Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Review: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

genre: middle grade

Though he doesn't know it, Will Stanton is not an ordinary boy. On his eleventh birthday, he will come into his powers as an Old One and will begin to fulfill his destiny as a leader of the Light. He will have ancient secrets to learn, a quest to fulfill and evil minions to defeat. It reminds me of another 11 year British boy that I know and love.

I can see why this book is a classic. It resonates with Tolkien's love of description and that eternal struggle between good and evil. Will is tender and courageous and I loved every scene where he was surrouded by people ready to do whatever it took to help him fulfill his quest. Sometimes it was a bit wordy for me and I wanted things to move along a bit faster, but I think in the end I just feel glad that I now know where so many of our modern day fantasy stories have stemmed from. I feel satisifed.

2 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I don't like wordy books either, but I think that it's fairly common in older books. This one sounds charming.

Melissa said...

YAY!!! *happy dance* (I love it when people like books I love. :-D)

Russell had the same issues with wordiness that you did, but I found the descriptions to be *lovely*; it's a very evocative book. And satisfying.

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