Susan Cooper

The Dark is Rising — (1965-1977) Ages 9-12. Publisher: On holiday in Cornwall, the three Drew children discover an ancient map in the attic of the house that they are staying in. They know immediately that it is special. It is even more than that — the key to finding a grail, a source of power to fight the forces of evil known as the Dark. And in searching for it themselves, the Drews put their very lives in peril.

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The Dark is Rising: "Theirs is a Cold Strength, the Winter Feeds It..."

Despite multiple awards and a talent that is up there with the best of the fantasy authors, Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series is often overlooked by readers in general. A five-part series, it deals with the battle between good and evil as waged by the Old Ones, several contemporary children, a range of mystical objects, and figures from history and legend. It sounds like pretty generic stuff, but Cooper’s gift lies in the telling of the story, and manages to take these well-trod aspects of the fantasy genre and turn them into something truly memorable.

Like Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles (the best series with which these can be compared) it is the second book that is the most famous, and in this case it shares its title with the name of the overall series. The Dark is Rising is the story of eleven-year-old Will, who discovers his heritage as the youngest of the Old Ones: guardians of the world who fight against the malevolent Dark for the well being of mankind. With his mentor Merriman, Will travels through the mighty Doors of Time to learn his craft and skills, and then go up against the Black Rider — the strongest disciple of the Dark.

All of this takes place from Midwinter's Eve to the Twelfth Night after Christmas, as the two separate powers' strength waxes and wanes. Will's role as the Sign-Seeker means that he must discover the location of six magical stones representing different elements, and bring them all together to create the circle. As he searches his small village, the Dark releases its weapons against him: vicious rooks, an innocent-looking farm girl, a traitor, and finally a terrible snowfall that threatens the lives of Will's family, and the rest of the village. And through all of this is the mysterious figure of a tramp that sulks in the snow, fearing and hating Will, and yet with a terrible sadness to him that Will cannot understand.

Will himself is not without strength and allies, and he faces adversary with the amazing personality that Cooper has shaped for him: the soul of an ancient inside the body and feelings of a small boy. He is perhaps one of the most fascinating, three-dimensional characters of children's fantasy literature, and has to be fully read to be appreciated.

Cooper infuses her work with threads of real folklore and legend, everything from the old Celtic gods to the “specialness” of a seventh son. Likewise, her language is simply stunning — she literally takes us from a fascinating description of a twig, to an invocation of a range of planets and stars overhead. She also has a gift for creating emotion, especially fear — Will's experiences with the forces of the Dark and the penetration of the snow are wonderfully, chillingly created.

The previous story in this series was Over Sea, Under Stone, which featured three completely different children (who meet Will in the next book Greenwitch) in a setting that had much less emphasis on magical workings. In fact, when I first began reading this story I was initially rather confused and thought I'd picked up the wrong book. It does get off to a rather shaky start, with Will entering different worlds and times without the reader really knowing where he is, or how, or why. However, one must really read all of the books in order to gain the full picture of what's going on, as there are foreshadowing images here that do not come to fruition till the final book. It pays to read this more than once — it's one of those books that yields more information and detail each time.

Will's family come across as clones of one another (there are slight differences, but not enough for me to be able to keep track of all the different siblings) but as a whole they are a cheerful, bickering, loving family: something indeed worth fighting the forces of Darkness for. Merriman Lyon, who is only character to appear in all five books, is as aloof, mysterious and grave as ever, and deserves a place among the great wizards of fantasy.

If you consider yourself a fantasy fan, then The Dark is Rising is must-read material. Beautifully crafted and endlessly fascinating, you should buy, not borrow this series. —Rebecca Fisher

Greenwitch: "Trewissick is Under Possession This Night..."

Greenwitch is the third book in The Dark is Rising series, and it is necessary to be familiar with the first two books Over Sea, Under Stone and The Dark is Rising to fully understand what is going on in this volume. In the first book siblings Simon, Jane, and Barney uncovered the grail from its hiding place, but unfortunately lost the lead-incased manuscript that would decipher the inscription on the grail's side. Now after the grail has been stolen from the museum, their great-uncle Merry brings them once more to Trewissick in order to find what they once lost.

Meeting them for the first time is Will Stanton, the youngest of the Old Ones, the beings of the Light that guard mankind against the Dark. He came into his own in The Dark is Rising, finding the Six Signs, and now is joining the Drew children to search for the grail. An ancient soul in the body of a small boy, the Drews are initially none to pleased to find competition for their uncle's time and energy, but the search for the grail and the manuscript soon puts this out of their mind.

