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The Dark Is Rising #5
Silver on the Tree
The Dark is rising in its last and greatest bid to control the world. And Will Stanton -- last-born of the immortal Old Ones, dedicated to keeping the world free -- must join forces with this ageless master Merriman and Bran, the Welsh boy whose destiny ties him to the Light. Drawn in with them are the three Drew children, who are mortal, but have their own vital part in the story. These six fight fear and death in the darkly brooding Welsh hills, in a quest through time and space that touches the most ancient myths of the British Isles, and that brings Susan Cooper's masterful sequence of novels to a satisfying close.
274 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
About the author
Susan Cooper
90 books2,339 followersSusan Cooper's latest book is the YA novel "Ghost Hawk" (2013)
Susan Cooper was born in 1935, and grew up in England's Buckinghamshire, an area that was green countryside then but has since become part of Greater London. As a child, she loved to read, as did her younger brother, who also became a writer. After attending Oxford, where she became the first woman to ever edit that university's newspaper, Cooper worked as a reporter and feature writer for London's Sunday Times; her first boss was James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
Cooper wrote her first book for young readers in response to a publishing house competition; "Over Sea, Under Stone" would later form the basis for her critically acclaimed five-book fantasy sequence, "The Dark Is Rising." The fourth book in the series, "The Grey King," won the Newbery Medal in 1976. By that time, Susan Cooper had been living in America for 13 years, having moved to marry her first husband, an American professor, and was stepmother to three children and the mother of two.
Cooper went on to write other well-received novels, including "The Boggart" (and its sequel "The Boggart and the Monster"), "King of Shadows", and "Victory," as well as several picture books for young readers with illustrators such as Ashley Bryan and Warwick Hutton. She has also written books for adults, as well as plays and Emmy-nominated screenplays, many in collaboration with the actor Hume Cronyn, whom she married in 1996. Hume Cronyn died in 2003 and Ms. Cooper now lives in Marshfield MA. When Cooper is not working, she enjoys playing piano, gardening, and traveling.
Recent books include the collaborative project "The Exquisite Corpse Adventure" and her biography of Jack Langstaff titled "The Magic Maker." Her newest book is "Ghost Hawk."
Visit her Facebook pages: www.facebook.com/SusanCooperFanPage
www.facebook.com/GhostHawkBySusanCooper
Susan Cooper was born in 1935, and grew up in England's Buckinghamshire, an area that was green countryside then but has since become part of Greater London. As a child, she loved to read, as did her younger brother, who also became a writer. After attending Oxford, where she became the first woman to ever edit that university's newspaper, Cooper worked as a reporter and feature writer for London's Sunday Times; her first boss was James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
Cooper wrote her first book for young readers in response to a publishing house competition; "Over Sea, Under Stone" would later form the basis for her critically acclaimed five-book fantasy sequence, "The Dark Is Rising." The fourth book in the series, "The Grey King," won the Newbery Medal in 1976. By that time, Susan Cooper had been living in America for 13 years, having moved to marry her first husband, an American professor, and was stepmother to three children and the mother of two.
Cooper went on to write other well-received novels, including "The Boggart" (and its sequel "The Boggart and the Monster"), "King of Shadows", and "Victory," as well as several picture books for young readers with illustrators such as Ashley Bryan and Warwick Hutton. She has also written books for adults, as well as plays and Emmy-nominated screenplays, many in collaboration with the actor Hume Cronyn, whom she married in 1996. Hume Cronyn died in 2003 and Ms. Cooper now lives in Marshfield MA. When Cooper is not working, she enjoys playing piano, gardening, and traveling.
Recent books include the collaborative project "The Exquisite Corpse Adventure" and her biography of Jack Langstaff titled "The Magic Maker." Her newest book is "Ghost Hawk."
Visit her Facebook pages: www.facebook.com/SusanCooperFanPage
www.facebook.com/GhostHawkBySusanCooper
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 984 reviews
October 6, 2018
an excellent finale for a smashing series. I particularly appreciated how the chapters alternated between magical duo Will & Bran and the resolutely "normal" Drew children, showing their differing reactions to the Rising. everything comes together nicely in the end. special shout-out to a superb new villain: The White Rider! *swoon* yes, I'm swooning for an infernal, chaos-loving, completely dastardly Lord of the Dark. The White Rider gave me some wonderful chills, especially during the train ride reveal.
for me:
The Dark Is Rising > The Grey King > Silver on the Tree > Greenwitch > Over Sea, Under Stone
different ratings for different books; overall the series is 5 stars. a favorite among all of the series I've read. I found that in my 2nd and sometimes 3rd reread that my feelings about the individual novels have pretty much stayed the same.
there's enough excellent reviews out there for this book that I'm not sure I have much more to say. except one thing, in response to my friend Alex who made a comment on an earlier book's review thread. the comment was basically sharing their dislike of a scene in this book where Will and members of his family stick up for a bullied Indian child and then face off against the bully's smiling racist of a father. the dislike is understandable: Alex felt it was yet another example of white people rescuing poor lil' brown people.
this brown person (tan, really) begs to differ! they are quite far from being condescending throwaway scenes, ones created only to illustrate the Stanton family's essential goodness. in many ways, these scenes are the heart and the point of the whole series. specifically, what is causing The Dark to rise at this point in human history?
we've had hints in prior books about a previous Rising, and in this book we have the whole story: that Rising was the brutal incursion of Vikings and the wholesale slaughter of those that they came across; the whispers of The Dark are behind those invasions, making those particular incursions different from other such atrocities. in that first Rising, the idea is that humans have become inured to slaughtering other humans, and The Dark has taken advantage of that tendency and turned it into a blank apathy or a mindless cruelty. a disinterest in anything besides slaughter.
this modern Rising is different, except for its basic mindlessness and blankness, cruelty and apathy. those things are not necessarily transformed into atrocity. that mindless apathy and blank cruelty instead become a new sort of tool and weapon for The Dark: namely, the complacent and knee-jerk rejection of difference - as embodied by attitudes towards immigrants from exploited former colonial territories - and the tendency to reject that difference without empathy or any attempt to understand those immigrants' context and England's role in creating that context. this is a political point and a comment on human nature that Cooper is explicitly making. it is important to recognize that point if the reader truly wants to understand what Cooper is describing as a modern evil. indeed, this evil is the very source of how the dark is able to spread, and to rise.
sorta relevant for today's world too, eh?
for me:
The Dark Is Rising > The Grey King > Silver on the Tree > Greenwitch > Over Sea, Under Stone
different ratings for different books; overall the series is 5 stars. a favorite among all of the series I've read. I found that in my 2nd and sometimes 3rd reread that my feelings about the individual novels have pretty much stayed the same.
there's enough excellent reviews out there for this book that I'm not sure I have much more to say. except one thing, in response to my friend Alex who made a comment on an earlier book's review thread. the comment was basically sharing their dislike of a scene in this book where Will and members of his family stick up for a bullied Indian child and then face off against the bully's smiling racist of a father. the dislike is understandable: Alex felt it was yet another example of white people rescuing poor lil' brown people.
this brown person (tan, really) begs to differ! they are quite far from being condescending throwaway scenes, ones created only to illustrate the Stanton family's essential goodness. in many ways, these scenes are the heart and the point of the whole series. specifically, what is causing The Dark to rise at this point in human history?
we've had hints in prior books about a previous Rising, and in this book we have the whole story: that Rising was the brutal incursion of Vikings and the wholesale slaughter of those that they came across; the whispers of The Dark are behind those invasions, making those particular incursions different from other such atrocities. in that first Rising, the idea is that humans have become inured to slaughtering other humans, and The Dark has taken advantage of that tendency and turned it into a blank apathy or a mindless cruelty. a disinterest in anything besides slaughter.
this modern Rising is different, except for its basic mindlessness and blankness, cruelty and apathy. those things are not necessarily transformed into atrocity. that mindless apathy and blank cruelty instead become a new sort of tool and weapon for The Dark: namely, the complacent and knee-jerk rejection of difference - as embodied by attitudes towards immigrants from exploited former colonial territories - and the tendency to reject that difference without empathy or any attempt to understand those immigrants' context and England's role in creating that context. this is a political point and a comment on human nature that Cooper is explicitly making. it is important to recognize that point if the reader truly wants to understand what Cooper is describing as a modern evil. indeed, this evil is the very source of how the dark is able to spread, and to rise.
sorta relevant for today's world too, eh?
September 11, 2013
Fire on the mountain shall find the harp of gold
Played to wake the Sleepers, oldest of the old;
Power from the green witch, lost beneath the sea;
All shall find the Light at last, silver on the tree.
This was my Harry Potter, you kids.
It is still magic.
September 2013 reread
I still remember the day in fifth grade, many, many years ago, when the school librarian told me that the book I'd been waiting for was in. Silver on the Tree, the fifth and final volume in Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising sequence.
It was this cover:
I had torn through the first four books. (I think I read the first one, Over Sea, Under Stone, out of order the first time, which was okay because it's kind of a prequel to the rest of the series.) With the second one, The Dark is Rising, I was hooked. For some reason I had to wait for the fifth book, though. When the librarian handed it to me, I was thrilled... but also sad. I remember that distinctly. I was sad, because I was about to read the last book and then it would be over.
I remember loving this concluding volume, but also feeling such sadness when I was finished because the series was over.
I haven't felt anything like that since, until a few years ago when I read the entire Harry Potter series in a month. While the feelings were not as strong because I'm older and more jaded, and while I can certainly recognize Rowling's flaws as a writer, the fact that Harry and his friends in their silly boy wizard fantasy world managed to conjure some of the same emotions I once felt as a ten-year-old is the reason why I credit Rowling with having created something truly timeless and special, even if I can point to a dozen fantasy series that are objectively better-written. I don't know what that "special sauce" is in a children's book series that makes it transcend plot and prose and curl literary fingers around your heart, but Rowling had it, and Susan Cooper had it.
Now, I am not much of a rereader. I almost never reread books. I understand a lot of people reread their favorite books often. There are people who boast of reading the entire Harry Potter series a dozen times. (I read them each once. That's it.) It's a habit I just don't get, even if I realize I am the unusual one. To my way of thinking, there are thousands of books I'd like to read and will never get to before I die, so why waste one of the finite "reading slots" allotted to me in my lifetime to a book I've already read?
Still, now and then I do reread something, usually something I read so long ago I've forgotten it. Maybe in twenty or thirty years I will reread Harry Potter.
Over the past year, I cautiously and with some trepidation approached my favorite childhood series once again. Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising. I was afraid the series I loved so much as a child would be a pale, childish shadow when read as an adult who's read thousands of books since. I've read the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings (well, I lie, I have never read the LotR all the way through, I need to do that one of these days) and lots of other fantasy, MG and YA and adult and grimdark. So nothing can be as new and fresh for me as Susan Cooper's books were when I first read them, nor as tragic.
I didn't want to find out that they just weren't that special, though.
To be honest, I enjoyed them on my reread, but yes, I'm an adult now and these books are written for children, so they just didn't enthrall me the way they did when I was ten. A fine series, and great, descriptive, evocative writing — Susan Cooper is so much better than J.K. Rowling when it comes to putting words on the page and imagery in your head.
But until the last book, it was a pleasant nostalgia trip, but as I expected, they have aged perfectly well but they have aged.
Then I got to the last few chapters of Silver on the Tree. And... it wasn't quite the same. Not quite. But I felt it again. That ten-year-old inside me remembers.
Silver on the Tree relates the final battle between the Dark and the Light. It brings together all the characters who have been serving the cause of the Light throughout the first four books, sometimes together and sometimes separately: the Drew children, Jane, Simon, and Barney; Will Stanton, the last of the Old Ones, simultaneously a pre-adolescent boy and an immortal wizard with all the magical knowledge of the ages at his command; Bran, the albino boy taken out of time to fulfill a destiny set for him a thousand years earlier; and Merriman, of course.
