Over Sea, Under Stone (Dark Is Rising Sequence)

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I think I would have enjoyed this more as a child, but coming to it for the first time as an adult there were a couple of things I couldn't get over. First, the children were SO STUPID!!! The number of times they did dumb things that got them into trouble, like pulling out a secret artifact when you know an enemy is nearby, or not thinking to bring a flashlight to go exploring a cave... It ended up feeling to me like a lazy way to create conflict rather than letting the children be smart. The other thing is how awful all the adults in their lives are. They are either not paying attention or truly villainous. Supposedly with the exception of their great uncle, but he PUTS THEM IN DANGEROUS SITUATIONS ON PURPOSE!!! He's supposed to be painted as this fun uncle letting them in on grownup secrets and helping them on their quest, but what I see is a grown man allowing children to endanger themselves so that he can get what he wants. And look, I know having adults not paying attention for one reason or another is a very common trope in children's literature, but something about how this was done just hit different for me. This book was bad... Really bad. I think maybe if I had read this as a young child it wouldn't have bothered me, but reading this as an adult it wasn't a good read.... Lccn 66011199 Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Old_pallet IA18426 Openlibrary_edition Cooper wrote her first book for young readers in response to a publishing house competition; "Over Sea, Under Stone" would later form the basis for her critically acclaimed five-book fantasy sequence, "The Dark Is Rising." The fourth book in the series, "The Grey King," won the Newbery Medal in 1976. By that time, Susan Cooper had been living in America for 13 years, having moved to marry her first husband, an American professor, and was stepmother to three children and the mother of two.

The rooks: The majority of these birds are servants of the Dark and attract their forces wherever they are seen. while i am waiting for that,i will write a review for this book. obviously, there are going to be comparisons to that narnia series - british siblings shuttled off to a spooky house with secret passageways behind a wardrobe with an eccentric older relative and some christian mythology thrown in for funs. Clute, John (1997). "Cooper, Susan". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction . Retrieved 5 August 2013.

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Bird, Elizabeth (7 July 2012). "Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results". School Library Journal. A Fuse #8 Production. Blog (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com) . Retrieved 19 August 2012. Updated review---Wow! I can't believe I read this almost 7 years ago and still haven't returned to finish the series until now. It really is a great start to a story. Once again, I loved traipsing through the Cornish countryside with Simon, Jane, and Barney. The addition to this story of some King Arthur archaeology is fantastic and still one of the points I love best about this book. I listened to it this time on audiobook, which enhanced the experience. Alex Jennings was the narrator and all I can say is it's fantastic! Jane is neat and kind. Naturally cautious, she serves as a voice of reason for her brothers, who often want to rush headlong into danger. Although she is very good and comes to fight fiercely for the Light, she is at first often cautious about getting too involved in things they know little about, being usually concerned about the danger involved. Once she has decided to help the Light, however, she is very courageous. Despite her young age, she is frequently described as having strong maternal instincts, usually for her brothers but sometimes for other members of the Six, including for Gumerry, despite his being several millennia her elder. Despite being generally good-natured, in the fifth book she is, for a time, strongly beset by the Dark, causing her to be unusually irritable. The novel, however, is more than an adventure story; it is a modern fantasy, original but firmly rooted in the King Arthur stories. Merriman Lyon, who helps the children through their adventures, is Merlin, Arthur's magician, who is now living in the twentieth century. Knowing the Arthurian legends enriches the reading of the novel, but is not necessary. The legendary and allegorical overtones emerge clearly from the story itself. Corran, Mary (1996). "Susan Cooper: Overview". In David Pringle (ed.). St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers. New York: St. James Press . Retrieved 5 August 2013.

The Grail: Made in imitation of the Holy Grail from the King Arthur legends, it is an artefact of power used by the Light. There are markings on it in a writing similar to Ogham, which is long lost. It is eventually translated by the Old Ones, thanks to a coded manuscript inside a metal case held by the Greenwitch. High Magic: The most powerful magic, being of the Cosmos. A spell of this type is used by the Old Ones in Greenwitch to be able to communicate with Tethys, the Queen of the Sea, and plead for her help in obtaining the scroll that will help translate the writing on the Grail. In The Grey King, Will Stanton and Bran Davies obtain the Harp of Gold from a place guarded by the High Magic after being tested by a Lord of the Dark, a Lord of the Light, and a Lord of the High Magic. Merriman Lyon (Great-Uncle Merry; Gumerry): An old friend of the Drew children's maternal grandfather and their mentor in everything.

