Dark is Rising

Rating:
Summary: It has the power to wisk the mind away to mystical places.
Review: I first read this novel at the request of my sixth grade teacher at TASIS in Surrey, England. Immediately after I began reading Cooper's book, I was swept away from the dreary fog and rain typical of Woking's weather. Upon finishing the first chapter, I was caught up in a mystical world of fairytale espionage between good and evil. Cooper's talent for intertwining the supernatural with reality kept me from putting the book down until the very end. Has not every child wished he/she led a "secret" life, had magical powers, and had a significant part in the world around them? By simply reading Cooper's book, a child can attain all three. I did!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Susan Cooper has written a wonderful fantasy series in the tradition of Tolkien and CS Lewis. The key difference is that it takes place in the real world, allowing for some wonderful storylines. She uses some of the rich Welsh mythology throughout the series, and the story simply pulls the reader along, captivated. I would recommend this book for a seventh grader, and I would recommend reading this book first in the series, even though "Over Sea, Under Stone" occurs first chronologically. The entire series is well worth reading

Rating:
Summary: This Book is worth reading/getting!
Review: Susan Cooper, like she has with all her books, has put lot's
of thought and care into this book.
It will stay on my best book list for ever.

The contents of this book is enjoyable yet powerful.
I recomend it to all...it's a must like all the rest of her books that I
have read!
.......The Plot.........
It starts of with Will a young boy (Who is one of 'The Old Ones', but he doesn't know it)
that goes on a quest,learning the true power of an old one, whilst getting
the signs which help the light(The Old Ones) protect people and 'things' from the dark!
The rider, who Will must try to defeat and collect things of great power along with many other challenges
that Will must challenge in this book and others.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent novel. Not just for kids
Review: I first read this book when I was in 8th grade and I thought it was great. The same goes for "The Boggart", the only other Susan Cooper book I have read aside from "The Dark Is Rising" sequence. Anyway, like I said, I loved the book. The way it was written was amazing, I've read a great many books in my life so far, many of them by award-winning novelists who have written many books and have international recognition (Stephen King, Terry Brooks, and J.R.R Tolkien among them), and Susan Cooper stands among them for all they're worth. This book touches your mind in ways that many books cannot even come close to. It is simply incredible. And as the header suggest, I'm not in the agegroup of 9-12, and I still think the novel is excellent, even when I read it now at 22. So, don't be discouraged by the target agegroup, if you love great literature and reading about myths and legends, don't hesitate to pick up this marvelous book.

Rating:
Summary: Not everyone likes it
Review: With all these 5-star reviews, I expected this to be an incredible book. I love all the other authors that this has been compared to - Tolkien, JK Rowling, CS Lewis. But I really didn't like this book.

For one thing, everything worked out too nicely. No one got hurt, nothing went wrong. Will found every sign so easily, Merriman and the elders always turned up to save the day...

I also though the setting was a little odd, and under developed. In the Narnia books, for example, I get a wonderful sense of where the children live before they enter the magical world of Narnia. In this book though, it's like the setting was just thrown down. English village, farm, church, dark alley, done.

I didn't like any of the characters either, they were all so flat. No one seemed to have feelings. Will has 3 emotions: indifferent, confused, and scared. In the Harry Potter books, you understand the full spectrum of emotions that Harry has - he laughs, he crys, he gets frustrated, upset, happy, confused. You actually feel for Harry. I really didn't care about Will.

The whole thing felt like one of those disturbing dreams, where you can't open your eyes fully, and everything is dark and hard to see. I understand that this book is about the rise of darkness on the land, but it could have been so much better. Lord of the Rings for example, is about darkness taking over the world too. But such imagery, such beauty - even when writing about Frodo and Sam in the darkness of Mordor.

Perhaps the other books in this series are better, but I'm not in a hurry to find out. I'll stick with other fantasy books, thanks.

Rating:
Summary: Rich and "Dark"
Review: Susan Cooper has yet to equal "The Dark is Rising," the second book of her classic Dark is Rising Sequence. Independent of the first book "Over Sea Under Stone," this is also darker, more magical, more intense, and one of the most beautifully written fantasy novels in existance.

Will Stanton is an ordinary boy, until his Midwinter eleventh birthday. On that day, he ventures out into a seemingly changed world. There, he encounters a sinister Dark Rider, then a beautiful white horse that leads him to a hidden place, where he finds two of the Old Ones -- the mysterious Lady and Merriman Lyon, one of the stars of the previous book. The Old Ones are immortal, powerful, wise, and it turns out that Will is the last one born.

And as an astonishingly cold winter settles over England, Will is taught some of the ways of the Old Ones, who fight the Dark (forces of evil, like the Dark Rider). He has one of the signs of power, but must get them all: Iron, Bronze, Stone, Wood, Fire and Water. And he must contend with the Dark Rider, his own failings, and a mysterious stranger whose future is inextricably entwined with his...