The Dark Rider returns too, along with a White Rider, and all the other forces of the Dark. Susan Cooper didn't write a plot so full of crafty easter eggs as Rowling did, but like Rowling, she will make use in the last book of things mentioned in all the preceding ones. Will and Bran have to go on a quest that resounds with Celto-Arthurian mythology, and the Drew children have their own mortal part to play. All that was fun and splendid and rich, that alone would have made this the best book of the series.
But the ending — in which there is love and loss and sacrifice on a scale that probably only J.R.R. Tolkien or CS Lewis have approached in children's literature. Definitely not Rowling. I'm sorry, killing an owl and a Weasley or two is cheap tear-jerking. But the part that John Rowlands plays in the final confrontation, even after learning the truth about his wife, was about as intense as a ten-year-old reader could probably have grasped, when conveying adult feelings of grief and loss. Followed by the arrival of the King, and Bran's decision, and then... Will, left alone with the Drews, and what they lose as well.
It's a happy ending - the good guys win, of course. And Susan Cooper's finale is more bloodless than Rowling's. There's hardly any actual bloodshed throughout the series; for all that the Dark is the manifestation of everything evil and selfish in the human heart, the child protagonists are always protected by "rules" that limit when the forces at war can do direct harm.
But it's a very bittersweet victory. You can see them walking off into the sunset, and know that it's over.
5 stars for the child in everyone's heart.
February 8, 2017
This was a disappointing end to a disappointing series. "It's all too... vague," says Jane at one point, at the start of yet another random adventure, a sentiment that unfortunately applies to the whole of The Dark Is Rising sequence.
I don't even know where to begin, so I'll start with the same criticisms I had with the other four books: no explanation about how all the magic works and overuse of capitalized words that signify nothing. Now, there is a little speech Will gives at the beginning of this book about how there are the Old Magic, Wild Magic, and High Magic, and how there are two "poles" (the Light and the Dark) and how the Old Ones are there to keep the Dark at bay, etc. But this is a summing up of rather than an out and out explanation. There's no exploration of the myriad things they can or cannot do, seemingly dictated by what is needed by the plot. There doesn't seem to be any set rules by which all this magic is governed, and any new magic is introduced to fit the plot and isn't really revisited again.
Questions! I have so many questions that I know now will never be answered, such as:
-What does it mean when Will's scar burns?
-Why do Will and Merriman shout at each other in loud situations when they can easily use their telepathy?
-Why does Will have trouble learning Welsh in "The Grey King" when in "Silver on the Tree" it says that learning a new language (in this case Latin) "came without effort to an Old One, as did any language of the world..." (Chapter 3: The Calling).
-Why do bunches of twigs from 7 different trees make magic grenades?
-If the Drew kids are so important to the whole saving the world adventure, why are they continually kept in the dark about what's going on?
-Why is the Lady so weak throughout the whole series, and yet when the Dark issues a challenge to the High Magic court of law (I KID YOU NOT!) she appears as if nothing were wrong with her and helps officiate?
-Why would there be a freaking courtroom scene right in the middle of the buildup to the end battle? As in, both sides are racing to the battlefield and boom! court scene?
-Why do the Dark and the Light follow what the High Magic court says when Will himself earlier said "No other power orders them"?
-Why was there a slight rewrite about what happened when the six Signs were joined? What Will remembers here is different that what happened in the 2nd book.
-Why would the revealing of a "mole" be shocking here when the character was really barely introduced in this volume and exists only for a few pages of the whole saga?
-Why would anyone think this is as good or better than Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Narnia, or His Dark Materials?
I could go on, but my point is made. The writing and descriptions are well done, the story imaginative, but it's all for naught if the details are lacking and the plot is weak. Even the philosophical underpinnings are contradictory and muddled. I don't recommend this for anyone above the age of 12. There are far better thought out and sophisticated books and series out there than the Dark Is Rising's simplistic approach to everything.
I don't even know where to begin, so I'll start with the same criticisms I had with the other four books: no explanation about how all the magic works and overuse of capitalized words that signify nothing. Now, there is a little speech Will gives at the beginning of this book about how there are the Old Magic, Wild Magic, and High Magic, and how there are two "poles" (the Light and the Dark) and how the Old Ones are there to keep the Dark at bay, etc. But this is a summing up of rather than an out and out explanation. There's no exploration of the myriad things they can or cannot do, seemingly dictated by what is needed by the plot. There doesn't seem to be any set rules by which all this magic is governed, and any new magic is introduced to fit the plot and isn't really revisited again.
Questions! I have so many questions that I know now will never be answered, such as:
-What does it mean when Will's scar burns?
-Why do Will and Merriman shout at each other in loud situations when they can easily use their telepathy?
-Why does Will have trouble learning Welsh in "The Grey King" when in "Silver on the Tree" it says that learning a new language (in this case Latin) "came without effort to an Old One, as did any language of the world..." (Chapter 3: The Calling).
-Why do bunches of twigs from 7 different trees make magic grenades?
-If the Drew kids are so important to the whole saving the world adventure, why are they continually kept in the dark about what's going on?
-You must do what I say or something bad will happen.
-Okay, what do I have to do?
-I can't tell you that.
-Why?
-Can't tell you that either.
-Why is the Lady so weak throughout the whole series, and yet when the Dark issues a challenge to the High Magic court of law (I KID YOU NOT!) she appears as if nothing were wrong with her and helps officiate?
-Why would there be a freaking courtroom scene right in the middle of the buildup to the end battle? As in, both sides are racing to the battlefield and boom! court scene?
-Why do the Dark and the Light follow what the High Magic court says when Will himself earlier said "No other power orders them"?
-Why was there a slight rewrite about what happened when the six Signs were joined? What Will remembers here is different that what happened in the 2nd book.
-Why would the revealing of a "mole" be shocking here when the character was really barely introduced in this volume and exists only for a few pages of the whole saga?
-Why would anyone think this is as good or better than Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Narnia, or His Dark Materials?
I could go on, but my point is made. The writing and descriptions are well done, the story imaginative, but it's all for naught if the details are lacking and the plot is weak. Even the philosophical underpinnings are contradictory and muddled. I don't recommend this for anyone above the age of 12. There are far better thought out and sophisticated books and series out there than the Dark Is Rising's simplistic approach to everything.
-So, what's my job as an Old One?
-You, and only you, can find the objects needed to vanquish the enemy.
-Okay, where is the first one?
-Everywhere and nowhere. Here and there. In This Time and Out of Time.
-....
-(pointing) It's over there.
-Oh, there it is. That was easy.
-You did have to get a chair to reach up there.
-I guess.
-Okay, so the Five of us are here.
-Shouldn't there be Six of us?
-Shut up, that doesn't matter right now.
-You don't have to be rude.
-That's the way it is with us Old Ones.
-So where's this thing we're supposed to find?
-I haven't said that part yet!
-Sorry. Go ahead.
-I'll say it when I want to, not when you tell me. (pause) Okay, so we have to find this hidden object.
-Where?
-I dunno. All I have is this mysterious riddle. "Find the thing you're looking for somewhere that isn't here."
-What kind of riddle is that? Everywhere else is somewhere that isn't here.
-Well lets start looking then. (pointing) Let's start over there.
-Omigod, it's right there!
-Whew! That was really hard.
-No it wasn't. We found it in the first place we looked.
-You know, it's a good thing you won't remember any of this when we're done.
-Okay, so I'm a normal human child. What do I have to do to defeat the Dark?
-Tsk child, there's no such thing.
-But you just told me there was. There's a Dark and a Light, and the Light is good and the Dark is bad.
-(waving his hand in the air) Forget everything child, you are just a human who can't handle knowing these things.
-Who the eff are you? Obi Wan?
-I said forget!!
-Forget what?
-Good. Now, we have a very important thing to do.
-What?
-We must find... a hidden object.
-Why?
-Because if We don't find it... They will.
-Who's they?
-They! With a capital T!
-Okay... who are They?
-They are the Dark. We are the Light.
-I thought I wasn't supposed to know that.
-When it's convenient for me. Now go find it!
-So, the end battle, is it gonna be totally rad and violent and epic?
-It sure is!
-There's six of us. Well, actually seven, maybe eight, but whatever. What's our role? What's gonna make us beat the Dark? The magic sword? The six magic signs? The albino kid? Merlin? The old broad?
-No. Well yes, but not really.
-So... what?
-Well, we're gonna pick a flower.
-Say what?
-It's a totally magical flower though. On a totally magic tree.
-We need seven people and a magical lady to do this?
-Yes.
-Really?
-Yes.
-Really really?
-Yes! We need the sword to cut the flower.
-So, any one of us could do this.
-No, only the albino kid can use the sword. The rest of us have to help keep the Dark away.
-How?
-We'll stand around the tree holding the Signs.
-Oh. We can't just put them around the tree?
-No.
-We have to hold them? One per Sign?
-Yup.
-Why?
-....because.
September 27, 2009
I remember loving these books as a child but I had forgotten how much I skipped over. Re-reading childhood favorites is dangerous, but in the case of the Dark Is Rising books, you really should not do it.
What I loved was the Drew children, because Stone Over Sea is a wonderful book and I kept reading to get more of them. But everything having to do with Will Stanton was so outrageously irritating, I nearly didn't finish the fifth book, Silver on the Tree. Good lord. He magically gets all these outrageous powers with no effort, then is a rarefied Old One and crucial to the survival of the world.
First off, I hate it when people get superpowers without any cost. Second, Will is boring. He just is. He doesn't have to fight for anything. Third, his powers are awfully convenient, or inconvenient, and that's just annoying. Every E. Nesbit book is infinitely more careful about powers and rules and costs than these books.
Silver On the Tree was the worst offender, followed closely by The Dark Is Rising, for being full of convoluted and nonsensical challenges and mysterious labyrinths of guesswork. About fifty pages of Silver on the Tree, the part in the Lost Lands, could have been cut out with no discernible loss.
I went back to read these because of my own writing in YA, and I did learn a lot, but I never expected so much of it to be what not to do! I learned a tremendous amount about writing terror in children. Stone Over Sea is completely terrifying, Barney and Jane and Simon constantly in situations far beyond their understanding or capabilities. But that is nearly always human danger, danger from recognizable human sources, even when those are driven by the Dark.
When the danger is oversized and silly, it's impossible to grasp, like the absurd Tethys and the bellowing Greenwitch, who just become bizarre and almost laughable in Greenwitch, after a very promising beginning with an extremely frightening figure made of branches and leaves. Whereas by far the most terrifying thing to me in the whole series was the farmer who shot Bran's beautiful dog. I'm still in shock from that.
So when I write YA with supernatural elements, I want to be sure to keep my evil and my danger located firmly in the human. The supernatural is always a metaphor, somehow, isn't it? The supernatural Dark should stand for the darkness within us, not the other way around.
What I loved was the Drew children, because Stone Over Sea is a wonderful book and I kept reading to get more of them. But everything having to do with Will Stanton was so outrageously irritating, I nearly didn't finish the fifth book, Silver on the Tree. Good lord. He magically gets all these outrageous powers with no effort, then is a rarefied Old One and crucial to the survival of the world.
First off, I hate it when people get superpowers without any cost. Second, Will is boring. He just is. He doesn't have to fight for anything. Third, his powers are awfully convenient, or inconvenient, and that's just annoying. Every E. Nesbit book is infinitely more careful about powers and rules and costs than these books.
Silver On the Tree was the worst offender, followed closely by The Dark Is Rising, for being full of convoluted and nonsensical challenges and mysterious labyrinths of guesswork. About fifty pages of Silver on the Tree, the part in the Lost Lands, could have been cut out with no discernible loss.
