Susan Cooper is a British children’s author, who is best known for the Dark is Rising sequence of which this book is the second volume.
“It’s a horrible day,” said Will, surprised by his own violence. “It’s creepy, somehow.”
“It will be a bad night,” said Mr Dawson. “The Walker is abroad, and this night will be bad, and tomorrow will be beyond imagining.”
These are the words so long ago that pulled me in and made me read this book, despite it not being the first in the series (something I never usually do) It instantly set the hook and made me want to know more about Will and what was happening.
This coming-of-age story is set around Winter/Christmas time and is known to be a seasonal story that a lot of people pick up around this time. I am one of those people who seem to have fallen into the tradition of picking up this book near the end of the year for another read. The book revolves around Will Stanton who is about to turn 11 and is wishing desperately for snow. Will discovers he is an “old one” and must come into his powers to help fight the battle against the dark, which is rising… 🙂
This is a familiar type of fantasy story but managed to grip you and take you along for the adventure of a lifetime. You suffer along with Will and watch as he overcomes the perils put in his way by the sinister “Rider” The winter surroundings are the perfect way to set the scene for the traditional coming-of-age good versus evil story.
The passage above is on the back of the book as part of the blurb and from when I was a child in secondary school those words drew me in. My memory is bad enough that I don’t remember much from those times but this book stuck with me through the years. I love Fantasy and even back then I loved a book that promised adventure and this book delivered.
Even now at 45 I still read this book and I would say it is the most re-read book I have in my library. this, however, does make me want to kick myself as I have had the omnibus edition for a long time but I still haven’t read the rest of the books in the series. Maybe this is something that I should fix this year.
I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants a traditional adventure with fantastic storytelling.
