The Dark Is Rising Sequence (Boxed Set): Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark Is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; Silver on the Tree

The fantasy genre has always had a strong connection to Celtic mythology and British folklore, especially if you can somehow weave Arthurian lore into it. And nowhere are those bonds more evident than in Susan Cooper’s “The Dark Is Rising Sequence,” five timelessly lovely books about an ancient war between good and evil that centers on a small group of children. It sounds simplistic, but Cooper’s haunting writing and masterful command of atmosphere is unparalleled. In “Over Sea, Under Stone,” the three Drew children come to stay with family friend Merriman Lyon. While messing around in his attic, they discover an ancient treasure map that leads to a hidden grail… if they can figure out what the map’s writing and symbols mean. However, they soon discover that they are not the only ones looking for the grail – three sinister people are also in pursuit, and they will do whatever it takes to claim the prize. “The Dark Is Rising” shifts its focus to Will Stanton, whose wintry eleventh birthday brings about a terrible and beautiful change. He learns from Merriman that he is the last of the immortal Old Ones who are fighting the evil Dark, and as the power of the Dark grows, Will must gather the six Signs that can stop them. But he soon learns that he is not the only one in danger – the Dark is threatening his beloved family as well. “Greenwitch” brings together the Drews and Will Stanton at a seaside town in Cornwall, where the grail from the first book has been stolen. Will and Merriman work on Old Ones stuff, Jane is haunted by nightmares about the Greenwitch, a symbolic weaving of branches and leaves cast into the sea, and a sinister artist captures Barney. But the Greenwitch is not just a tangle of sticks – it’s alive with wild magic that neither Old Ones nor the Dark can control. Then there’s “The Grey King,” which won a Newbury Award. An amnesiac Will is sent to Wales to recover from a severe illness, where he meets the “raven boy” – an albino boy named Bran – and a dog with “eyes that see the wind.” Will must lead Bran into a closer connection with the Old Ones, and uncover a hidden treasure for the Old Ones. But when an accident befalls the dog, Bran is angry with the Old Ones – until the truth of his past comes to light. Finally, the battle between good and evil climaxes with “Silver On The Tree,” in which Will receives visions and messages from Merriman, telling him that the final clash between the Dark and the Light is nigh. But while the Old Ones are almost ready, they don’t have the power of the Lady. For the sake of the world, he must join forces with the Drew children and Bran, and make their final stand against their mortal enemies. Susan Cooper’s writing in “The Dark Is Rising Sequence” is the kind that comes around once in a generation – it’s lyrical, subtle, elegant and nuanced, able to switch effortlessly between family squabbles and hauntingly eerie glimpses of a whole other world. She’s at her weakest in “Over Sea, Under Stone,” but even then the book isn’t actually bad – just not as brilliant as the other books. It’s an enjoyable treasure-hunt/fantasy adventure. She also weaves in a lot of Celtic mythology – primarily Welsh, such as the legend of the Grey King – and Arthurian legend, which add a depth and richness to the story beyond a simple good versus evil conflict. It really gives the story the feeling that it is the natural capstone to countless millennia of magical war, between the starkly evil Dark and the powerful but still very human Old Ones, who are able to make errors and feel sorrow despite their age. The Drew children initially feel like E. Nesbit characters who somehow stumbled into a late twentieth-century book, but they grow more layered and complicated as the series winds on. Will Stanton is a seamless blend of a clever young boy and a timeless immortal that is both wise and ancient in mind. Overseeing them all is Merriman, an all-seeing guardian who can be alternately dignified and forbidding, or kind and grandfatherly. With its majestic prose and entrancing, otherworldly characters, the “Dark is Rising Sequence” is a remarkable piece of work, and one that deserves many re-readings. Absolutely captivating, and deserving of its classic status.

This is a children's classic that I read whenever I want to escape from the world. I love when kids are the heroes, with guidance from an ageless mage. So well written and absorbing. Buy this for your kids or for yourself. The entire series in one box to keep.

Book arrvied arrived earlier than expected and in pristine condition. First read this as a child and then again in my early twenties. When I saw it on the website, knew I had to get my own copy instead of always swiping my dad's! It was just as good the third time around....wonderful :-) All five books can be read as stand alone but if you do read them in their correct order, you get a real sense of the rising sense of danger and 'darkness' that is inherent in the title. My favourite is the second book in the serires - the one which introduces Will - and then again, the fourth one which sees Will meeting the young Pendragon... It's a very believable story and one which, as a child, I thought would make a brilliant movie. Unfortunately, the movie was made but for what I assume were commercial reasons, they decided to Americanise it ...No No NO!!!! But the book is STILL BRILL :-)

The book box was a little dented when it arrived, typically happens every time I order books online. This book series is an ALL TIME favorite and sculpted my childhood a bit! Will always and forever recommend!!

