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A review by daja57
Greenwitch by Susan Cooper
3.0
The third in the 'Dark Is Rising' series of five books aimed at children.
We return to Cornwall, scene of the first book (Over Sea Under Stone). The grail that Simon, Barney and Jane discovered has been stolen from the museum and they have a week of Easter holiday with Great Uncle Merry to search for it. Tagging along is Will, the hero of the second book (The Dark is Rising); unknown to the other three kids, Will is one of the Old Ones, magicians who fight for the Light against the Dark.
I was a little disappointed that the opportunities for jealousy and resentment are not really exploited but this is, after all, a children's book. The mood of the book has returned to the light, carefree atmosphere of the first book - these are Cornish holidays - and I missed the dark, threatening mood of the start of the second book, set in a wintry Thames valley. But the arousal of Wild Magic, independent of either Light or Dark, partly made up for this.
One of its strengths is that it did have some excellent descriptions which I have included among the selected quotes below. The best chapters were those featuring Jane: making the Greenwitch and the night of chaos.
It's a very short and simple book which would probably appeal to well-behaved middle-class kids aged about ten.
We return to Cornwall, scene of the first book (Over Sea Under Stone). The grail that Simon, Barney and Jane discovered has been stolen from the museum and they have a week of Easter holiday with Great Uncle Merry to search for it. Tagging along is Will, the hero of the second book (The Dark is Rising); unknown to the other three kids, Will is one of the Old Ones, magicians who fight for the Light against the Dark.
I was a little disappointed that the opportunities for jealousy and resentment are not really exploited but this is, after all, a children's book. The mood of the book has returned to the light, carefree atmosphere of the first book - these are Cornish holidays - and I missed the dark, threatening mood of the start of the second book, set in a wintry Thames valley. But the arousal of Wild Magic, independent of either Light or Dark, partly made up for this.
One of its strengths is that it did have some excellent descriptions which I have included among the selected quotes below. The best chapters were those featuring Jane: making the Greenwitch and the night of chaos.
It's a very short and simple book which would probably appeal to well-behaved middle-class kids aged about ten.