I went back to read these because of my own writing in YA, and I did learn a lot, but I never expected so much of it to be what not to do! I learned a tremendous amount about writing terror in children. Stone Over Sea is completely terrifying, Barney and Jane and Simon constantly in situations far beyond their understanding or capabilities. But that is nearly always human danger, danger from recognizable human sources, even when those are driven by the Dark.
When the danger is oversized and silly, it's impossible to grasp, like the absurd Tethys and the bellowing Greenwitch, who just become bizarre and almost laughable in Greenwitch, after a very promising beginning with an extremely frightening figure made of branches and leaves. Whereas by far the most terrifying thing to me in the whole series was the farmer who shot Bran's beautiful dog. I'm still in shock from that.
So when I write YA with supernatural elements, I want to be sure to keep my evil and my danger located firmly in the human. The supernatural is always a metaphor, somehow, isn't it? The supernatural Dark should stand for the darkness within us, not the other way around.
May 16, 2016
Cooper's prose, as always, is gorgeous, and her flair for imagery is enviable, but this final volume in the Dark is Rising sequence disappoints as a novel. The first four volumes were nothing but buildup - and this is nothing but buildup too, until five pages from the end.
Like books two, three, and four, there are random time travelling scenes, but here they muddle the plot instead of moving it along.
None of the characters have particularly vivid personalities, but the Drew siblings - especially Jane - always felt more real then Will or Bran, both of whom suffer from severe Designated Protagonist Syndrome. Will has no personality, and Bran just wanders over the mountains sulking except when the plot forces him to act noble - basically a pubescent, Welsh Mr. Rochester. So naturally, the bulk of the book follows Will and Bran doing big important hero things that the lowly Drews are shut out of.
This is a pet peeve of mine in fantasy lit - magical elite shutting ordinary people out of the conflict, fully or partially, "for their own protection," even when they are owed an honest and complete explanation for all the scary things happening around them. At least Bran, Will, and Merriman have the decency not to look down on the Drews or John Rowlands, which is more than can be said of their literary descendants - Jace and the Lightwoods in The Mortal Instruments, Annabeth in Percy Jackson, and pretty much everybody in Harry Potter. Lewis and Tolkien had neither taste nor tolerance for this fantastic gnosticism, which must inevitably lead to fantastic racism. More on them later.
The book also assumes some - nay, a great deal - of previous knowledge of Welsh mythology and history. One can tell there is some sort of deep unspoken significance in every person, place and thing in this story - but good luck deducing WHAT they mean unless you're an expert on Arthuriana and/or Wales. Not that these plot devices are bad at all, per se - Lewis and Lemony Snicket both employ a lot of literary and classical references that go straight over most kids' heads. But in both those cases, the story can still be enjoyed on a surface level without understanding those references. Not the case with TDiR. I was confused for most of the book. Here are some things that confused me:
- The Lady calling Jane "Juno." The Lady, full stop. Is she supposed to be some kind of goddess or "sacred feminine" archetype? If so, is Jane meant to be some sort of avatar? And why bother establishing this psychic bond between the two when Jane is allowed so small a role in the story?
- Mrs. Rowlands was the White Rider all along. Um, how? And why?
- What is the Lost Land? The timelessness of it suggests Camelot, but most of the details would then be wrong.
Other flaws:
- The whole Lost Land episode does nothing for the plot, and everything important that happened in it could have been covered in one chapter.
- The scene with King Gwyddno is almost a rip-off of King Theoden's redemption in The Lord of the Rings. Not nearly as spectacular, though. Later I'll elaborate on why I think that's the case.
- Taliesin - or Gwion, whatever - was portrayed a lot better in A String in the Harp. Here he does nothing and adds nothing.
- The Drews are literally only there to fill the number of people from the prophecy. In fairness, Jane gets to talk to the Lady because she's a girl, and Barney gets kidnapped. (Barney gets kidnapped in every book he appears in). Simon might as well have been on holiday.
- I've shipped Will/Jane since Greenwitch, and that went nowhere. There's a few hints here of Bran/Jane, but that doesn't go anywhere either, because both boys have far too much Very Important Marty Stu business to attend to.
- There is literally no humor in this book. Actually, after some light touches in Over Sea, Under Stone, there's no humor in the entire series.
- I HATE the "convenient memory wipe" device wherever and whenever it appears...which leads me to my final point...
Susan Cooper has been compared to J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, not necessarily for her prose (which is great indeed) but for her "moral vision" of the "sweeping conflict of good and evil" (Psychology Today). I would dispute this claim.
In fact, Cooper doesn't even well-define the difference between the Light and the Dark. One is good and the other evil mostly because they say so. The Light is marginally more ethical than the Dark, but both sides lie and trick people and WIPE PEOPLE'S MEMORIES and keep secrets from those people even when those people are in great danger and have every right to know exactly what is going on.
The good guys in Middle-earth and Narnia do not deal in these kinds of shenanigans. They don't use deceit, even when we'd all forgive them for it. Everybody - even apparently powerless people like the hobbits and the Pevensie kids- are kept well-informed. And they are allowed to KEEP THEIR MEMORIES, even the scary ones.
The idea that there's a High Magic above and beyond good and evil would be deeply repellent to either Jack or Tollers, but Cooper uses it.
There is no Illuvatar or Aslan here, in case you were wondering.
The reason for the difference:
Tolkien and Lewis wrote from a deeply believed Christian worldview. Christianity believes that good is actually much more powerful than evil, and that simple people - mortals, children, and hobbits, if you will - have just as much a right to participate in history as the learned, powerful, and great.
Cooper's worldview, going by these books, is Manichean and Gnostic. Manicheanism is the belief that good and evil are equally matched and equally ruthless. Gnosticism is the belief that only super-special-snowflake people deserve to know the whole truth of things, and the stupid uninitiated are better off unenlightened.
This worldview can also be found, in varying degrees, in most children's and YA fantasy of the last few decades - obviously and obnoxiously in the works of Philip Pullman, J.K. Rowling, Stephanie Meyer, Christopher Paolini, Rick Riordan, and Cassandra Clare, all of whom use it in much more offensive ways than Cooper. It is amusingly turned on its head by Terry Pratchett in the Tiffany Aching novels, and deconstructed by Jonathan Stroud in the Bartimaeus Sequence.
So why is this Manicheanism/Gnosticism a problem? Because it subliminally tells kids that they have to be part of a secret, glamorous elite in order to be successful or even worthwhile. That to be ordinary is to be a loser. That simplicity is bad.
Pound this idea repeatedly into a young, impressionable mind and it can create all kinds of problems - most of which are related to narcissism.
I'll stick with Lewis and Tolkien, thanks. I'm on Aslan's side even if there's no Aslan to lead it.
Like books two, three, and four, there are random time travelling scenes, but here they muddle the plot instead of moving it along.
None of the characters have particularly vivid personalities, but the Drew siblings - especially Jane - always felt more real then Will or Bran, both of whom suffer from severe Designated Protagonist Syndrome. Will has no personality, and Bran just wanders over the mountains sulking except when the plot forces him to act noble - basically a pubescent, Welsh Mr. Rochester. So naturally, the bulk of the book follows Will and Bran doing big important hero things that the lowly Drews are shut out of.
This is a pet peeve of mine in fantasy lit - magical elite shutting ordinary people out of the conflict, fully or partially, "for their own protection," even when they are owed an honest and complete explanation for all the scary things happening around them. At least Bran, Will, and Merriman have the decency not to look down on the Drews or John Rowlands, which is more than can be said of their literary descendants - Jace and the Lightwoods in The Mortal Instruments, Annabeth in Percy Jackson, and pretty much everybody in Harry Potter. Lewis and Tolkien had neither taste nor tolerance for this fantastic gnosticism, which must inevitably lead to fantastic racism. More on them later.
The book also assumes some - nay, a great deal - of previous knowledge of Welsh mythology and history. One can tell there is some sort of deep unspoken significance in every person, place and thing in this story - but good luck deducing WHAT they mean unless you're an expert on Arthuriana and/or Wales. Not that these plot devices are bad at all, per se - Lewis and Lemony Snicket both employ a lot of literary and classical references that go straight over most kids' heads. But in both those cases, the story can still be enjoyed on a surface level without understanding those references. Not the case with TDiR. I was confused for most of the book. Here are some things that confused me:
- The Lady calling Jane "Juno." The Lady, full stop. Is she supposed to be some kind of goddess or "sacred feminine" archetype? If so, is Jane meant to be some sort of avatar? And why bother establishing this psychic bond between the two when Jane is allowed so small a role in the story?
- Mrs. Rowlands was the White Rider all along. Um, how? And why?
- What is the Lost Land? The timelessness of it suggests Camelot, but most of the details would then be wrong.
Other flaws:
- The whole Lost Land episode does nothing for the plot, and everything important that happened in it could have been covered in one chapter.
- The scene with King Gwyddno is almost a rip-off of King Theoden's redemption in The Lord of the Rings. Not nearly as spectacular, though. Later I'll elaborate on why I think that's the case.
- Taliesin - or Gwion, whatever - was portrayed a lot better in A String in the Harp. Here he does nothing and adds nothing.
- The Drews are literally only there to fill the number of people from the prophecy. In fairness, Jane gets to talk to the Lady because she's a girl, and Barney gets kidnapped. (Barney gets kidnapped in every book he appears in). Simon might as well have been on holiday.
- I've shipped Will/Jane since Greenwitch, and that went nowhere. There's a few hints here of Bran/Jane, but that doesn't go anywhere either, because both boys have far too much Very Important Marty Stu business to attend to.
- There is literally no humor in this book. Actually, after some light touches in Over Sea, Under Stone, there's no humor in the entire series.
- I HATE the "convenient memory wipe" device wherever and whenever it appears...which leads me to my final point...
Susan Cooper has been compared to J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, not necessarily for her prose (which is great indeed) but for her "moral vision" of the "sweeping conflict of good and evil" (Psychology Today). I would dispute this claim.
In fact, Cooper doesn't even well-define the difference between the Light and the Dark. One is good and the other evil mostly because they say so. The Light is marginally more ethical than the Dark, but both sides lie and trick people and WIPE PEOPLE'S MEMORIES and keep secrets from those people even when those people are in great danger and have every right to know exactly what is going on.
The good guys in Middle-earth and Narnia do not deal in these kinds of shenanigans. They don't use deceit, even when we'd all forgive them for it. Everybody - even apparently powerless people like the hobbits and the Pevensie kids- are kept well-informed. And they are allowed to KEEP THEIR MEMORIES, even the scary ones.
The idea that there's a High Magic above and beyond good and evil would be deeply repellent to either Jack or Tollers, but Cooper uses it.
There is no Illuvatar or Aslan here, in case you were wondering.
The reason for the difference:
Tolkien and Lewis wrote from a deeply believed Christian worldview. Christianity believes that good is actually much more powerful than evil, and that simple people - mortals, children, and hobbits, if you will - have just as much a right to participate in history as the learned, powerful, and great.
Cooper's worldview, going by these books, is Manichean and Gnostic. Manicheanism is the belief that good and evil are equally matched and equally ruthless. Gnosticism is the belief that only super-special-snowflake people deserve to know the whole truth of things, and the stupid uninitiated are better off unenlightened.
This worldview can also be found, in varying degrees, in most children's and YA fantasy of the last few decades - obviously and obnoxiously in the works of Philip Pullman, J.K. Rowling, Stephanie Meyer, Christopher Paolini, Rick Riordan, and Cassandra Clare, all of whom use it in much more offensive ways than Cooper. It is amusingly turned on its head by Terry Pratchett in the Tiffany Aching novels, and deconstructed by Jonathan Stroud in the Bartimaeus Sequence.