I bought The Dark is Rising Sequence on a whim, and I'm glad I did. I am one of those countless adults who enjoys The Hobbit, The Chronicles of Narnia, and, to a lesser extent, the Harry Potter series. These books fall in with these, particularly with Narnia and Harry Potter, as far as the reading level goes and the fact that it concerns primarly children as the heros of the story. If you enjoy the forementioned novels, I think it likely you will enjoy The Dark is Rising, though it is not as well plotted as Harry or Narnia (though rather more poetic, particularly where Harry Potter is concerned). Since the first reviewer gave an excellent recounting of the plots, and since it is easy enough to google the stories, I will not go into that. I will talk about the quality of the story instead. I found Cooper to be a good writer, rather poetic, as I said, and capable of creating good characters. I cared what happened to the children. Will wrought my interest and pity. He is given all kinds of power, but loses his childhood. I found myself resenting the lack of grieving he is allowed for his childhood. But I will get to that in a moment. Bran was probably my favorite character, since he is given an interesting personality, a little magic, and childlike qualities all at once. I liked Will too, but was rather uncomfortable when reading him, because, like I said, I resented the responsiblies and lack of compassion 'The Light' (the force for which he is working) give him. The Drew children were most childlike. I don't quite agree with the first reviewer that they are less relatable characters than Will and Bran. Will, in particular, has a whole book in the series devoted completely to him, so, naturally, you learn more about him and the way he thinks than you would learn about Simon, Jane, and Barney. I don't think the Drews were less well written, I just think they suffered from a lack of individual spotlight. Barney, in particular, seems to me very like my little brother was at that age, and considering that the author is an adult female, this is no small accomplishment. I disliked Merriman (think Dumbledore in Harry Potter, but not as likable and not as well done, in my opinion.) I don't think the author meant to make him a target of dislike, and that is why I complain about it. If he had been meant to dislike, he would have been a good character. But, I got the feeling that Ms. Cooper expects the reader to believe he loves in his way while asking hard things, only, I didn't believe that. He is good,not nice or kind, and I understand that. We are told that he feels compassion, but I, at least, didn't believe it. Dumbledore was the same sort of elderly-magician-teacher character , and written in such a way that you knew he loved Harry, even while asking great and terrible things from him. You felt his love, even when Harry didn't understand him. I did not find that I believed Merriman loved at all. He even tells Will at one point, at the age of eleven, that he is not a child anymore. If Cooper had given Will (and the reader) a moment to regret this horrible loss of childhood, I think the story would have been as good as Harry Potter at least, and a little closer in quality to Narnia. As it was, I found myself strongly irritated by Merriman. To be fair, the writer does talk about the fact that the Light (the force of good for which Merriman and Will and the others work) is a absolute good. It does not have humanity or mercy. It does not consider individual needs, but needs as a whole, she says. Well, maybe that should exempt Merriman's behavior, but I was still not satisfied. There were also moments in the plot where Ms. Cooper should have been a little clearer. It was like the bread inside the crust without the crust. The plot was there, you knew it, but it wasn't given boundries all the time. It was fuzzy. There are times when Cooper asks the reader to understand a plot point without explaining it, and I sincerely doubt an average child reader would understand it. The level of reading is not at all challenging for an adult or even a child, but, like I said the plot is sometimes fuzzy; as if the writer were thinking something she forgot to write. I don't know if this was attempted cleverness on her part or oversight, but either way, it bothered me as a reader. I do not suggest that I didn't get her hints, but it was like a sometimes (not always, certainly) poorly-drawn map of a place I already knew. It was through my understanding of fantasy and having read many books in the genre that I understood, not through the writing of the author. A good book cannot rely on the reading of others to understand it, not in this genre, at least. All that being said, I liked it. The plot, when it was there, was good. The characters were good. I wanted to know what happens to them, and whether they end up happy. The writing was good and sometimes poetic in a way that I really enjoyed. It's a good series of stories, and worth the time. Even with the annoyances, I'll read it again, not something I can say for everything I read.

Bought these for my eleven year old grandson. He enjoyed them. A nice series for not much more than a couple of single books.

Even though this is a YA series, I reread it at least twice a year. This author is wonderful!

ich liebe diese Saga seit über dreißig Jahren, ob auf englisch, auf deutsch oder italienisch, egal, für mich ist noch kein anderes Fantasy-Buch diesem gleich gekommen.

I loved these books as a child, I picked up and read The Dark is Rising first, and preferred it to Over Sea Under Stone, which is more of a traditional adventure story. It was what I bought with my first book token, and I used to use any birthday money or tokens I got to get through the rest of the series, which took me a couple of years. That was my first experience of being able to go into a book shop and choose my own books to keep, having enjoyed years of weekly trips to the library, this was a new development in my relationship with books. I was upset when my mother (sensibly enough) cleared out all my old childhood books years after I left home, with these gems hidden among them and so I have just bought the set for my book-devouring son. He finished all of them in two (home sick from school) days, so I suppose that is an endorsement of some power and he now has this handsome hard back set which came all in one go that brings a pleasure of its own but I don't think he got quite as much satisfaction as I did out of my more drawn out process of desire and fulfilment. There are so many literary worlds for children to escape into now but this series, and especially The Dark is Rising itself have the draw of magic without losing the connection to the everyday lives of children. I stepped into the world Susan Cooper created for me and was steeped in language, names and concepts that have lingered ever since; the seventh son of a seventh son, Greenwitch, Tanith (unfortunately I never had a daughter to whom I could give that name as I had planned). So this birthday present for my son was also a gift to myself: my younger self who read them with abandon, my young adult self who mourned their loss and my present self who is glad to pass on my recommendation to my own flesh and blood; an inheritance not of my making. Of course I will also be able to re read the stories now, though with some fear of their losing their special place in my memory but the draw is irresistible.

I read these as a teenager, so it was a great walk down memory lane to read them again in my 40s - it was a real piece of nostalgia, and the books still retain the original feel that made me read them all. :)

love this, this is one of my favourite fantasy series , have been rereading it for year not as good as Harry Potter or Tolkien but close and this is a beautiful edition, had to replace my old due to flooding (tap leakage whist I was away) and this set is gorgeous. been reading this since I was in my early teens and still rereading at 60+

Hi, Otherwise Ok, but quality of paper is rather low. It is more grey than white to extent that it makes reading unpleasant.