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The Dark is Rising
I've just got around to reading 'The Dark is Rising', a classic Young Adult fantasy series by Susan Cooper. I know a couple of my friends like it a lot, so I decided to give it a try.
My overall verdict is that the quality of the writing is excellent. Cooper has a way of writing magic so that it simply happens. There are some lovely descriptive sequences that really catch the imagination.
However, the series has one really big drawback: the plot is like a bad D+D scenario. All magic items were created in the ancient past, but there's no sense of how they were made or why, or why they can't be made again today. Each magic item or prophecy is basically a plot token. You have to collect plot token A, then you need token B to decipher it. Plot token C is required to enable you to get token D. Token D, when used in the correct time and place will allow you to collect prophecy E, etc.
The quality of the writing kept me going through all five volumes, but the lack of a cohesive sense of plot means that I won't read it again.
If anyone wants the five volume set, then it's yours for the cost of postage.
My overall verdict is that the quality of the writing is excellent. Cooper has a way of writing magic so that it simply happens. There are some lovely descriptive sequences that really catch the imagination.
However, the series has one really big drawback: the plot is like a bad D+D scenario. All magic items were created in the ancient past, but there's no sense of how they were made or why, or why they can't be made again today. Each magic item or prophecy is basically a plot token. You have to collect plot token A, then you need token B to decipher it. Plot token C is required to enable you to get token D. Token D, when used in the correct time and place will allow you to collect prophecy E, etc.
The quality of the writing kept me going through all five volumes, but the lack of a cohesive sense of plot means that I won't read it again.
If anyone wants the five volume set, then it's yours for the cost of postage.
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kerk
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26 Park Drive,
Blairgowrie,
Perth & Kinross,
Scotland,
PH10 6PH
And I've never bothered to renew my paypal; which has cost me a couple of things, but I genuinely hate shopping online.
kerk
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Very spoilery rant here.
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Suffice it to say, that I disliked the memory loss bit, but was far more infuriated by the whole battle between good and evil depending on who could be the first to cut a branch of mistletoe.
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I don't remember that very clearly but probably by then I was used to being puzzled by the way magic worked in that world and just wanted to finish.
Memory wipe / it was all a dream / it never happened is something that particularly enrages me. Because what is the point?
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OTOH, me, I always want to know about the characters rather than the plot...
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It's where she's writing about magic journeys that she really comes into her own. The people don't come alive, but the landscapes and settings do.