(Much) earlier last year, Annabookbel decided to do a re-read of Susan Cooper’s wonderful “The Dark is Rising” sequence (her intro post is here), and while I was mightily tempted, I really like to start/read it over Christmas. Knowing the story fairly well, I watched and read the reviews stacking up, many by other lovely book bloggers I follow, and greatly enjoyed seeing their reactions to their read or re-read. Then Twixtmas came along and I read the first two before New Year’s Eve and the last three from 1-9 January, writing this the evening after I finished the last volume.
I last re-read all of these in early 2013, alongside Matthew, and my very short reviews are here. It was lovely re-visiting them and finding new details, coming from either my longer reading and life experience since last time, and stuff I’ve become more aware of in my reading over the years. Unfortunately the edition I have is a horrible one: Simon and Schuster went for these weird covers. And yes, those are post-it notes stuck over “Silver on the Tree” as I have a horror of the Marie Llwyd at the best of times, let alone having it prancing around on the front of the book I’m reading!
“For Drake is no longer in his hammock, children, not is Arthur somewhere sleeping, and you may not lie idly expecting the second coming of anybody now, because the world is yours and it is up to you. Now espcecially since man has the strength to destroy this world, it is the responsibility of man to keep it alive, in all its beauty and marvellous joy […] And the world will still be imperfect, because men are imperfect. Good men will still be killed by bad, or sometimes by other good men, and there will still be pain and disease and famine, anger and hate. But if you work and care and are watchful, as we have tried to be for you, then in the long run the worse will never, ever triumph over the better.” (“Silver on the Tree”, p. 272)
Susan Cooper – “Over Sea, Under Stone”
One theme I really noticed in the books this time is Jane Drew’s courage, practicality, intelligence and resourcefulness in the books in which she appears. This one starts off the sequence and finds Jane, Simon and Barney in Cornwall with their Great Uncle Merry, working out a series of clues to find a golden grail, first of a number of items of power which must be used to defeat the Dark. All three children must hold strong amidst the old magics in Cornwall; a classic children’s adventure complete with special map but with Cooper’s deep knowledge of and interest in local British folklore centring and grounding it.
“The Dark is Rising”
Possibly the one we all read first, I know I did (making OS, US more of the “Magician’s Nephew” of the sequence, chronologically first but arrived at later by readers), we meet Will Stanton, who comes into his powers as the last of the Old Ones on his 11th birthday. The midwinter setting is spooky as the world shifts and Will slides in and out of time, one minute carol singing in the old manor, the next learning his trade or interacting with other Old Ones on the Old Ways. Again steeped in British folklore, with Herne the Hunter’s wild ride as a climax, it also reaches around the world with the arrival of a carnival head via Will’s brother. As with the first book, the story is also rooted in the real family relationships of the large set of Stantons, which gives it both a familiarity and an edge of horror. Will’s friend and protector, Merriman, is there to guide him but he’s also pretty well on his own.
“Greenwitch”
In this one, the Drews and Will meet and we find out Merriman is Great Uncle Merry. We’re back in Cornwall and the folk figure the women of the village make is central to the plot, as is good old Jane and her compassion for the sacred object. This time, this one was also notable for a compassionate and perceptive comment her American aunty makes about the destruction of Indigenous American customs by tourism. Jane doesn’t only commune with the Greenwitch; she notices the most important thing about a weird artist who is hanging around. Well done, Jane!
“The Grey King”
Will is on holiday in Wales, recovering from an attack of hepatitis that has also blurred his memory of his quest and Old One identity. He meets the pale-haired local boy, Bran, his albinism seen as weirdness at best, who it’s apparent has his own separate special identity and quest. This has the awful bit about Bran’s dog which is hard to bear, as they come into conflict with magic giant grey foxes and a local farmer who has gone over to the Dark. I like this one, although Will’s quest in the mountain where he magically knows what to do doesn’t feel as satisfying as when things have to be worked out (this is improved in the last novel). The Welsh lore is enticing here.
“Silver on the Tree”
The longest of the novels, and everyone comes together, with Bran and the Drew children having to learn to work together quickly. Each member of the group has their own quest and challenge, each picking up on what they are most afraid of. Unfortunately for Bran, it’s the skeleton ‘obby ‘oss or Marie Llwyd (also a feature in Kent and Cornwall, hooray) which he was terrified to screaming nightmares by as a child and which this book terrified me to screaming nightmares of when I first read it! There are buried lands, figures from Welsh myth and history, magical towers and riddles a-plenty, a Narnia-like train full of Old Ones and figures from all the other books and a heart-breaking decision to be made by an ordinary mortal man.
There’s an interesting point in this one near the beginning, where Will and his brother Stephen encounter a Sikh boy being bullied by some White thugs; I watched for this carefully as other reviewers had questioned its relevance to the book, but as well as working in some “We’re here because you were there” anti-colonialism, it is making the point that it’s through bigotry and blind hatred that the forces of the Dark find a channel to affect the world, and Merriman’s speech at the end, quoted above, links round to this, I feel.
What a wonderful and thoroughly enjoyable re-read, although I seem to find these more scary each time I read them: I had to sit up late to finish “The Grey King” so as to resolve it and not have bad dreams! Thank you Annabel for running the readalong and all the other reviewers who did far more detailed reviews than these!
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