So why is this Manicheanism/Gnosticism a problem? Because it subliminally tells kids that they have to be part of a secret, glamorous elite in order to be successful or even worthwhile. That to be ordinary is to be a loser. That simplicity is bad.
Pound this idea repeatedly into a young, impressionable mind and it can create all kinds of problems - most of which are related to narcissism.
I'll stick with Lewis and Tolkien, thanks. I'm on Aslan's side even if there's no Aslan to lead it.
April 17, 2015
Well, this was exceedingly disappointing.
Silver on the Tree encapsulates and highlights every single thing that was frustrating about the series as a whole: the vagueness of the plot, the lack of any real sense of danger (considering that the Dark!is!Rising!), the quests that are not really quests and are more like stumbling unto Things, the overwhelming sense that everything is pre-ordained even though everybody talks about free will, the lack of any character development, the romantic obsession with King Arthur.
Actually, I am still not really sure what exactly the Dark is. How is it Rising. What would happen if they did. I mean, I understand in theory because evil is something we all know about but I do not think this was transplanted into the pages that well – it almost feels like there is a reliance on pre-knowledge of tropes and ideas and because of this a lot of the world-building, if we can even call it that, is merely glossed over.
Speaking of the Dark and of Evil. There is one particular moment in this book that gave me cause for pause. The Drews witness a young boy being attacked because he is Indian. It is a very in-your-face moment that is later revealed to be a sign that the Dark is indeed rising – as though racism is a result of magical evil and not a social construct. Does this mean that now that the Dark has not risen, there will no longer be racism in the world? I’d say this is not the intention here because the idea that humans can be both good and bad and have free will is reinforced throughout but then I ask you, what is the point of the Dark?? Either Racism is a result of the dark rising or it’s a human thing. This series has no internal logic, guys.
Stuff happen because they must, tasks and quests are undertaken by rota and challenges are faced in the most anticlimactic way by people remembering things they already know “deep inside” or by reciting poems and singing. We are told over and over again that the main characters are protected and nothing will happen to them and as such, any sense of real menace is taken away and everybody (both Dark and Light) just follows these rules and it is just so, SO boring. The Drew siblings are brought back because they have an essential role to play and that role is… to hold a Sign? It was hinted throughout that Barney is special but that went exactly nowhere. Worst of all: this is the last book in a series and after a long build up to the Dark Rising, the ending comes and it is anticlimactic to the extreme. Did I get it right that the Dark Would Rise only if they got a mistletoe from a tree? Did that really happen?
An example of interaction between Light, Dark and Humans:
Dark: *dramatically rides into the scene* I CHALLENGE YOU, LIGHT
Light: OK.
Me: *perks* This is going to finally get good!
Dark: *darkly says* I challenge you to a… parley. Let’s talk about this boy Bran. He does not belong here and therefore cannot use his sword to do the thing.
Light: OK, let us ask this one human guy what he thinks.
Human Guy: He belongs here because he doesn’t speak Latin.
Everybody: Ok then, fine. Let him play.
Me: Wait. What just happened?
And what of the female characters? They are few and of the three with bigger roles, one turns out to be a villain, Jane spends most of this book having “strange feelings” about… things and then the Lady, whom we had been promised had an important role to play in the end, comes back to… give Jane a message?
And then, then we have that insufferable ending where everybody – all humans – are made to forget everything. Even though they are supposed to have free will. Except they don’t cause no one chooses this. I can see the intention behind this as I am sure the point here is that humans should go on living without knowledge of magic. But. Then. What. Is. The. Point. Of. This. Series.
Silver on the Tree is not only an unsatisfactory end to a series but also I dare say… not a very good book at all.
So now that it’s all read and done, where does that leave me? I am ultimately glad I gave the series a chance and read it but I can’t really say I found it specially good or interesting. I know this is a nostalgic childhood favourite for many people and I do wonder if had I read this when a child at a time when YA was not such a strong presence in book stores, if I would have felt differently.
Silver on the Tree encapsulates and highlights every single thing that was frustrating about the series as a whole: the vagueness of the plot, the lack of any real sense of danger (considering that the Dark!is!Rising!), the quests that are not really quests and are more like stumbling unto Things, the overwhelming sense that everything is pre-ordained even though everybody talks about free will, the lack of any character development, the romantic obsession with King Arthur.
Actually, I am still not really sure what exactly the Dark is. How is it Rising. What would happen if they did. I mean, I understand in theory because evil is something we all know about but I do not think this was transplanted into the pages that well – it almost feels like there is a reliance on pre-knowledge of tropes and ideas and because of this a lot of the world-building, if we can even call it that, is merely glossed over.
Speaking of the Dark and of Evil. There is one particular moment in this book that gave me cause for pause. The Drews witness a young boy being attacked because he is Indian. It is a very in-your-face moment that is later revealed to be a sign that the Dark is indeed rising – as though racism is a result of magical evil and not a social construct. Does this mean that now that the Dark has not risen, there will no longer be racism in the world? I’d say this is not the intention here because the idea that humans can be both good and bad and have free will is reinforced throughout but then I ask you, what is the point of the Dark?? Either Racism is a result of the dark rising or it’s a human thing. This series has no internal logic, guys.
Stuff happen because they must, tasks and quests are undertaken by rota and challenges are faced in the most anticlimactic way by people remembering things they already know “deep inside” or by reciting poems and singing. We are told over and over again that the main characters are protected and nothing will happen to them and as such, any sense of real menace is taken away and everybody (both Dark and Light) just follows these rules and it is just so, SO boring. The Drew siblings are brought back because they have an essential role to play and that role is… to hold a Sign? It was hinted throughout that Barney is special but that went exactly nowhere. Worst of all: this is the last book in a series and after a long build up to the Dark Rising, the ending comes and it is anticlimactic to the extreme. Did I get it right that the Dark Would Rise only if they got a mistletoe from a tree? Did that really happen?
An example of interaction between Light, Dark and Humans:
Dark: *dramatically rides into the scene* I CHALLENGE YOU, LIGHT
Light: OK.
Me: *perks* This is going to finally get good!
Dark: *darkly says* I challenge you to a… parley. Let’s talk about this boy Bran. He does not belong here and therefore cannot use his sword to do the thing.
Light: OK, let us ask this one human guy what he thinks.
Human Guy: He belongs here because he doesn’t speak Latin.
Everybody: Ok then, fine. Let him play.
Me: Wait. What just happened?
And what of the female characters? They are few and of the three with bigger roles, one turns out to be a villain, Jane spends most of this book having “strange feelings” about… things and then the Lady, whom we had been promised had an important role to play in the end, comes back to… give Jane a message?
And then, then we have that insufferable ending where everybody – all humans – are made to forget everything. Even though they are supposed to have free will. Except they don’t cause no one chooses this. I can see the intention behind this as I am sure the point here is that humans should go on living without knowledge of magic. But. Then. What. Is. The. Point. Of. This. Series.
Silver on the Tree is not only an unsatisfactory end to a series but also I dare say… not a very good book at all.
So now that it’s all read and done, where does that leave me? I am ultimately glad I gave the series a chance and read it but I can’t really say I found it specially good or interesting. I know this is a nostalgic childhood favourite for many people and I do wonder if had I read this when a child at a time when YA was not such a strong presence in book stores, if I would have felt differently.
June 15, 2024
On the day of the dead, when the year too dies,
Must the youngest upon the oldest hills
Through the door of the birds, where the breeze breaks.
Theref rie shall fly from the raven boy,
And the silver eyes what see the wind,
And the Light shall have the harp of gold.
By the pleasant lake the Sleepers lie,
On Cadfan's Way where the kestrels call;
Though grim from the Grey King shadows fall,
Yet singing the golden harp shall guide
To break their sleep and bid them ride.
When light from the lost land shall return,
Six Sleepers shall ride, six Signs shall burn,
And where the midsummer tree grows tall
By Pendragon's sword the Dark shall fall.
Y maent yr mynyddoedd yn canu,
ac y mae'r arglwyddes yn dod.
(This last Welsh bit roughly translates to
the mountains are singing and the lady comes.)
This is it, the final battle!
All the characters are coming together (more or less, since some were hindered in a way I thought they were too smart to fall prey to) and all the Things of Power are brought to the same place and the King shall return ... .
Thus, it is only befitting that the battle is no more linear than the events and the circles of influence both on the side of the Dark and the Light. Timey-wimey stuff old Celtic style!
This culmination also finally showed us the sword Eirias (Excalibur, essentially). I LOVED that is was appropriately said and showed to be a force for both Light and Dark, depending on who uses it. Any weapon is double-edged, after all, and if we look at what happened to a great king like Arthur even ... very apt.
I also loved the plot point surrounding the Midsummer's Tree and the fact that, in order to secure victory, since balance is essential.
One thing I distinctly DIDN'T like was . Yes, yes, there were strong hints that but who knows if they take those seriously! It's a plot point I ALWAYS detested.
Can't say I liked having my heart torn out either (which definitely was done to me again while reading this book), but that is a different kind of dislike. *lol*
Action-packed, suspenseful, still having plenty of folklore / mythology and the assorted rituals (in fact, I was reminded of the Erlkönig here) - this was as good as the others. Interestingly, this is not my favorite of the series, but it's not far behind.
So glad I read this series and I absolutely understand why so many people love it so much and re-visit this fantastic world over and over again. I will probably do the same.
Must the youngest upon the oldest hills
Through the door of the birds, where the breeze breaks.
Theref rie shall fly from the raven boy,
And the silver eyes what see the wind,
And the Light shall have the harp of gold.
By the pleasant lake the Sleepers lie,
On Cadfan's Way where the kestrels call;
Though grim from the Grey King shadows fall,
Yet singing the golden harp shall guide
To break their sleep and bid them ride.
When light from the lost land shall return,
Six Sleepers shall ride, six Signs shall burn,
And where the midsummer tree grows tall
By Pendragon's sword the Dark shall fall.
Y maent yr mynyddoedd yn canu,
ac y mae'r arglwyddes yn dod.
(This last Welsh bit roughly translates to
the mountains are singing and the lady comes.)
This is it, the final battle!
All the characters are coming together (more or less, since some were hindered in a way I thought they were too smart to fall prey to) and all the Things of Power are brought to the same place and the King shall return ... .
Thus, it is only befitting that the battle is no more linear than the events and the circles of influence both on the side of the Dark and the Light. Timey-wimey stuff old Celtic style!
This culmination also finally showed us the sword Eirias (Excalibur, essentially). I LOVED that is was appropriately said and showed to be a force for both Light and Dark, depending on who uses it. Any weapon is double-edged, after all, and if we look at what happened to a great king like Arthur even ... very apt.
I also loved the plot point surrounding the Midsummer's Tree and the fact that, in order to secure victory, since balance is essential.
One thing I distinctly DIDN'T like was . Yes, yes, there were strong hints that but who knows if they take those seriously! It's a plot point I ALWAYS detested.
Can't say I liked having my heart torn out either (which definitely was done to me again while reading this book), but that is a different kind of dislike. *lol*
Action-packed, suspenseful, still having plenty of folklore / mythology and the assorted rituals (in fact, I was reminded of the Erlkönig here) - this was as good as the others. Interestingly, this is not my favorite of the series, but it's not far behind.
So glad I read this series and I absolutely understand why so many people love it so much and re-visit this fantastic world over and over again. I will probably do the same.
August 26, 2024
I never read these as a kid, though I was aware of them. I read them as an adult, and I remember the entire series as a whole. I think I'd like to read them aloud to my kids, once we finish Harry Potter.
Read aloud 2024: 15yo liked it, 12yo not as much, but it was hard to remember all the details, doing it as a read aloud that took us a while.
