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Summary: great fantasy, but...
Review: ...for me the characters were somewhat lacking. Don't get me wrong, I loved the series when I was little, and I've reread it several times since then, but I found it difficult to relate to the main characters. It seems that if they were the good guys, they'd be a little more likeable. Bran, especially, spent a lot of time acting like a jerk. I don't know, it might just be me having difficulty identifying with English kids from the 70's. Other than that, I love the whole concept of the books. When I first read them I even wrote a couple of fanfics about it, whith my own characters, so you know the series made an impression :)
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Summary: Read as kid, had to read again as adult
Review: The librarian at my grade school (not telling how long ago that was, though) asked me to read one of the middle books for a review many years ago. I loved it but didn't think it was any good without the entire series, which was available at the city library. I read all five in one weekend and loved the story. The author is very good at describing the setting and I could get very vivid mental pictures as I continued reading. I heartily recommend these books for any child who enjoys fantasy/science fiction reading. I also think adults who enjoyed Harry Potter would like these as wel..
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Summary: When the dark comes rising, six shall turn it back...
Review: 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.
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Summary: The Dark Is Rising sequence
Review: wonderful books i loved them i encourage everyone to read these books!!! :) :) ;) bi!
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Summary: Parents be aware; "Dark is Rising" full of real life lessons
Review: I just finished reading "The Grey King" by Susan Cooper. I've been picking through the series of books, in which this title is the fourth, over the past couple of months. The series is titled "The Dark is Rising Sequence," after the name of the second book, "The Dark is Rising." The series is labeled as teen fantasy, and I suppose that's appropriate, but misleading at the same time. "The Hobbit" was originally conceived by Tolkien to be a story for younger audiences, you know, but publishers now realize its value to readers of all ages. Cooper's "Sequence" has the same value. The story takes place mostly in present-time Cornwall, Wales and an old English countryside, with a couple of visitations from America in the third book, "Greenwitch." The three Drew children, Simon, Barney and Jane, and two 'Old Ones' - a humanlike species fated to protect Humanity from the powers the Dark -: young Will Stanton and the old Merriman Lyon - and the strange Welsh albino boy Bran, all become weaved into one tense story. It is both classic and original, rising and falling with the victories and defeats of both the magical realm where the Old Ones toil, and the entanglements of everyday human life itself, where all the characters must find themselves trapped from time to time. These frequent visits to the world of parents, homework and friends, and other trials of growing up, give the books a realistic edge, making suspension of disbelief easy. The "Sequence" leaps out and surprises you with the fourth book, which is why I had to write something about it. There is still one book left in the series for me to read, but I feel like I've stepped over a threshold now into a place where anything can happen, where few dangers would be too "mature" for Cooper's audience. After dealing with such complicated and severe issues as death, abandonment, insanity and rape in "The Grey King," I feel almost as if Cooper intended for her audience - her first audience - to grow up with these stories, taking in a diet of innocent, and rarely dangerous, child's play in the first book ("Over Sea, Under Stone") to steadily more 'adult' dangers as the reading progressed. If you check the publisher's information at the front of the books, you will notice that the gaps between publishings of subsequent books were generally two or more years apart. I get to read everything within a couple of months, so its fortunate that I'm not some nine-year-old (or nine-year-old's parent) mislead by the 'cuteness' of the first book and a half or so. This should be taken as a warning sign to parents buying the books: The series is a great way to introduce children to the realities of life within the context of a story that revolves around good-hearted protagonists' challenges; However, the care-free charm of the beginning of the storyline is not an indicator of the story in its totality. I recommend all four books at some point in time for everyone (and the fifth on advance of trust), because these are not full of junk food for the brain; not "Harry Potterized" in the sense that most escapist fantasy is. The books in the Dark is Rising Sequence are: Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; and Silver on the Tree.
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Summary: Light vs. Darkness
Review: I have only read one book in this series, The Dark is Rising. We had to choose an extra credit book from a list for school, and I chose this one because it was the first book on the list our little library had. I loved it!!!! So much so that I have purchased this whole series from amazon, I can't wait to read the rest!
Get this series! I know I haven't read them all yet, but I'm anticipating great things, the second book was just absolutely wonderful. And if you're a little disappointed with the others, I think the second book is worth the cost of the whole set. :)
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Summary: this is a great series
Review: this series was one of the first fantasies that i read. boy was i blown away. the plot is spectacular, with excellent charecters. when i read this series, i didn't sleep for 3 weeks because i was up all night
everyone should read this. other recomendations:
Harry Potter (Rowling)
His Dark Materials (Pullman)
Circle of Magic (Pierce)
too many others
Rating:
Summary: Battle of Light against Dark
Review: The first book in this 5 book sequence was actually pretty boring i thought. But it was necessary for the rest of the series which was fantabulous!
The second book was the best! It was so cool with all the new things that approach you on every page! Will is really cool!
The third book had the characters from the first and second book together in another adventure and I thought the resolution was great!
The fourth book I didn't like so much but it had another great host of characters and introduced Bran, a mystreious boy who helps Will and the others on their quest.
The series concludes with the last book (duh) It was really good at the end.
I'd recommend this to anyone who loves fantasy but it wasn't the best ever.
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Summary: Recently rediscovered a childhood passion
Review: This set of books is amazing, there is no other way to put it. They are what truly sparked my love of British folklore and, ultimately, British culture. The Drew kids took me on fantastic adventures as a young girl, stimulating my imagination in ways that have never been duplicated before or since. In fact, my collection of these books was sold shortly after I'd finished them -- or maybe I'd checked them out of the library and had to be returned -- and I sadly forgot about them over time... However, I remembered these precious books years later and have been searching high and low for them, desperate to relocate the books that made my dream come true of going to England this summer. Amazingly enough, just tonight I stumbled into a chat room in which a chatter told me the name of the series and the author. I highly recommend this series to anyone, young or old, who has a passion for imaginative writing, British folklore, and/or adventure of all sorts. It's amazing, there's no other word to describe it!
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Summary: Lovely
Review: These books have a lovely texture. Numerous elements persisted in my mind for thirty years betwixt readings, from the circle symbols that grow hot in the presence of evil to the triviality of cucumber sandwiches. The symbiosis of Cooper's prose and the legends she adapts provides these volumes with a timelessness absent in most popular child-oriented novels. The Dark is Rising is easily the best work, though none of the "sequence" is flawless. As an adult I was particularly intrigued by elements that might be interpreted by some as anti-religious; perhaps this is more that I zipped by as a child, as I did with Lewis's very christian Narnia. That the imagery of her writing is still in my mind all these years later, though, is testimony to the power of her writing, and great writing need not or ought not always be agreeable. Kids will love the series, adults can wonder about the things they'll miss. I'll agree with another reviewer than these are *not* Harry Potter! I don't doubt Cooper will be read thirty years from now. As for Potter, well, they are simply different types of fiction ... I did not find myself sniffing for subtext reading Potter.
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