Susan Cooper is at her peak here. Will Stanton's adventures have a sense of unreal mystery and magic about them, where the slightest actions can have significance, time is easily manipulated, and two kinds of reality intersect. Welsh mythos and legend is interwoven more deeply here, including hints of the Arthurian tilt that was featured more prominently in "Over Sea, Under Stone." At the same time, Cooper accurately displays a more human side of Will, the side that is deeply attached to his family and home.

Her writing also becomes much more detailed here. In her first Dark is Rising novel, Cooper's writing was relatively spare and lacking in detail. Here, she more than makes up for it with intricate details about the halls of the Old Ones, the bustling farmhouse, and the eerie woods where the Walker wanders.

Nowhere to be found is the British-kids-on-holiday atmosphere. It's replaced by an warm atmosphere, and one of shocking, powerful magic. This isn't magic infringing on our world, but rather Will stepping from one to another. Her dialogue is more believable, even the little old lady bleating about the snowstorm; and Will tends to think, act, and talk like an eleven-year-old boy who is aged before his time.

Will himself is an astonishingly three-dimensional character: he flips between being a smart, quiet eleven-year-old to being an Old One, with all the power that suggests. This transition is not one that is handled lightly, as he gradually loses his innocent, boyish outlook and learns more about the battle between evil and good. Merriman Lyon is a more majestic character than in "Over Sea, Under Stone," and the reader gets a saddening view of the sacrifices he's had to make for his battle against the Dark.

Susan Cooper does an astonishing job with "The Dark is Rising," a spellbinding fantasy that secured the Dark is Rising Sequence as a classic. Truly an entrancing, magical novel.

Rating:
Summary: "Theirs is a Cold Strength, the Winter Feeds It..."
Review: Despite multiple awards and a talent that is up there with the best of the fantasy authors, Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" trilogy 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.

Like Alexander Lloyd'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 comes into his heritage as the youngest of the Old Ones: guardians of the world who fight against the malevolent Dark for the wellbeing 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 crossed 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 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 understood.

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 the fascination of a twig, to a raging river, to the planets and stars overhead. She also has a gift for invoking 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, and how, and why. However, one must really read all of the books in order to gain the full picture of what's going on, as there is 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 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. Merriman, who is the connecting element in all the books, is as aloof and grave as ever, and deserves a place among the great wizards of fantasy.

Cooper is careful not to restrict the time period of her story (there is a new year, but she doesn't specify which one, and at one stage a character comments that most of his family was killed in "the last war". We assume it was World War II, but younger readers could interpret it as a later one).

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.

Rating:
Summary: OK---One of my faves!
Review: On the eve of his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton's world began to change, drawing him into a legacy that would change his life--and the story of the long conflict between the Light and Dark for the fate of the world.

For he was the last of the Old Ones, quasi-immortals born to keep the world from domination from the Lords of the Dark. And in his time of learning, from the strangeness of his birthday eve to the worst danger on MidWinter's eve, he set in motion a quest for the six great Signs of the Light that alone could save the world from domination by the last and greatest rising of the Dark.

I adore this series, and this is one of the best written books in it. I'm fascinated by Will's double nature and enjoy characters like Merriman, Hawkins. And I'll never listen to Greensleeves again without thinking a little of the chimes of doors of time, or the hint of Paul playing a very old flute.

Marvelous.

This is a sequel to Over Sea, Under Stone.

Rating:
Summary: The Dark Is Rising
Review: I read this series as a child and I remember having a little difficulty with it at the time. Certainly the books in the series "The Dark Is Rising" are excellent, but they are often prone to long lengthy descriptions that ably bore initially interested children. In this particular case, I suspect I skimmed long sections of this book when I grew bored of its long descriptive passages. The books themselves are complex. It did not surprise me that the author, Susan Cooper studied under J.R.R. Tolkien (of "Lord of the Rings" fame), and I would hasten to add that she, far more than Phillip Pullman, is his current successor. She weaves British and Celtic myth within her stories, beautifully. This book itself is a good one, rare in its kind because the protagonist (your typical pre-adolescent who learns of great powers) has a happy home life and two parent household. I can think of almost no other fantasy series where this is the case. Usually if the child DOES have two parents, one is missing and must be rescued. Not so here. Will has his own adventures and, at the same time, people he cares about who care for him. In this book there is no bully to be defeated or difficulties at school. The Dark and Light characters are well drawn and there is a depth to each and every character that I appreciate. On the whole, I would recommend these books to those kids who are adept readers. Definitely the child who has single-handedly finished a "Lord of the Rings" book will zip through this series with few problems. Harry Potter fans may also wish to graduate to a higher level with this story. Readers may wish to start with the first book in this series, "Over Sea, Under Stone", before moving on to "The Dark Is Rising".