Read aloud 2024: 15yo liked it, 12yo not as much, but it was hard to remember all the details, doing it as a read aloud that took us a while.
July 4, 2012
And now we have to talk about The Thing. Spoilers abound, for once, because I’ve really just gotta get my teeth straight into this.
Before that, though, the rest of the book. It’s . . . honestly, I’m not crazy about it. I remember that this was never one I reread much as a child. Well, that’s not true – I reread the first third all the time, but I’d stop whenever the magic started coming thick and heavy. There is something so wrenching about Will and his brother by the river, about Stephen caring enough to ask, and his blunted adult incomprehension of Will’s answers, the depth of Will’s loss in that moment. Contrast that to the back half of the book, which is having a quite high-level discussion of the production of art, and it just . . . it’s not like it isn’t a good discussion. Cooper is and was a hell of an artist herself, obviously. I’m just not engaging on that level, after the book opens so viscerally.
All right, enough stalling. The Thing.
As a child, the end of this book was arbitrary and cruel because it directly opposed my main interest in fantasy. Nothing unusual about what I was after – I wanted to read about kids having access to a world bigger than the regimented, difficult, pedestrian one I lived in. I wanted to read about kids being able to open a door into power and wonder. And the end of this book slammed the door in all our faces.
This time, of course, I knew what was coming, and as an adult I can follow the argument Cooper has been having about it all along. Mostly in Greenwitch, much to my adult surprise. And it’s . . . look, it’s not like I agree with her. I don’t, to put it bluntly.
But I do get it now, and I think it’s actually some really difficult territory she’s on. Losing the memory of what has happened isn’t a way to strip everyone of the power they’ve accessed; it’s the only way to open the door to a new power and responsibility. That’s what Merriman says, anyway: “For Drake is no longer in his hammock, children,nor is Arthur somewhere sleeping. And you may not lie idly by expecting the second coming of anyone now because the world is yours, and it is up to you.
It makes me think of my favorite monument, which is in fact a “countermonument.” It’s a monument against violence and fascism, a pillar designed, over time, to sink into the ground and disappear. Eventually, the monument space will be empty because, as the monument itself reads, “in the end, it is only we ourselves who can rise up against injustice.”
I love it. It’s a symbol of how collective recovery is a process. We have to remember, but the obtrusion of the memory into the world changes over time – the emotional shadow it casts (literal shadow in this case), its usefulness for the business of living.
Not a perfect analog for the end of this book by a long shot, but thinking about the monument helped me to . . . grow a general respect for the decisions Cooper made. She wrote about the passing of an age, about the ascension of man. No longer caught between the temptations of the dark and the outsider rebuttals of the Light. So yes, casting the Dark out of the world means that the Light, too, must go, and I can see the . . . esthetic sense in which she concluded as a matter of course that they must forget. No one is coming to save us, as Merriman says, and the kinds of power she was writing about – the alien magic of the Light and the complicated ownership man has over the world – could not . . . exist in the same space.
It still deeply offends me on a personal level, on behalf of the Drews. They earned those memories with a lot of courage and striving. Living through it changed them, and to have it all so casually erased is still outrageous to me, a kind of assault. But on the broader thematic level . . . yeah, all right. I get it. I don’t like it. But I get it.
Before that, though, the rest of the book. It’s . . . honestly, I’m not crazy about it. I remember that this was never one I reread much as a child. Well, that’s not true – I reread the first third all the time, but I’d stop whenever the magic started coming thick and heavy. There is something so wrenching about Will and his brother by the river, about Stephen caring enough to ask, and his blunted adult incomprehension of Will’s answers, the depth of Will’s loss in that moment. Contrast that to the back half of the book, which is having a quite high-level discussion of the production of art, and it just . . . it’s not like it isn’t a good discussion. Cooper is and was a hell of an artist herself, obviously. I’m just not engaging on that level, after the book opens so viscerally.
All right, enough stalling. The Thing.
As a child, the end of this book was arbitrary and cruel because it directly opposed my main interest in fantasy. Nothing unusual about what I was after – I wanted to read about kids having access to a world bigger than the regimented, difficult, pedestrian one I lived in. I wanted to read about kids being able to open a door into power and wonder. And the end of this book slammed the door in all our faces.
This time, of course, I knew what was coming, and as an adult I can follow the argument Cooper has been having about it all along. Mostly in Greenwitch, much to my adult surprise. And it’s . . . look, it’s not like I agree with her. I don’t, to put it bluntly.
But I do get it now, and I think it’s actually some really difficult territory she’s on. Losing the memory of what has happened isn’t a way to strip everyone of the power they’ve accessed; it’s the only way to open the door to a new power and responsibility. That’s what Merriman says, anyway: “For Drake is no longer in his hammock, children,nor is Arthur somewhere sleeping. And you may not lie idly by expecting the second coming of anyone now because the world is yours, and it is up to you.
It makes me think of my favorite monument, which is in fact a “countermonument.” It’s a monument against violence and fascism, a pillar designed, over time, to sink into the ground and disappear. Eventually, the monument space will be empty because, as the monument itself reads, “in the end, it is only we ourselves who can rise up against injustice.”
I love it. It’s a symbol of how collective recovery is a process. We have to remember, but the obtrusion of the memory into the world changes over time – the emotional shadow it casts (literal shadow in this case), its usefulness for the business of living.
Not a perfect analog for the end of this book by a long shot, but thinking about the monument helped me to . . . grow a general respect for the decisions Cooper made. She wrote about the passing of an age, about the ascension of man. No longer caught between the temptations of the dark and the outsider rebuttals of the Light. So yes, casting the Dark out of the world means that the Light, too, must go, and I can see the . . . esthetic sense in which she concluded as a matter of course that they must forget. No one is coming to save us, as Merriman says, and the kinds of power she was writing about – the alien magic of the Light and the complicated ownership man has over the world – could not . . . exist in the same space.
It still deeply offends me on a personal level, on behalf of the Drews. They earned those memories with a lot of courage and striving. Living through it changed them, and to have it all so casually erased is still outrageous to me, a kind of assault. But on the broader thematic level . . . yeah, all right. I get it. I don’t like it. But I get it.
June 15, 2024
The finale has come!
It's a pretty great example of a "signs and mystical Arthurian legendary artifacts" kind of series, boldly mixing ancient and wild magic in with everyday English characters within a small territory for huge stakes.
That being said, I always preferred reading about Will's adventures and I warmed up to Brom pretty quickly, while the normal children were kinda so-so to me.
While I do APPRECIATE the idea of having so much Arthurian and older English imagery studded through these books, (and the last one in particular), my older self found it slightly ham-fisted and even slightly nonsensical by the end. It always boils down to arbitrary decisions by vastly powerful beings who then choose to give a choice over to the least consequential mortals.
Chosen-one stuff in different clothing, even arbitrarily chosen chosen-one stuff by the very end. And yes, I can see the point that this makes it rise above the expected outcomes, gives it subtlety and a chance for readers to read it all again for more signs and portents, but to me, it reminds me of countless heavy-handed christian fiction. Post-Narnia as this is, perhaps I'm a bit -- sensitive.
THAT being said, I still liked this book and the whole series. Good YA, great atmosphere, and if you're into it, vast numbers of symbolism to consider.
It's a pretty great example of a "signs and mystical Arthurian legendary artifacts" kind of series, boldly mixing ancient and wild magic in with everyday English characters within a small territory for huge stakes.
That being said, I always preferred reading about Will's adventures and I warmed up to Brom pretty quickly, while the normal children were kinda so-so to me.
While I do APPRECIATE the idea of having so much Arthurian and older English imagery studded through these books, (and the last one in particular), my older self found it slightly ham-fisted and even slightly nonsensical by the end. It always boils down to arbitrary decisions by vastly powerful beings who then choose to give a choice over to the least consequential mortals.
Chosen-one stuff in different clothing, even arbitrarily chosen chosen-one stuff by the very end. And yes, I can see the point that this makes it rise above the expected outcomes, gives it subtlety and a chance for readers to read it all again for more signs and portents, but to me, it reminds me of countless heavy-handed christian fiction. Post-Narnia as this is, perhaps I'm a bit -- sensitive.
THAT being said, I still liked this book and the whole series. Good YA, great atmosphere, and if you're into it, vast numbers of symbolism to consider.
June 14, 2016
Finally finished my yearly(ish) reread with this book. The conclusion to the sequence is full of its own magic and beauty, but because of the ending, it just can’t be my favourite. (Perhaps in a similar way that The Farthest Shore doesn’t work for me; I don’t like it when the magic comes to an end!)
The whole sequence in the Lost Land is gorgeous, and probably my favourite thing about this book. Then, of course, there’s the interactions between the group – such disparate kids, and brought together for a quest beyond their understanding. As always, Cooper’s handling of the children and the way they react to each other, particularly the Drews, feels spot on and realistic. Of course they’re going to bicker. And of course the Welsh/English divide feeds into it, setting Bran apart. The whole sequence has had history intruding on the present and the present intruding into history; it’s appropriate that that fraught history also touches the story.
Reading it this time, I wasn’t sure about the pacing. It might just be that I want more, more adventures, more of the Six together, but everyone spent so much time in ones or twos rather than together. There’s so much hinted at – Bran’s relationship to Herne the hunter, for just one – that I would love to explore. That’s why I come back to the book, I suppose, and yet…
Originally posted here.
The whole sequence in the Lost Land is gorgeous, and probably my favourite thing about this book. Then, of course, there’s the interactions between the group – such disparate kids, and brought together for a quest beyond their understanding. As always, Cooper’s handling of the children and the way they react to each other, particularly the Drews, feels spot on and realistic. Of course they’re going to bicker. And of course the Welsh/English divide feeds into it, setting Bran apart. The whole sequence has had history intruding on the present and the present intruding into history; it’s appropriate that that fraught history also touches the story.
Reading it this time, I wasn’t sure about the pacing. It might just be that I want more, more adventures, more of the Six together, but everyone spent so much time in ones or twos rather than together. There’s so much hinted at – Bran’s relationship to Herne the hunter, for just one – that I would love to explore. That’s why I come back to the book, I suppose, and yet…
Originally posted here.
December 13, 2009
Some authors treat magic in a somehow mechanistic way, although perhaps no explanation is offered for how the magic works.
The magic user says a spell, flames light up.
The magic user says a spell, he levitates.
The magic user says a spell, somebody dies.
As easy as that.
But there are other authors who can do more than that: they create worlds in which magic feels like air filling the atmosphere there, seeping through the words that we read so that we feel magical ourselves. One of the authors with such ability is Susan Cooper, known best for her The Dark Is Rising sequence. And this is the last book of the sequence, Silver on the Tree.
Just like in the previous book, especially The Dark Is Rising and its Wild Hunt, magic runs wild in Silver on the Tree; things happen, impossible to be explained; don’t ask, don’t ask, just enjoy the ride.
A train that appears from nowhere, taking passengers from different times in history?
A lost land that is visited when it’s not been lost yet?
A leap through time and space – will it disrupt and change the future?
Will it? Won’t it? How? How?
There, there, this is magic, although this does not mean the story does not show an internal consistency. There is High Magic; there is Wild Magic; and there are Light and Dark, bound by rules, and this is the final clash between both. The Six must go through different ordeals, face nightmares—indeed, the original nightmare—and make difficult decisions.
Just like the Arthurian legends on which the sequence is based, there are hints of Christian influence; I reached a point that to me Arthur seemed like the Father, Bran Jesus, while Herne the Hunter the Holy Ghost. But just like the Arthurian legends, the sequence contains more than just references to Christianity; they’re always a mix-up bag that also consists of the so-called paganism and whatnot. Merriman’s final speech is just astonishing seen from that perspective, somehow implying that the human race do not need supernatural, if Divine, intervention anymore, that they do not need to wait for another second coming. The world will still be imperfect, because man is imperfect; bad things will still happen, but in the long run, the worse will never win over the better.
