.
However, these caveats are things that may seem far less important to younger readers - I know they didn't bother me the first time I read this series. And the series as a whole is certainly well-crafted, exciting and enjoyable.

This series of books is owned by my brother and I'm sure that if he were writing this review he would give it 5 stars. I don't however because although it is an excellent series there are some things missing to me. I don't think the three Drew children are 3 dimensional characters and Bran is sometimes annoying and steps out of character. The plot is great and some parst are quite scary and there are a few surprised along the way. I think that if you are a fantasty lover you should definitly get this book and even if your're not you should consider it.