Scan barcode
A review by daja57
The Grey King by Susan Cooper
3.0
The fourth and penultimate book in the sequence 'The Dark is Rising'. Will, the young boy who is an Old One of the Light, goes to Wales to recuperate from a serious illness and to fulfil a quest which involves finding a harp and playing it so that a sleeper will be awoken. Of course he encounters dangers and obstacles, but he also meets another schoolboy, the albino Welsh boy Bran, the raven boy, who is a mysterious figure who seems to belong outside the battle between the Light and the Dark.
And there is Cafall, Bran's sheepdog, who is threatened with being shot for sheep worrying.
It's a swiftly written story, with little fat on it, and all the usual tropes. I always feel, with books like this, that the possession of magical powers gives the protagonist an unfair advantage. Will is never really in any peril, there is no sense that he might just fail with devastating consequences. Of course, this is a children's book, so nothing terrible can happen. But the presence of a safety net inevitably dilutes the tension.
One of the pleasures of this book is that author has crafted the rhythms of the sentences that the Welsh men and women speak, when they are speaking English, so that I could really hear the lilt of Welsh, and the care and precision of the way that they pronounced their word.
And there is Cafall, Bran's sheepdog, who is threatened with being shot for sheep worrying.
It's a swiftly written story, with little fat on it, and all the usual tropes. I always feel, with books like this, that the possession of magical powers gives the protagonist an unfair advantage. Will is never really in any peril, there is no sense that he might just fail with devastating consequences. Of course, this is a children's book, so nothing terrible can happen. But the presence of a safety net inevitably dilutes the tension.
One of the pleasures of this book is that author has crafted the rhythms of the sentences that the Welsh men and women speak, when they are speaking English, so that I could really hear the lilt of Welsh, and the care and precision of the way that they pronounced their word.