The only thing that a bit disappoints me at the end is just that... I wish memory stays. (I hope I don’t spoil the end for you by telling you this.)
I sighed when I closed the book after reading the last page. What a magical journey it had been, and how I enjoyed it so much.
The magic user says a spell, flames light up.
The magic user says a spell, he levitates.
The magic user says a spell, somebody dies.
As easy as that.
But there are other authors who can do more than that: they create worlds in which magic feels like air filling the atmosphere there, seeping through the words that we read so that we feel magical ourselves. One of the authors with such ability is Susan Cooper, known best for her The Dark Is Rising sequence. And this is the last book of the sequence, Silver on the Tree.
Just like in the previous book, especially The Dark Is Rising and its Wild Hunt, magic runs wild in Silver on the Tree; things happen, impossible to be explained; don’t ask, don’t ask, just enjoy the ride.
A train that appears from nowhere, taking passengers from different times in history?
A lost land that is visited when it’s not been lost yet?
A leap through time and space – will it disrupt and change the future?
Will it? Won’t it? How? How?
There, there, this is magic, although this does not mean the story does not show an internal consistency. There is High Magic; there is Wild Magic; and there are Light and Dark, bound by rules, and this is the final clash between both. The Six must go through different ordeals, face nightmares—indeed, the original nightmare—and make difficult decisions.
Just like the Arthurian legends on which the sequence is based, there are hints of Christian influence; I reached a point that to me Arthur seemed like the Father, Bran Jesus, while Herne the Hunter the Holy Ghost. But just like the Arthurian legends, the sequence contains more than just references to Christianity; they’re always a mix-up bag that also consists of the so-called paganism and whatnot. Merriman’s final speech is just astonishing seen from that perspective, somehow implying that the human race do not need supernatural, if Divine, intervention anymore, that they do not need to wait for another second coming. The world will still be imperfect, because man is imperfect; bad things will still happen, but in the long run, the worse will never win over the better.
The only thing that a bit disappoints me at the end is just that... I wish memory stays. (I hope I don’t spoil the end for you by telling you this.)
I sighed when I closed the book after reading the last page. What a magical journey it had been, and how I enjoyed it so much.
March 15, 2024
Maybe because the Dark can only reach people at extremes—blinded by their own shining ideas, or locked up in the darkness of their own heads.
Set amidst the Welsh landscape and weaving in Welsh and Arthurian legends, Silver on the Tree (1977) brings to a satisfying conclusion Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising sequence where all the characters come together for that final confrontation with the dark, its looming and growing presence at most times palpable but not necessarily tangible, in the process also realising that external darkness is only perhaps part of the darkness we need to ‘fight’.
Told in four parts, as the book opens, we find ourselves back at the Stanton farmhouse where Will seeming at this point an ordinary eleven-year-old is spending time with his brothers, the older Stephen home on leave from his ship. But of course, Will isn’t ordinary but an ‘Old One’ and even when out fishing with his brothers begins to notice stirrings across time, able to see people at different points in the past fleeing the dark which fast catching up. In the present too, this begins to happen with vicious minks suddenly appearing in their surroundings and darkness also materialising in other forms like bullying and intolerance.
Things are coming to a head and while tasks have been done, relics recovered and things accomplished, there are still those final steps before Dark can be finally checked. The scene shifts to Wales and Will’s uncle’s farm where The Grey King unfolded, and here we again find Bran whom we met and whose identity we learned in that book as well as the three Drew children, Jane, Barney and Simon. While the three now understand something of Will and accept him as a friend (Barney and Simon mainly for Jane always realised he was different), they are somewhat sceptical of Bran. As they start out on those final steps of their adventure, dark is on their heels too, the Black Rider and White Rider often visible and the presence of dark felt or seen in other forms, while our characters move between present and past and reality and legend, these times and spaces existing alongside each other and our characters moving almost seamlessly between them. But dark dogs their every step even anticipates them at times—amidst this, do our young heroes manage to defeat their foes?
While Silver on the Tree is structured as and is indeed a fantasy–adventure with a central and several sub-quests, it is also far more, not only in its weaving in of myth and legend but also in the profound questions it brings to the fore whether it be the source/s and forms of ‘dark’ in our lives or the very nature of reality (‘Real is a hard word… almost as hard as true or now …’) issues as relevant in real life that fantasy is only a vehicle to explore.
Once again, I enjoyed the elements of myth and legend that Cooper weaves in be it the Arthurian aspects or indeed the story of the lost islands, or Cantre’r Gwaelod, the sunken kingdom ruled by Gwyddno Garanhir. We visit this latter with Will and Bran in a segment of the story which is much like a fairy tale quest, complete with its riddles, mazes and magic—a magic of its own, unaffected by the forces of light or dark. This segment was an especially beautiful one, and had very much an ‘Arabian Nights’ feel to it. Even within Cooper’s world, it is a curious place, free of all forces but its own—yet even in such a space, neither dark nor light are entirely powerless. And if we needed any more confirmation of Uncle Merry’s identity, we get that too!
At the level of an adventure story, we certainly get a fitting conclusion, various quests and sub-quests being attempted and completed, our characters needing to rely as much on strengths of character as on magic. The final confrontation or task in that sense too delivers as we get our moments of drama and excitement as the scene plays out. But in the ultimate, Cooper wants us to look and think further, at the good versus evil battle being a continual one which surfaces in different and many forms at different times, at ‘evil’ not being only an external force and even when it is, its influence being very much within our control; and as much at our own responsibilities in the world, not awaiting or expecting mythical rescuers or casting blame one way or the other.
A wonderful read not only for children as an adventure but as much or more for adult readers who have many layers and complexities to peel away.
4.5 stars rounded off
Set amidst the Welsh landscape and weaving in Welsh and Arthurian legends, Silver on the Tree (1977) brings to a satisfying conclusion Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising sequence where all the characters come together for that final confrontation with the dark, its looming and growing presence at most times palpable but not necessarily tangible, in the process also realising that external darkness is only perhaps part of the darkness we need to ‘fight’.
Told in four parts, as the book opens, we find ourselves back at the Stanton farmhouse where Will seeming at this point an ordinary eleven-year-old is spending time with his brothers, the older Stephen home on leave from his ship. But of course, Will isn’t ordinary but an ‘Old One’ and even when out fishing with his brothers begins to notice stirrings across time, able to see people at different points in the past fleeing the dark which fast catching up. In the present too, this begins to happen with vicious minks suddenly appearing in their surroundings and darkness also materialising in other forms like bullying and intolerance.
Things are coming to a head and while tasks have been done, relics recovered and things accomplished, there are still those final steps before Dark can be finally checked. The scene shifts to Wales and Will’s uncle’s farm where The Grey King unfolded, and here we again find Bran whom we met and whose identity we learned in that book as well as the three Drew children, Jane, Barney and Simon. While the three now understand something of Will and accept him as a friend (Barney and Simon mainly for Jane always realised he was different), they are somewhat sceptical of Bran. As they start out on those final steps of their adventure, dark is on their heels too, the Black Rider and White Rider often visible and the presence of dark felt or seen in other forms, while our characters move between present and past and reality and legend, these times and spaces existing alongside each other and our characters moving almost seamlessly between them. But dark dogs their every step even anticipates them at times—amidst this, do our young heroes manage to defeat their foes?
While Silver on the Tree is structured as and is indeed a fantasy–adventure with a central and several sub-quests, it is also far more, not only in its weaving in of myth and legend but also in the profound questions it brings to the fore whether it be the source/s and forms of ‘dark’ in our lives or the very nature of reality (‘Real is a hard word… almost as hard as true or now …’) issues as relevant in real life that fantasy is only a vehicle to explore.
Once again, I enjoyed the elements of myth and legend that Cooper weaves in be it the Arthurian aspects or indeed the story of the lost islands, or Cantre’r Gwaelod, the sunken kingdom ruled by Gwyddno Garanhir. We visit this latter with Will and Bran in a segment of the story which is much like a fairy tale quest, complete with its riddles, mazes and magic—a magic of its own, unaffected by the forces of light or dark. This segment was an especially beautiful one, and had very much an ‘Arabian Nights’ feel to it. Even within Cooper’s world, it is a curious place, free of all forces but its own—yet even in such a space, neither dark nor light are entirely powerless. And if we needed any more confirmation of Uncle Merry’s identity, we get that too!
At the level of an adventure story, we certainly get a fitting conclusion, various quests and sub-quests being attempted and completed, our characters needing to rely as much on strengths of character as on magic. The final confrontation or task in that sense too delivers as we get our moments of drama and excitement as the scene plays out. But in the ultimate, Cooper wants us to look and think further, at the good versus evil battle being a continual one which surfaces in different and many forms at different times, at ‘evil’ not being only an external force and even when it is, its influence being very much within our control; and as much at our own responsibilities in the world, not awaiting or expecting mythical rescuers or casting blame one way or the other.
A wonderful read not only for children as an adventure but as much or more for adult readers who have many layers and complexities to peel away.
4.5 stars rounded off
December 16, 2009
In this last book, everything comes together. All the characters, all the plots and threads, all the separate pieces of mythology. Again, it's a beautiful book, and again, as always, there is some amazing characterisation. The things that catch my eye especially in this book are the initial awe/resentment of Bran from the Drews, Gwion's loyalty to and grief for Gwddyno, and John's grief when Blodwen betrays him. There's a lot of complex emotion going on here beneath the actual plot, and parts of it really, really hurt. There are also some parts that never fail to make me smile, like Barney's enthusiasm, and Bran and Will's Arthur/Merlin dynamic.
The actual end of the book and sequence both is at once exhilarating and hurtful. "Five shall return, and one go alone", says the prophecy, but I can't help but think that is ambiguous. Is it that Will, Jane, Simon, Barney and Bran return to our world, and Merriman goes alone? Or is it that Jane, Simon, Barney, Bran and Merriman return to where they belong, while Will is left alone? I suspect it's the former, but there's truth in the latter too: when you imagine how abandoned Will is.
I do love Bran's choice, despite what it leads to, because that's realistic. An adopted child doesn't lose their feelings for their adoptive parent just because they meet their biological parent. Bran still loves Owen (and, arguably another father-figure, John).
Merriman's last few speeches are amazing, but particularly this, and this is how I'll end my reviews. It's a very appropriate thing to be saying to a child, I think, after a book in which two moral opposites clash over and over. It leaves you to think.
"For Drake is no longer in his hammock, children, nor 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."
Reread again in December 2009. I can't think of any better end to this review.
The actual end of the book and sequence both is at once exhilarating and hurtful. "Five shall return, and one go alone", says the prophecy, but I can't help but think that is ambiguous. Is it that Will, Jane, Simon, Barney and Bran return to our world, and Merriman goes alone? Or is it that Jane, Simon, Barney, Bran and Merriman return to where they belong, while Will is left alone? I suspect it's the former, but there's truth in the latter too: when you imagine how abandoned Will is.
I do love Bran's choice, despite what it leads to, because that's realistic. An adopted child doesn't lose their feelings for their adoptive parent just because they meet their biological parent. Bran still loves Owen (and, arguably another father-figure, John).
Merriman's last few speeches are amazing, but particularly this, and this is how I'll end my reviews. It's a very appropriate thing to be saying to a child, I think, after a book in which two moral opposites clash over and over. It leaves you to think.
"For Drake is no longer in his hammock, children, nor 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."
Reread again in December 2009. I can't think of any better end to this review.
