Susan Cooper (1) (1935–)

This is book 4 of the sequence and we are back with Will and with out and out fantasy after the previous blend of adventure story with fantasy and the Drew children's return.

Will is sent to Wales to recuperate after a serious illness which not only weakens him physically, but makes him forget that he is an Old One, last of that mysterious group who serve the Light and oppose the rising of the Dark. At first he is unaware that he has to perform a quest to regain another object of power to help the Light prevail, and must do so without the help of his mentor, Merriman Lyon, although a boy with whom he strikes up a precarious friendship is instrumental in helping him succeed.

Bran, who it transpires is the Raven Boy from the poem Will memorised at the end of book 3, is an albino and a loner, his only close friend his father's sheepdog, Caffal. Will meets them when he starts to explore the hills, having had a small stirring of memory about what he is meant to be doing there, and the dog restores his lost sense of self. But they are opposed not only by the supernatural forces of the Grey King, a major force among the Dark, but by human stupidity and vengefulness.

In some ways this is far more of an adult book than the rest of the series because of the thread concerning the relationship between Bran's mother, his father, and the local villain. Will has to grapple with issues far in advance of his eleven and a half years, though not of his greater Old One self, yet he has sympathy for Bran's difficulties. There is tragedy for Bran, though probably not as affecting as it could have been as it was telegraphed long before the event. But in some ways it is the human story concerning Bran which is the most affecting part of the book. The fantasy elements are in some ways a bit grafted on and artificial - the sequence when the boys have to answer the riddles posed by the three "kings" and who their real identities are is a case in point. It is also rather odd that a major plot device concerns a wildfire - the eponymous book that introduced Will shows us that he can start and put out fires, but here he never even thinks to try extinguishing this one, and yet he is supposed to be a powerful wizard. I liked the book, but I didn't love it, so a 3 rating from me.… (mer)

A re-read of book 2 of the series, the eponymous volume which gives the series as a whole its title. In contrast to the first, we are plunged into out and out fantasy from pretty much the start of the book. The setting is a few days before Christmas, and it is nearly Will Stanton's eleventh birthday. Will would like nothing better than a white Christmas, but it is a case of 'be careful, you might get what you wish for' because a whiteout occurs which paralyses most of England, and is actually a weapon in the arsenal of that powerful adversary, the Dark. For Will is the last-born of the Old Ones, and it is his destiny to carry out a quest to find six signs which, when joined, will form a powerful weapon in the defensive war of the Light against the Dark.

Will is also a normal boy, unprepared for the revelation about his true nature, and this duality in his character results in blunders and in his heartbreaking realisation that a wedge has been driven between himself and the members of his large family (he is the youngest of nine children). As well as this psychological thread throughout, we also have the subplot concerning the Walker, a man condemned to carry one of the signs as a punishment for earlier sins - but also the victim of his own fallible human nature. For as Will's mentor, Merriman - an ancient and powerful Old One who appeared in book 1 as the children's honorary great uncle - discovers, human beings cannot be burdened with the full knowledge of the conflict between Light and Dark without 'breaking', as they cannot view it with the detachment required.

One of the strengths of the books is its imagery and its evocation of place and of the weather. The snow and storm are almost a character in their own right. The magic also is well evoked and described, interwoven with elements of British mythology. Some of the minor characters are well realised such as the Walker and one of the local people who turns out to be working for the Dark.

Where the story has weaknesses, they are due to the sometimes passive behaviour of Will. In some cases he discovers the signs, or is given them, very easily. The climax is also a bit anticlimatic in the sense that the Dark is in the end driven back for the time by an ancient power, not directly by the actions of Will and Merriman and the other Old Ones. I still loved the story, but because of this can only give it a 4.5, or in Goodreads terms a 4-star rating.… (mer)