Among narratives intended for children it features fairly sophisticated use of English, with an extensive vocabulary and complex sentence structures. [6] Old Speech is the spoken form of the ancient language of the Old Ones. When an Old One comes to power, this language is used instinctively by the Old One when speaking to members of the Light or the Dark. Will Stanton begins to do this without even realizing it. When an Old One speaks the Old Speech in front of a normal human, it will sound like gibberish. Captain Toms: Friend of Merriman, owner of The Grey House which the Drews rent, has a very smart red setter Rufus that helps the Drew children avoid danger and find the Grail.

In fact, it may have already begun, for a Mr Withers and his sister Polly—living in the neighbourhood—have been to invite the family to come out on their yacht and Jane distinctly feels uncomfortable around them. While Great Uncle Merry does help and support them in searching for the treasure, actually deciphering the map’s clues and finding the treasure is for the three to do. But can they do this on their own? Do the Withers brother and sister catch up with them? I’m reading this as part of The Dark is Rising Sequence omnibus. As I write this, I’ve read both this and The Dark is Rising. I’m not quite rushing to add this to my nephew’s future reading list. Which is not to say the books are bad, or dull, or even particularly unimpressive. I enjoyed them. But they don’t achieve the intense highs or agonizing depths that I want from my books, young adult or otherwise. I can’t speak for whether younger me would have had a less critical opinion of them, sorry. And perhaps, at the time when they were published, this was innovative and inspirational. As it is, I think the market and genre have widened to the point where there are certainly more worthwhile stories in which children can immerse themselves. But if there aren’t, then I suppose this would do in a pinch.They recognise a drawing of the local coastline that may be a kind of map, with almost illegible text, but Barney realises that the map refers to King Arthur and his knights. The children decide to keep the discovery to themselves. In this story we not only see three young British Middle-class children making fun of the working class, anyone foreign, anyone gay and anyone even remotely different, but we see them doing so completely obliviously. These three children aren't 'bad', in fact they are the 'heroes' of the book, but the problem of the time it was written (60s) is that a lot of people (clearly including this author) held many of these prejudices themselves and had no issue writing these into their own works. Excited by her discovery and curious to learn more, she rushes out to the nearby vicarage and asks the vicar about the guidebook. Despite what the guidebook says, the vicar claims he did not write it. He does however ask a number of probing inquiries that further inflame Jane's already suspicious nature. Things of Power: The Old Ones have four Things of Power that will be used in the final battle which will allow them to defeat the Dark: the circle of Signs, the Grail, the Harp, and the Sword. They are obtained in The Dark Is Rising, Over Sea, Under Stone, The Grey King, and Silver on the Tree, respectively. Greenwitch is the story of the recovery of the stolen Grail. Susan Cooper’s Newbery Medal-honored five-volume series The Dark Is Rising is one of the most enduring works of young adult fantasy in the latter 20th century. Cooper’s mythic tales paid distinct homage to the legends that inspired them — particularly those of King Arthur, and the Mabinogion — and her reverence for this lore suffuses these engrossing adventures without weighing them down with self-importance.

I think it’s partly that which makes the books survive for me — under the concerns of the children, there’s that darkness and fear. Interview with Susan Cooper | Robbins Library Digital Projects". d.lib.rochester.edu . Retrieved 31 March 2022.Calkins, Lucy... (2002). " Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper" (PDF). A Field Guide to the Classroom Library. Heinemann . Retrieved 12 September 2007. Samples online (fieldguides.heinemann.com/samples). She is one of three children in the Drew Family; her older brother is Simon Drew and her younger brother is Barney Drew. Her mother is a painter and her father is a doctor. The family resides in London. The Dark Is Rising Sequence series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2012-02-26. Barnabas (Barney) Drew: Barney is the youngest of the Drews. He loves Arthurian legends and, although he is quite wary of his talent at first, paints. In Greenwitch, Barney sketches a picture of the bay, which is later stolen by an agent of the Dark, but Merriman recovers it and presents it to Tethys as a gift.