Susan Cooper: 'The Dark Is Rising Sequence'

A modern fantasy taking on the legends of King Arthur, Cooper’s five-book series follows the adventures of five children seeking the Things of Power—a grail, a harp, and a sword—to battle the welling forces of darkness and banish them forever from the earth. The first book, Over Sea, Under Stone (published in 1965), centers on three ordinary children who travel to Cornwall on a summer holiday and uncover a kind of treasure map hidden in their guesthouse’s attic. The subsequent four books focus on Will, the seventh son of a seventh son, who discovers that he’s the last member of an ancient race of wizards who worship the Light.

What Cooper does well in these books—and especially her first one—is paint a detailed, compelling picture of the ordinary world. She captures a kind of magical childhood that’s delightful to read, and realistic protagonists who never back down, no matter the dangers or temptations. However, truly appreciating Will’s mystical education in the second book—The Dark Is Rising (published in 1974), upon which the 2007 movie is based—requires a fair knowledge of Arthurian legend. Without this knowledge, Will seems carried along by an uncontrollable destiny, and events happen to him more than he does anything useful. Another problem is that good and evil are black and white—literally. All black horses, ravens, and mink are bad, while all white dogs are good. Evil is carried through generations in the blood, such that if a father is evil then the son also will be and there is no room for sympathy or redemption. This simplistic view works in a children’s series, but it would be nice if the children were given the chance to redeem their parents’ errors, and if evil were portrayed as a little more complex.

All criticisms aside, the books are a truly compelling read. Utterly different from current children’s fantasy—the Harry Potter series, for example—they fall more into the category of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books. As contemporary classics, they’re well deserving of the title, and are attractively collected in this blue and gold edition.

Published on 4th October 2007 by Bodley Head Children's Books.

Written by W. L. Clark.