Review: The Dark is Rising
Title: The Dark is Rising
Author: Susan Cooper
Genre: Adventure, fantasy, Arthurian
This is the second book in Cooper’s The Dark is Rising Sequence. It gave the series its name and is a Newbery Honor book.
From the blurb:
On the Midwinter Day that is his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers a special gift - that he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to keeping the world from domination by the forces of evil, the Dark. At once, he is plunged into a quest for the six magical Signs that will one day aid the Old Ones in the final battle between the Dark and the Light. And for the twelve days of Christmas, while the Dark is rising, life for Will is full of wonder, terror, and delight.
This is such a lovely lovely book! The story is about an English farmboy (of sorts!) who is ten going on eleven and his post-birthday adventures one very memorable Christmas/New Year season. If he succeeds on his quest, it will not only help his ‘side’ (the Light) in a future battle, but will also help him prevent a permanently miserable present for everyone in the British Isles (and presumably worldwide, too).
The prose is quite often lyrical with rich and vivid descriptions and intricate details. Cooper does great world-building - in a scene where Will first starts to realize that he’s taken a step into a larger world, there are some great hints of what's to come in later books as well as a quick image of an important location in the previous book - something I only realized on this re-read! Towards the end there is a slightly longer but still brief mention of the events of Over Sea, Under Stone as well - and I love that because it really does tie the two together more subtly than in another, soon-made-obvious way.
Will is a great character who is very likeable, as are his wonderful family members - eight siblings, most of whom are given very distinct and individual personalities, and two awesome parents. There’s banter, magic, warmth, music and music appreciation (lots of it!), lessons learned, tension, displays of power, fear, urgency, mythology, and hope mixed in with seasonal charm and wintry weather in this story.
I hadn’t read this one cover-to-cover in ages either (sort of like with Over Sea, Under Stone), but I’m glad I started re-reading it last year. It reads particularly well at the time of year when it is set - there’s a fairly clear timeline of the events that take place from Midwinter Day to Twelfth Night, and reading the chapters that take place on a particular day on those days really put the whole story into a new light for me. I recommend trying it if you haven’t done so already, apart from wholeheartedly recommending the book in general.
Author: Susan Cooper
Genre: Adventure, fantasy, Arthurian
This is the second book in Cooper’s The Dark is Rising Sequence. It gave the series its name and is a Newbery Honor book.
From the blurb:
On the Midwinter Day that is his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers a special gift - that he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to keeping the world from domination by the forces of evil, the Dark. At once, he is plunged into a quest for the six magical Signs that will one day aid the Old Ones in the final battle between the Dark and the Light. And for the twelve days of Christmas, while the Dark is rising, life for Will is full of wonder, terror, and delight.
This is such a lovely lovely book! The story is about an English farmboy (of sorts!) who is ten going on eleven and his post-birthday adventures one very memorable Christmas/New Year season. If he succeeds on his quest, it will not only help his ‘side’ (the Light) in a future battle, but will also help him prevent a permanently miserable present for everyone in the British Isles (and presumably worldwide, too).
The prose is quite often lyrical with rich and vivid descriptions and intricate details. Cooper does great world-building - in a scene where Will first starts to realize that he’s taken a step into a larger world, there are some great hints of what's to come in later books as well as a quick image of an important location in the previous book - something I only realized on this re-read! Towards the end there is a slightly longer but still brief mention of the events of Over Sea, Under Stone as well - and I love that because it really does tie the two together more subtly than in another, soon-made-obvious way.
Will is a great character who is very likeable, as are his wonderful family members - eight siblings, most of whom are given very distinct and individual personalities, and two awesome parents. There’s banter, magic, warmth, music and music appreciation (lots of it!), lessons learned, tension, displays of power, fear, urgency, mythology, and hope mixed in with seasonal charm and wintry weather in this story.
I hadn’t read this one cover-to-cover in ages either (sort of like with Over Sea, Under Stone), but I’m glad I started re-reading it last year. It reads particularly well at the time of year when it is set - there’s a fairly clear timeline of the events that take place from Midwinter Day to Twelfth Night, and reading the chapters that take place on a particular day on those days really put the whole story into a new light for me. I recommend trying it if you haven’t done so already, apart from wholeheartedly recommending the book in general.