Over Sea, Under Stone
(The Dark is Rising sequence, Book 1)
Susan Cooper
Simon & Schuster
Fiction, YA Fantasy
****
DESCRIPTION: Simon, Lucy, and Barney are excited to be spending the summer in Trewissik, a little English town on the sea. Simon dreams of being a captain on his own vessel. Barney is overjoyed to be in Cornwall, the legendary site of Camelot. Lucy is just enjoying her vacation with Mom, Dad, and their peculiar Great-Uncle Merry. He's the one who arranged for them to stay in the mysterious Grey House... and it's here, in a long-forgotten corner, that the three children find something truly out of legend: an ancient manuscript that may well be the key to finding a long-lost treasure from the court of King Arthur himself! Soon, the kids realize they aren't alone as they hunt for Arthurian relics. They've just become part of a conflict that predates human history - a conflict they cannot hope to win, but can't afford to lose.
REVIEW: What is it about the British Isles that produces a disproportionate number of young adult fantasy authors? Just wondering... Anyway, this was a fairly good book. My main complaint is that the enemies were too easy to recognize. Every bad guy is introduced as a greedy, selfish, and/or deceitful character, so I wasn't very shocked when they were revealed to be allies of the Enemy. (It's a common flaw in books about the fight between Good and Evil, especially those with Christian overtones, that one can only do harm if one knows one is doing Evil's work, and the servants of Good invariably can do only Good. It's also a common flaw in these books that one can readily discern Good from Evil, that both paths are very clearly marked by their respective leaders, and any wavering is merely a crisis of faith or a temptation by the Other Side. But I digress...) The book also took a little too long to get anywhere. Otherwise, I must reserve full judgment until I've read the rest of the sequence.
You might also enjoy:
Fly By Night (Frances Hardinge, YA Fiction - A girl in a divided kingdom must save the land from an insane ruler and conspirators' machinations)
The Glasswright's Apprentice (Mindy L. Klasky, Fiction - In a caste-oriented society where 1000 gods rule supreme, a girl finds herself at the heart of an assasination plot that cuts across caste lines)
The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis, YA Fiction - Earth children visit the world of Narnia, ruled by the Lion Aslan)
The Keys to the Kingdom: Mister Monday (Garth Nix, YA Fiction - A teen boy is given the keys to God's own house, where chaos reigns)
The Golden Compass (Philip Pullman, YA? Fiction - A girl finds herself pitted against the church in a quest to unravel a peculiar mystery)
The High House (James Stoddard, Fiction - A massive, surreal house encompasses the whole of Creation)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy (J. R. R. Tolkien, Fiction - Evil threatens the world of Men in Middle Earth)
The Castle in the Attic (Elizabeth Winthrop, YA Fiction - A virtuous boy helps a cursed knight reclaim his medieval kingdom)
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The Dark is Rising
(The Dark is Rising sequence, Book 2)
Susan Cooper
Simon & Schuster
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***
DESCRIPTION: Will Stanton, the youngest of nine English children, is about to turn eleven - and his life is about to turn upside down. He learns that he is much more than he ever thought, the last of the strange and secretive line of immortal Old Ones, and that he was born to complete a very special quest. Will must find the six Signs of power before the Black Rider, agent of the Dark, gets to them. To win means victory for the Light against the rising Dark. To lose is to see the world fall into shadow.
REVIEW: I wavered on the rating for this one for a while. While I enjoyed the idea of the Old Ones and much of the imagery in this story, it falls victim to the same
problems the first book in the sequence did. The bad guys are Bad with a capital B, and clearly identified as bad from pretty much the first time Will meets them. The quest
itself is so thoroughly orchestrated by powers of Light and Dark, which apparently already knew where every Sign was and how it was to be found, that I found myself wondering
why another Old One hadn't picked up the Signs long before now, or why the Dark hadn't found them yet. It's not like nobody knew where the signs were, so why was it so
imperative that Will be the one to find them in this particular year during this particular season? The Light goes to great lengths to arrange it so Will has to be at a specific
place at a specific time, having him escorted to said place and time by another Old One, dropped off, and picked up again right after finishing his mission. I always wonder what
would happen in these stories if the hero had to take a bathroom break and missed the exact moment he had to be at an exact place - would the universe be doomed because of
Nature's call? Granted, most fantasy quests have an element of prophecy and orchestration about them, but every single page of Will's adventures has been so carefully dictated
by others that it's almost laughable. The whole search for the Signs was so painstakingly scripted by Greater Powers that the idea that Will wouldn't be at the Right Place and
the Right Time to find the Signs never enters your mind. You know he'll prevail, because it was all laid out already. The Signs practically found themselves. Will himself was
the only one who ever really had any doubts in the matter.
(It was after reading this that I decided not to continue reading this series. There are too many other, less predictable books out there to waste further time here.)
You might also enjoy:
Fly By Night (Frances Hardinge, YA Fiction - A girl in a divided kingdom must save the land from an insane ruler and conspirators' machinations)
The Glasswright's Apprentice (Mindy L. Klasky, Fiction - In a caste-oriented society where 1000 gods rule supreme, a girl finds herself at the heart of an assasination plot that cuts across caste lines)
The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis, YA Fiction - Earth children visit the world of Narnia, ruled by the Lion Aslan)
The Keys to the Kingdom: Mister Monday (Garth Nix, YA Fiction - A teen boy is given the keys to God's own house, where chaos reigns)
The Golden Compass (Philip Pullman, YA? Fiction - A girl finds herself pitted against the church in a quest to unravel a peculiar mystery)
The High House (James Stoddard, Fiction - A massive, surreal house encompasses the whole of Creation)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy (J. R. R. Tolkien, Fiction - Evil threatens the world of Men in Middle Earth)
The Castle in the Attic (Elizabeth Winthrop, YA Fiction - A virtuous boy helps a cursed knight reclaim his medieval kingdom)
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