March 11, 2019
Finishing up my first reread of the series since I was much younger. And while The Dark is Rising still holds its spot as my favorite, I think Silver on the Tree is very close behind. There's a grand explosion of mystery and wonder and it all ties up in a fee perfect final chapters full of emotion and tension. Having more knowledge of Welsh mythology now (and the aid of the internet) is certainly a plus in really getting this series. Susan Cooper is really one of those authors whose books transcend both time and the age of the reader. I know this will not be my last read through of the series.
February 8, 2020
A spellbinding, heart-wrenching final chapter to a wonderful fantasy series. It’s criminal that these books aren’t more widely read.
I first read this series as a child and I was really worried that by re-reading it as an adult it would let me down by not living up to my treasured memories of it. It most decidedly did not. I loved every minute of this and it fully deserves its place on my shelves next to the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings.
If you’re a fantasy lover, do yourself a favour and give it a go.
I first read this series as a child and I was really worried that by re-reading it as an adult it would let me down by not living up to my treasured memories of it. It most decidedly did not. I loved every minute of this and it fully deserves its place on my shelves next to the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings.
If you’re a fantasy lover, do yourself a favour and give it a go.
July 24, 2022
Cor blimey! A stonking final episode in a wonderful series!
How glad I am to have finally clocked these books in my sixth decade of reading = better late than never!
Amazed to see that some readers have given it one star, but hey - horses for courses, as they say.
I for one will be giving my granddaughters these books in the next few years, for sure.
How glad I am to have finally clocked these books in my sixth decade of reading = better late than never!
Amazed to see that some readers have given it one star, but hey - horses for courses, as they say.
I for one will be giving my granddaughters these books in the next few years, for sure.
July 26, 2017
A satisfying conclusion to the series. I realized, listening to the books, that they're not so much about what happens as about the tone, the sense of place, and the way that good and evil work themselves out in the world. I couldn't really tell you the plot of this one - the Dark is rising again and Will and the others are trying to stop it? But that scarcely mattered, because I was interested in how Bran would decide his own fate, and how John Rowlands would respond to an unexpected twist in his life, and how Will would deal with the ongoing struggle of being a twelve-year-old Old One, and so on. And these are smart kids - they go off and do things on their own, and are responsible and capable but also very much children. They don't act in a way that says, "oh, grownups can't figure it out so we have to, clever us," since they often do need the help of grownups. But the adults trust them to do things on their own - whether it's going for a walk in the mountains or saving the world from the Dark.
You might be able to enjoy this as a stand-alone, but I'd really read the rest of the series first - start with Over Sea Under Stone.
You might be able to enjoy this as a stand-alone, but I'd really read the rest of the series first - start with Over Sea Under Stone.
November 10, 2010
I really don't know what it is about this series that leaves me less than enthusiastic about reading it. I barely managed to finish this, the final book. In fact I ended up skimming most of the second half and tuning back in only for the final battle. Throughout the whole series the story suffered from a removed and distant point of view, so I never felt anxious or sad of happy about anything that happened. The bad guys weren't really that bad- they followed all the rules! There was even a point in this book where the Dark tried to stop the Light by calling them on what was basically a minor legal matter... as if the whole battle could be won because someone broke the rules along the way! I mean, the bad guys are supposed to be bad because they do whatever the heck they want to, right? It's just not threatening at all if they follow all the rules. I could go on with everything that bothered me but I'll just say that I couldn't ever become interested in the story and I would probably only recommend this for smaller children, who would be comforted by the following of rules rather than bored by it.
January 1, 2013
Squeaked this in just before 2013 began. There's little more I can say about this book: I don't understand people who don't like it, who can't see the layers of ambiguity in it, the way there's always more to discover. Mind you, I'm sure it's partly me that brings that to this most loved story.
I love that Susan Cooper's people are people, most of them neither Dark nor Light but people, trying to live. I've needed a Stephen Stanton in the past, and Susan Cooper reminds me -- as Will is reminded by his family -- that people like him do exist. There's nothing impossible about the human characters of her books.
I just have a moment of regret right now that we don't see Owen Davies in this book. I mean, with the ending of The Grey King, and what he knows about his son... How would he react to what happens in this book? What does he hope, or fear? Does he know that Bran will meet his real father in the course of all this, and does he wonder if Bran will ever come home? That would've been interesting to see.
At this point, I've built so many what-ifs and could-have-beens out of this book that I could probably write a book on them myself...
I love that Susan Cooper's people are people, most of them neither Dark nor Light but people, trying to live. I've needed a Stephen Stanton in the past, and Susan Cooper reminds me -- as Will is reminded by his family -- that people like him do exist. There's nothing impossible about the human characters of her books.
I just have a moment of regret right now that we don't see Owen Davies in this book. I mean, with the ending of The Grey King, and what he knows about his son... How would he react to what happens in this book? What does he hope, or fear? Does he know that Bran will meet his real father in the course of all this, and does he wonder if Bran will ever come home? That would've been interesting to see.
At this point, I've built so many what-ifs and could-have-beens out of this book that I could probably write a book on them myself...
August 23, 2007
The 5th of an amazing children's series I'd read so many times over that the spine creases combined into one, big, obscuring curl. I'm saddened by the previews of the upcoming movie where it appears the lilting beauty of Cooper's story has been fed steroids and 'enhanced' with explosions. What's this about an American protagonist rather than English, and no mention of the Arthurian connection? The horrors!
January 17, 2020
A quest. An adventure story. A warning for the future. Beautifully written. Just wonderful. I remember the first and only other time I read this. I was 19, on a geology field trip to Manitoulin island on a summer day. It was hot and sunny. Today I’m in Ottawa. It is January. It is -20 degrees Celsius this morning and a storm is coming. The ache in my heart right now is the same.
March 8, 2017
Cooper brings us to a fine conclusion in the battle between good and evil, the light and the dark. The ending in this is packed with emotion and heartbreak. I thought this was a superb series; if I had read it as a child I would have loved it even more.
April 13, 2019
In this volume we come to the climax of the five book 'The Dark is Rising' sequence and sadly I found it a bit of an anti-climax. As might be expected, the three sets of children: the Drews who figured largely in books 1 and 3 and Bran, the boy with the illustrious father from book 4 and Will Stanton, last and youngest of the Old Ones, the champions of the Light, are all reunited as the Dark makes its final move. The book starts off with a sequence where Will is with his family, including his brother who is on leave from the Navy, and another brother who faces down a local bully who has set on a young Asian boy. There is a suggestion that the racism shown by the bully and his father is somehow an indication of the Dark's rising, yet I found this a bit of a muddled idea - not all the evil inflicted by human beings on each other in the past can be laid to the Dark's account. This in the event goes nowhere and the book would not materially suffer from this whole first part being excised which is a bad sign, but I did find the occurrence yet again of an episode where Will mind wipes someone because they wouldn't be able to cope with the knowledge of the Dark's existence rather creepy and indicative that the Light is very highhanded and partronising.
In the rest of the story, Will goes to Wales where he is reunited with the Drews and Bran. They have to undergo a quest which includes various timeslips where the Signs he gained in book 2 are passed on to King Arthur by being placed within a Roman structure that is being built, and then passed back when needed, and a sequence by the sea where we see a minion of the Dark with the first name Caradog (as the villain in book 4 was named) who has red hair - the baddies often have red hair in this series as witness the Black Rider having it - and then a quest by Will and Bran alone into the Lost Land beneath the sea.
The trouble is that, although beautifully written and with a sense of imagery and place as ever, a lot of this doesn't make much sense and involves characters going through the motions since everything they do is predicted in a prophecy. If the Light succeeds in following the guidance of the prophecy, they will automatically prevail. The Dark, despite being the bad guys, always follow the rules even when they attempt to derail things late in the story by invoking a point of law with the High Magic - something encountered before in this series but never satisfactorily explained - and a lot of the things that happen, including much of what happens in the Lost Land is really quite pointless. And other things, such as the racism and the repeated attacks by animals that might be mink or polecats at the start of the story, just fizzle out and are forgotten. The ending which I won't 'spoil' is a real anticlimax and we have the usual rather offensive idea that humans can't cope with the existence of magic and must all be made to forget - which makes a plot point where another character is given the choice of whether to remember or not just before that really nonsensical.
So I'm afraid this anticipated ending to the series was not very enjoyable. In fact I struggled to get through it and found myself turning to other books and finishing them before I could read a bit more which is why it took me about a month to read. Cooper isn't the only writer for children to evoke Welsh mythology but ultimately I don't think the books succeed overall as a scheme and things seem to be thrown in for the sake of it: the presence of Gwion/Taliesin in this last book for example. So although I still enjoyed book 2 I have decided that they are not 'keepers' and can only award this one an 'ok' 2 star rating.
In the rest of the story, Will goes to Wales where he is reunited with the Drews and Bran. They have to undergo a quest which includes various timeslips where the Signs he gained in book 2 are passed on to King Arthur by being placed within a Roman structure that is being built, and then passed back when needed, and a sequence by the sea where we see a minion of the Dark with the first name Caradog (as the villain in book 4 was named) who has red hair - the baddies often have red hair in this series as witness the Black Rider having it - and then a quest by Will and Bran alone into the Lost Land beneath the sea.
The trouble is that, although beautifully written and with a sense of imagery and place as ever, a lot of this doesn't make much sense and involves characters going through the motions since everything they do is predicted in a prophecy. If the Light succeeds in following the guidance of the prophecy, they will automatically prevail. The Dark, despite being the bad guys, always follow the rules even when they attempt to derail things late in the story by invoking a point of law with the High Magic - something encountered before in this series but never satisfactorily explained - and a lot of the things that happen, including much of what happens in the Lost Land is really quite pointless. And other things, such as the racism and the repeated attacks by animals that might be mink or polecats at the start of the story, just fizzle out and are forgotten. The ending which I won't 'spoil' is a real anticlimax and we have the usual rather offensive idea that humans can't cope with the existence of magic and must all be made to forget - which makes a plot point where another character is given the choice of whether to remember or not just before that really nonsensical.
So I'm afraid this anticipated ending to the series was not very enjoyable. In fact I struggled to get through it and found myself turning to other books and finishing them before I could read a bit more which is why it took me about a month to read. Cooper isn't the only writer for children to evoke Welsh mythology but ultimately I don't think the books succeed overall as a scheme and things seem to be thrown in for the sake of it: the presence of Gwion/Taliesin in this last book for example. So although I still enjoyed book 2 I have decided that they are not 'keepers' and can only award this one an 'ok' 2 star rating.
February 2, 2017
I’ve read this entire series by audiobook, and while I enjoyed it, I really think I need to go back and read them as books. Sometimes I would have gaps of days in between my listening within a book, and gaps of weeks or even months between the books themselves, so I got a little confused. The whole series seems a bit un-explained, to me, and I’m really kind of perplexed that I couldn’t get as into it as so many other people. I didn’t like the way the point of view jumped back and forth between the Drew kids and Will, I didn’t like the way the “magic” was never fully explained (at least not to my satisfaction), and I didn’t like the characters themselves much! I was especially affronted by how the female characters are either air headed (Jane) or magical. Why is this series considered to be so brilliant? I really feel like I’m missing something.
Despite that, I stuck it out for the entire series and was fascinated by the setting of Wales and England. I think that, given how short the books are, I will go back and re-read them at some point. I think maybe all my gaps in reading effected my comprehension of the plot. I really don’t think anything can rescue the characters though.
--------------------------
Wait WHAT. That was NOT an acceptable ending, AT ALL!! *sniff*
Despite that, I stuck it out for the entire series and was fascinated by the setting of Wales and England. I think that, given how short the books are, I will go back and re-read them at some point. I think maybe all my gaps in reading effected my comprehension of the plot. I really don’t think anything can rescue the characters though.
