Review: The Dark is Rising (The Dark is Rising Book 2) by Susan Cooper

SiriusB Reviews Category / Book ReviewsFantasy / middle grade2 Comments

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.

Review:

“When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back, Three from the circle, three from the track; Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone; Five will return, and one go alone.”

Dear Susan Cooper,

I read this series for the first time probably ten-fifteen years ago. I was an adult, already, and I enjoyed these books even though the reading age on Amazon is listed as 10-12 years old. When our reading group decided to read this one for our monthly discussion I did not really worry that the book would feel too childish, but I still worried that I won’t like them as much as I did before.

Also, if you never read the books, this is book 2 but we followed the suggestion that this should be read first and then one can go back to book one because book one did feel as if it was written for younger readers and it seemingly deals with events unrelated to the events in this book (even if one learns eventually that everything is related).

I did not feel that the book talked down to me this time around either. I thought it was beautifully written. I thought the English landscape was very well drawn and that we could feel Will’s fear and apprehension when he encounters Dark forces and his new allies.

Presumably the book is about Will’s awakening as one of the Old Ones against the background of Dark and Light Forces fighting each other. It is also about Will doing a quest of sorts to obtain special objects to help in the fight against the Dark (a rather passive Quest, but I guess this part has to be suitable for kids to enjoy it, they have to think that they would be able to do it, to obtain these Signs).

My main problem with this story was rather unexpected. I actually do not recall whether I felt the same way when I was reading these books for the first time. I ended up thinking that Dark and Light are not different from each other, and was not sure why I should root for the Light forces to win, since both of them used and abused the regular mortal folks to make sure their side will win.  I do wonder whether this was the message author wanted to leave us with or not.

Grade: B.

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