Susan Cooper's 'The Dark is Rising' series

Having recently seen - and been aghast by - the trailer for the new, US movie adaptation of The Dark is Rising, a Young Adult fantasy novel first published in 1973, I decided to go back and re-read the series, which I'd loved as a teenager growing up in the Latrobe Valley.

I'm so glad I did. Not only has it been a delight to revist the adventures of Will Stanton, youngest of the Old Ones, a servant of the Light in the ageless battle against the powers of the Dark; it's been wonderful being re-exposed to Cooper's magical ability with language, words and mood.

If you're not familiar with the books, you can learn all about them, and their author, over here at her official site, The Lost Land.

In brief, the series begins with Over Sea, Under Stone (1965), the most traditionally 'children's adventure' style title of the series, in which Simon, Jane and Barnabas Drew recover a lost Grail, and learn something of the battle between the Light and the Dark. The tone of the novel is a bit Enid Blyton-esque, though darker; while the volume also introduces Cooper's contemporary reworking of Arthurian mythology, a glittering thread which runs through the tapestry she weaves.

But very quickly, with the second book on the series, The Dark is Rising, Cooper finds her own voice and her own take on YA fantasy. In this book, we meet Will, a boy on the eve of his 11th birthday, who soon discovers that he is much more than he appears to be after he is appointed on the quest to find and unite the six signs of power, made by the Light long ago and vital if the rising Dark is to be defeated.

It's in this book that Cooper's skillful writing comes to the fore; such as with this description of Will's slightly older brother:

"James stood fuming on the landing like a small angry locomotive..."

I love that phrase. It instantly conjures up an image of a small, compact boy, so angry that steam is almost coming out of his ears.

This second volume is a more complex book than its predecessor, both thematically, structurally and dramatically. Whereas the villains in Over Sea, Under Stone are almost cartoon-like; here, characters such as the The Rider exude real malice and malevolence; while the tragic figure of The Walker is both contemptible and pitiable.

In the third volume, Greenwitch (1974), Cooper successfully unites the characters from the first two books, in a story set in Cornwall, and involving both the Dark, and the old, Wild Magic. Importantly, it's the only book in the series written from a predominantly female point of view; a fact which has considerable bearing over the way the story, involving ancient tradition, ghosts, guilt and greed, plays out. It's certainly a step up from Over Sea, Under Stone, but it still seems to lack a certain something; a complaint I could never make about my favourite volume in the series.

Set in North Wales, The Grey King (1975) fuelled a long fascination in Welsh mythology that had previously been sparked by exposure to Celtic legends, but that's not the main reason this is the book of Cooper's that I love best. It's because of the friendship she evokes between Will Stanton, now aged 12, and the strange young albino boy Bran Davies, whose birthright, we eventually learn, is even more important to the struggle of the Light than Will's own. It's because of the epic scope of the story, told over a concise handful of days; and the way Cooper contrasts the power of the High Magic with all-too-human tales of grief, loss and love. Dispatched to Wales to recover from a childhood illness, Will soon finds himself battling the forces of the Grey King, and aided by Bran, and his dog Cafall, embarks on a desperate quest to find a magical harp and awaken the Six Riders, before the Dark claims them for all eternity...

Lastly, the culmination of the saga, Silver on the Tree (1977) brings the books' many characters together in the final, epic battle against the last great rising of the Dark. Jane's role is an important one; Will's quests play their part; Bran's heritage is invaluable; but in the end, it is perhaps that most human of emotions, love, which proves most important in the face of the battle that is to come.

Lyrical, passionate, magical; capturing the joy of childhood, and written with imagination to rival the likes of many other fine writers of YA fantasy, such as Diana Wynne Jones and Alan Garner, The Dark is Rising series remains one of the highpoints of the genre. I cannot recommend the series highly enough.

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

Iron for the birthday, bronze carried long;
Wood from the burning, stone out of song;
Fire in the candle-ring, water from the thaw;
Six Signs the circle, and the grail gone before.

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.