--------------------------
Wait WHAT. That was NOT an acceptable ending, AT ALL!! *sniff*
June 19, 2012
I wanted to like this book. The Drew kids were back, as was Bran, so they were supposed to outweigh Will Stanton's Will Stantonness. Ironically, Will Stanton actually has more human moments in this book than he's had in a while, so to balance it out, Bran basically loses all sense of self and sleepwalks through his destiny. And the Drew kids? BARELY DO ANYTHING. Susan Cooper's poor pacing continues, as we begin with random racism that's supposed to represent the Dark's hold on humanity or something, and then there's some magic shit, and then there's random domestic drama, and now here's some English and Welsh history LIKE I CARE, and then there's the Lost Lands where Will and Bran go through a mirror maze or something, and the Drew kids are on a train for some reason, and, seriously, I just plain gave up trying to pay attention about halfway through the book. This series is not about characters doing anything. This series is about little props fulfilling a rhyming prophecy by doing what they're supposed to do without any sense of conflict or real danger. Rarely is any actual insight required; instead they just know what they're supposed to know because they're supposed to know it. And when the final battle between the Light and Dark occurs, it's...basically a bunch of mumbo-jumbo and magic bullshit.
There are a few good things about the book. The Drew kids ARE still the Drew kids, thankfully, and they have their good moments, especially a scene between Jane and the Lady. John Rowlands faces some interesting dilemmas as an emissary for humanity. Bran has a dramatic choice to make. The White Rider was cool and sinister.
But the end actually made me so angry I was cursing the book out loud. Fuck you, book. Fuck you.
There are a few good things about the book. The Drew kids ARE still the Drew kids, thankfully, and they have their good moments, especially a scene between Jane and the Lady. John Rowlands faces some interesting dilemmas as an emissary for humanity. Bran has a dramatic choice to make. The White Rider was cool and sinister.
But the end actually made me so angry I was cursing the book out loud. Fuck you, book. Fuck you.
June 1, 2024
All of the characters from the previous four books in Susan Cooper's marvelous Dark Is Rising Sequence—the three Drew siblings, Will Stanton, Bran Davies, Merriman, John Rowlands, the Black Rider of the Dark—come together in this fifth and final title, as events lead on to the final rising of the Dark, and the Light's great battle to defeat it for all time. Set in the same area of Wales as
The Grey King
, the book follows the children as they search for a sign from the Lady, before Will and Bran set out on a journey through the Lost Land, in order to seek the fabled crystal sword—the last Thing of Power needed to defeat the Dark. The final section of the book is devoted to a train ride through time to the Midsummer Tree, where the final battle rages...
I adored Susan Cooper's series as a child, reading and rereading it countless times, and while Silver On the Tree has never been my favorite of the five books—an honor belonging to The Dark Is Rising , although Greenwitch and The Grey King are also marvelous—I do think it is very good. I have always enjoyed the various story strands here, from Jane being the conduit for the Lady's message to Will and Bran's trek across the Lost Land, guided by Gwion (AKA Taliesin). I have also greatly appreciated certain specific episodes, from the meeting with Owain Glyndŵr to the heartbreaking revelations about Mrs. Rowlands and her true identity. That being said, I've never felt that the various pieces of story here fit together quite as well as they could, and the final confrontation has always felt a little lacking. All of these feelings and impressions were confirmed on this latest reread. I don't want to overstate the case, of course. This is still a wonderfully engaging work of fantasy fiction for children, full of Susan Cooper's rich blend of folkloric allusions and her powerful evocation of place. Although not my favorite, I do strongly recommend it to all readers who have read the previous installments of the series.
I adored Susan Cooper's series as a child, reading and rereading it countless times, and while Silver On the Tree has never been my favorite of the five books—an honor belonging to The Dark Is Rising , although Greenwitch and The Grey King are also marvelous—I do think it is very good. I have always enjoyed the various story strands here, from Jane being the conduit for the Lady's message to Will and Bran's trek across the Lost Land, guided by Gwion (AKA Taliesin). I have also greatly appreciated certain specific episodes, from the meeting with Owain Glyndŵr to the heartbreaking revelations about Mrs. Rowlands and her true identity. That being said, I've never felt that the various pieces of story here fit together quite as well as they could, and the final confrontation has always felt a little lacking. All of these feelings and impressions were confirmed on this latest reread. I don't want to overstate the case, of course. This is still a wonderfully engaging work of fantasy fiction for children, full of Susan Cooper's rich blend of folkloric allusions and her powerful evocation of place. Although not my favorite, I do strongly recommend it to all readers who have read the previous installments of the series.
January 21, 2018
What breaks my heart a little bit every time is that they have to forget it happened.
Sometimes I think the best ends to stories like this are the bittersweet ones. The adventure happened, you changed the world, but then you must forget and become ordinary once more.
Sometimes I think the best ends to stories like this are the bittersweet ones. The adventure happened, you changed the world, but then you must forget and become ordinary once more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2023
Erg blij dat deze uit is. Té veel fantasy naar mijn smaak, enorm veel heftigheid tegen The Dark die de hele tijd Rising is en dús bestreden moet worden zonder dat de dreiging ooit concreet wordt gemaakt, ze zijn alleen maar slecht en donker en met veel. Uiteindelijk vond ik deel 1 toch verreweg het mooist.
November 9, 2013
Well, here we are, at the end of a very long journey. I can see now why The Dark is Rising sequence is packaged, well, as a sequence. The individual novels are quite short--some of them closer to novellas than anything else. The five-book stories are in fact a single story, but packaged together, they take up nearly 800 pages of very small print. It's an adult-sized story aimed at young adults and children, and I imagine the omnibus edition is intimidating. I found it intimidating, which is why I've been taking it one book at a time.
When I started reading this series, I was fairly dismissive of Susan Cooper's ideas and writing. Over Sea, Under Stone isn't a very well-developed book, and I stand by the problems I had with its plotting and characterization. In some respects, these criticisms have never completely evaporated. Though the novels steadily improve, my complaints about each of them are, by and large, very similar. However, I feel somewhat hobbled in the sense that I don't think I'm the appropriate audience for these books. I think that older children and young adults would devour these without fail, and it's not really fair for me to press adult sensibilities upon such fare.
The last two books, The Grey King and this one, Silver on the Tree, have forced me to reevaluate Cooper. These are the best books in the series, not the least because they contain genuine peril and high stakes. Both take on a more complex structure, with Cooper resorting to parts as well as chapters to organize everything. Silver on the Tree is the climax and the resolution; the forces of Dark are rising to make one final attempt to take control of our world, and the Light, led by Will Stanton, must stand against the Dark.
It's all very exciting. I'm still uncomfortable, though, by the extent to which Cooper leans on destiny. And this isn't unique to her; it's an issue a lot of strong fantasy writers seem to struggle with. Relying too much on destiny and prophecy and "knowledge" acquired through arcane means irks me in a fantasy novel, because it spoils some of the mystery of the story. Barring a very downer ending (which we obviously wouldn't see here), we know the protagonists have to succeed. It's not about whether they win; it's about how. But if so much of it is choreographed by destiny, down to the point where our protagonists almost can't fail, then the story becames a cutscene in a rails shooter, and it starts to lose its appeal.
That's an issue when the two sides are called "Light" and "Dark". They are simplistic in a way that appeals to kids and even to some adults. But when all the heroes are unfaltering in their allegiance to the Light, it gets boring. The most intense parts of these books occur when other characters have to make the choice to side with the Light or the Dark. One of these moments happens in Silver on the Tree, when John Rowlands must rule whether Bran belongs in the present time and, therefore, is able to help the Light push back the Dark. Both sides are bound by the Higher Magic, and they mutually empower John as the adjudicator. The Dark tempts John with his wife in a rather heartbreaking way. And he still chooses for the Light--which, again, is not much of a surprise. But hey, at least we had some dramatic tension.
(And then, because the Light is paternalistic as shit, after John can't decide whether to keep his memory of these strange events, the Lady decides for him and makes him forget. Why not just make everyone except the Old Ones and Bran forget? Why do Barney, Simon, and Jane need to remember?)
I'm glad I read this series, because now I know what people are talking about when they extol its role in their lives. I've had similar books--for me, the Belgariad was my gateway to epic fantasy in a way Lord of the Rings never was, even though the latter is arguably better. I am, without a doubt, a literary snob, albeit one who occasionally tries to mend his ways. And in such a gesture, it's necessary to note that a book doesn't have to be "good" to also be influential (that vampire book ring any bells?). Yet our definition of "good" is always going to vary. I do, in fact, consider The Dark is Rising as a whole a good series, but one with much variation within that category. I can't personally attest to its greatness or claim it has left much of a lasting impression on me. But I can see the potential for it to do so, in another time and another place.
My reviews of The Dark is Rising sequence:
← The Grey King
When I started reading this series, I was fairly dismissive of Susan Cooper's ideas and writing. Over Sea, Under Stone isn't a very well-developed book, and I stand by the problems I had with its plotting and characterization. In some respects, these criticisms have never completely evaporated. Though the novels steadily improve, my complaints about each of them are, by and large, very similar. However, I feel somewhat hobbled in the sense that I don't think I'm the appropriate audience for these books. I think that older children and young adults would devour these without fail, and it's not really fair for me to press adult sensibilities upon such fare.
The last two books, The Grey King and this one, Silver on the Tree, have forced me to reevaluate Cooper. These are the best books in the series, not the least because they contain genuine peril and high stakes. Both take on a more complex structure, with Cooper resorting to parts as well as chapters to organize everything. Silver on the Tree is the climax and the resolution; the forces of Dark are rising to make one final attempt to take control of our world, and the Light, led by Will Stanton, must stand against the Dark.
It's all very exciting. I'm still uncomfortable, though, by the extent to which Cooper leans on destiny. And this isn't unique to her; it's an issue a lot of strong fantasy writers seem to struggle with. Relying too much on destiny and prophecy and "knowledge" acquired through arcane means irks me in a fantasy novel, because it spoils some of the mystery of the story. Barring a very downer ending (which we obviously wouldn't see here), we know the protagonists have to succeed. It's not about whether they win; it's about how. But if so much of it is choreographed by destiny, down to the point where our protagonists almost can't fail, then the story becames a cutscene in a rails shooter, and it starts to lose its appeal.
That's an issue when the two sides are called "Light" and "Dark". They are simplistic in a way that appeals to kids and even to some adults. But when all the heroes are unfaltering in their allegiance to the Light, it gets boring. The most intense parts of these books occur when other characters have to make the choice to side with the Light or the Dark. One of these moments happens in Silver on the Tree, when John Rowlands must rule whether Bran belongs in the present time and, therefore, is able to help the Light push back the Dark. Both sides are bound by the Higher Magic, and they mutually empower John as the adjudicator. The Dark tempts John with his wife in a rather heartbreaking way. And he still chooses for the Light--which, again, is not much of a surprise. But hey, at least we had some dramatic tension.
(And then, because the Light is paternalistic as shit, after John can't decide whether to keep his memory of these strange events, the Lady decides for him and makes him forget. Why not just make everyone except the Old Ones and Bran forget? Why do Barney, Simon, and Jane need to remember?)
I'm glad I read this series, because now I know what people are talking about when they extol its role in their lives. I've had similar books--for me, the Belgariad was my gateway to epic fantasy in a way Lord of the Rings never was, even though the latter is arguably better. I am, without a doubt, a literary snob, albeit one who occasionally tries to mend his ways. And in such a gesture, it's necessary to note that a book doesn't have to be "good" to also be influential (that vampire book ring any bells?). Yet our definition of "good" is always going to vary. I do, in fact, consider The Dark is Rising as a whole a good series, but one with much variation within that category. I can't personally attest to its greatness or claim it has left much of a lasting impression on me. But I can see the potential for it to do so, in another time and another place.
My reviews of The Dark is Rising sequence:
← The Grey King
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