Jane attends a women-only all-night festival that involves the making of something called "the Greenwitch", made of rock and branches. Tentatively she makes a wish for the vastly powerful and lonely being — a wish that could do what neither the Light nor the Dark can accomplish. But with the presence of a malevolent painter that has Barney in his power, the anger of the Greenwitch and the return of a ghostly traitor from Trewissick's past, it is a challenge to reach the finish line and the next step in the ongoing quest.

Greenwitch is the shortest book in the series, and most swift readers will probably finish it in one sitting (or at least one day), and although it is a carefully crafted read, it could have used a bit of padding, especially in the relationship between Will and the Drew children. It is prickly at first, and then mellows out at the end, but does not really record the transition between these two states. However, as always the story is packed with original ideas and her language is beautiful, especially the nightmare sequence when the Wild Magic of the Greenwitch is unleashed on the town.

An essential part of the collection, Greenwitch is a great inclusion, wrapping up plot points from the previous two books and setting the stage for the next two. In many ways, this is Jane's story, making the book unique considering she is the only female of note in the entire series — though she's hardly a strong, independent female of the 21st century, her simple wish is really quite touching and harks back to the days when females didn't have to swing a sword or do kick-boxing in order to make a real difference. —Rebecca Fisher

The Grey King: "He's a Lonely Boy, and Had a Strange Life..."

Although it is not my personal favourite, The Grey King, the fourth book in The Dark is Rising sequence is generally considered the best in the series, and is the winner of the Newbery Medal. Following on from the other books, Will Stanton (an Old One of the Light, who protects humanity from the forces of the Dark) travels to Wales, in order to fetch the golden harp, which in turn will wake the mysterious Sleepers, fulfilling the next part of the prophesy chronicling the battle between Light and Dark.

But the circumstances surrounding his visit are grim: after a serious illness he has been sent to relatives in order to convalesce, and soon finds that he cannot remember the vital phrases of the prophesy. Though he can only remember bits and pieces, he is aware that he is meant to seek help from "the raven boy" and "silver eyes that see the wind" — whatever that means. Amongst his cheery relatives things are well, but in the hidden farmlands he soon meets a young albino boy named Bran and his silver-eyed dog Cafall. Bran's mother disappeared when he was just a baby, leaving him in the care of Owen Davis, a devout and religious man who is kind, but strict with the lonely Bran. Though he is obviously unusual, only Will can see that there is something so much more to Bran than meets the eye.

He also meets John Rowlands, an aged and immensely wise farmer who is one of the few human beings who could possibly understand Will's task, and Caradog Pritchard, a hideously bad-tempered man who is out to make things difficult for everyone around him. But beyond all of this is the malevolence of one of the greatest powers of the Dark: the Grey King and his vicious grey foxes who are out to prevent the Light from gaining their advantage with the golden harp.

Merriman Lyon, the linking factor in all five books has only a minor role here, and the Drew children are not present at all — this is solely Will's quest that he must fulfil by himself, with Bran as the last major player in the series to be introduced. By its end we are all set to head into the final book Silver on the Tree.

It will help if you know basic Arthurian lore (in particular the love-triangle), since Cooper is subtle in her meanings, and never spells it out entirely. Bran's mother's situation will only resonant if you are fully aware of who she is revealed to be and what she once did. And of course, it is necessary to have read the previous books in the series in order to grasp the full meaning of what's going on here.

A criticism leveled toward these books at one stage, were that they were too black-and-white: there was a Light side and a Dark side, the goodies and the baddies and that was all there was to it. But here for the first time, Cooper adds little touches of grey to the matter, or at least makes you look at the opposites in a different way. It is Rowlands who points out that the Light can be just as merciless and unforgiving as the Dark, that "at the center of the Light is a cold, white flame, just as at the center of the Dark there is a great black pit." The Light can often be merciless and cruel, manipulating things to reach its own ends — and Rowlands claims he would choose one human life over their cold principles. As well as this there is a sense of powers beyond good and evil, a "High Magic" that governs over both of them and refuses to take sides.

As well as this the book deals with darker and more human issues than previously, such as violence, adultery, piety, betrayal, loss, temper, attempted rape (though portrayed extremely carefully), and the capacity for humanity to destroy itself. Cooper's language is beautiful, her research thorough, her themes profound and her meanings deep and thoughtful. There is so much hidden depth (sometimes held within a single sentence that is easy to miss) that it's impossible to list them all, but here's one — Will assumes that it was the Dark's powers that made him so terribly ill. But toward the end he begins to think it may have come from a completely different source...

