BOOK NOOK; The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper

 

"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."

The Dark Is Rising has been on my 'to be read' list for years and as the snow has been falling quietly for the last few days, now seemed like the right time.  I would describe it as a pagan adventure story, told in the same style as John Masefield's The Box of Delights, which was one of my favourite winter reads as a child.  I loved it!

The Dark Is Rising is just as magical and the pagan undertones sing off the page.  Here we meet Will,  the seventh son of a seventh son, who is born to be the last of the Old Ones.  The story begins on his eleventh birthday, at the time of the Winter Solstice, when he notices a strange atmosphere in the air and the animals behaving in a very unusual manner.

Will is given the Quest to find all six of the Signs - Iron, Bronze, Wood, Stone, Fire and Water. With them, he and the other Old Ones can push back the Dark.  But the servants of the Dark are seeking the Signs too, and they know who Will is.  They are following his every move, eager to take the Signs before he does, or to take them from him.

This is a story of our world and Otherworlds, of time-slips and portals, of Old Ways and Old Gods.  There are mad pony rides in the snow on moonlit nights, carol services in the great halls of times long ago,  the raising of an old king, long dead in his Viking long-ship and great perilous journey's to find the Signs.

Will has to summon all his courage to face the dangers that lie before him, all the while evading the Dark Rider who stalks his every step through the snow, through the portals, even through Time itself.  From the eve of the Winter Solstice right through to Twelfth Night, Will has to find and keep the Signs safe, before the Dark Rider gets to them first.  As the Dark powers are rising, a deep winter of ice and snow settles across the land and only the Light - and Will -  can break it's hold.

This is one of the best snowy books I've read this winter and although it hasn't knocked The Box of Delights off the top spot of my favorite winter books, it does come in a close second.  I enjoyed the pagan symbolism that is apparent throughout the story, the wintry atmosphere, the magic and spells.  It's a lovely book to read on a snowy day and I shall certainly be reading the rest of the series once I've finished my Masters degree.  If you enjoy books like The Box of Delights or The Lord of the Rings trilogy, then you will love the pagan magic of The Dark Is Rising.  So if you want to escape for a while and live a boys adventure tale, this book is a great way to go. Enjoy!