Do yourself a favor and read these books! —Rebecca Fisher

Silver on the Tree

Silver on the Tree is the fifth and final book in The Dark is Rising series, and if you have never picked up the previous installments, then don't start here — you won't have a clue what's going on. If, however, you have read Over Sea, Under Stone, The Dark is Rising, Greenwitch and The Grey King, then here is the big finale you've been waiting for. Finally, all our main characters are reunited for the first and last time — Merriman Lyon, Will Stanton, Bran Davis, the Drew children, the Rowlands and the rest of the Old Ones who have come together for the final battle against the malevolent powers of the Dark.

They have gathered in Wales, following the last lines of the Light's prophecy, "when the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back," in order to find the last talisman of the Light. Whilst Will (the youngest of the Old Ones: guardians of humanity) and Bran (the son of King Arthur who was transported forward in time by his mother) travel across the Lost Land in search of the crystal sword, Merriman and Simon, Jane and Barney Drew face their own challenges when the powers of the Dark catapult them into different time periods. Soon it is a race to the finish line and the Midsummer Tree, but with a traitor in their midst and the forces of the Dark towering around them, it's hardly going to be easy to finally defeat the Dark.

Cooper again introduces several historical and legendary figures from England's past, including Owain Glyndwr, Herne the Hunter, Gwion/Talisan and of course King Arthur himself, and she invokes the landscapes and countryside beautifully. By the end of the series, we are met with the inevitable sadness of farewells and life-changing decisions that place The Dark is Rising amongst the best of children's fantasy literature — this is not simply a hackneyed battle between opposing forces; it involves real betrayal, real heartbreak and real pain — where the climactic moment is not a sword-fight, but a decision that must be made by a human being that has just lost everything he's loved. Our characters have only half won the battle, for as she points out in the beginning of the novel when a young Pakistani boy is targeted for bullying, the real enemy lies within humankind.

There are a few things that I'm not quite sure on, but before I start pointing them out I have to say that Susan Cooper is an extremely sensitive and subtle writer — if you don't read carefully you can miss half of what she has to say. As I have only read Silver on the Tree twice (once when I was quite young, and once when I was in a hurry), I'm quite certain that I fall into this category. Her themes are deep, her writing is articulate, and she doesn't make it easy for insensitive readers. If you want to get the most out of these books, then you have to work for it.

In saying that, some things come across as rather puzzling. The sequence and timing of events is rather patchy, and often things happen that don't seem to make much sense (although keep in mind, I may be misinterpreting them — I'm sure Cooper knows more about writing than I do). The book is divided into four parts, and although the first provides a promising beginning, and the last an exciting conclusion, the two middle parts are problematic. The situation with the Drews, in which they are transported back in time seems a little unnecessary — they do not seem to learn or gain anything of value that justifies their presence there. Meanwhile, as Bran and Will traverse the Lost Land, they come up against several obstacles that are disposed of rather easily — such as the terrifying specter of a moving horse skeleton: the boys are saved when the petals of a may tree falls upon it. Huh?

Furthermore, the powers of the Dark just didn't seem that scary this time around. Previously, they were one of Cooper's strongest inventions, whether they appeared as amiable siblings, sullen, half-crazed painters, sweet-faced farm-girls, haggard tramps, a malevolent mountain-presence or the terrifying visage of a Black-cloaked Rider. But here, rather than appearing as a truly foreboding threat, the bad-guys do little but tail our heroes, mock them, and generally come across as annoying. Cooper drives home the point that the Dark can do the good guys no physical harm so many times that we lose all fear for their safety. I had no doubts that they'd make it through with no causalities — but the emotional scarring that they've been exposed to is also negated when all but one of the main characters lose the memory of their adventures.

As mentioned, Cooper's work is immensely subtle and there is too much to be discovered for me to give it all away. I'll reveal just one: read the descriptions of the Old Ones in the ships carefully at the story's end – she does not give names but "a tall burly figure in a smith's apron, a small man in a green coat and an imperious grey-haired lady, leaning on a stick," are all characters that we've seen before. So read carefully and frequently if you want to get the most out of this particular book, as well of the rest of the installments in this award-winning, immensely rewarding series. —Rebecca Fisher