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The Dark is Rising - the rest of the series
Only short notes per book because I should probably have written these up right after I finished them ...
Over Sea, Under Stone - I really liked it!
It's definitely a book of a particular type, but a very fun and vivid one. I really enjoyed the kids, and I wonder if the introduction of actual magic (however subtle) would have been startling for someone who had come into it cold. Obviously it's much less of a surprise after having started with Dark is Rising! But it's a really enjoyable quest/treasure hunt and I had a lot of fun with it.
Also, I read the entire series as a kid without ever once catching onto Merriman = Merlin. Now that I've read the rest of it as an adult, I think I would probably have figured it out in Silver on the Tree, but that went completely over my head so it was startling to have it spelled out here.
The Grey King - A really lovely, evocative book; I enjoyed it even though I don't have a lot to say about it.
I did remember Bran, but not what the whole deal was with him, so it was fun working that out; I like the further development of powers beyond Light and Dark, and ways in which the Light and Dark balance each other. And the scenery descriptions and the kids' exploration of the Welsh mountains are gorgeous. I did not remember the dog's death at all, so that completely blindsided me!
Silver on the Tree - I could see why this was a lot of people's least favorite.
It's all right, I guess? But it certainly does feel like a lot of book for not a lot happening, which I guess is ironic for a book with a big climactic battle between good and evil. The descriptions of the Lost Land are really vivid and beautiful, but this one really doubled down on the parts I didn't care all that much about in this series (big magical set pieces, fated destinies and characters being jerked around by fate and given orders by more powerful characters) while also feeling strangely anticlimactic considering that the ultimate battle between good and evil to decide the fate of the world basically comes down to a courtroom-style debate over Bran's heritage in some random part of rural Wales. (Most likely a folklorically significant part, but still.)
I'm still figuring out how I feel about the ending. I am guessing that readers overwhelmingly hated the kids losing their entire memory of the rest of the series, but I kind of ... don't? I mean, in the context of the bigger picture, which is basically "the world belongs to humans now, it's up to you what you do with it" - which I liked. Mainly I was just glad that Bran didn't leave with the other magical folk and gets to stay with his friends and adopted family.
I'm glad I reread the series; it's been an entertaining read and now I'm feeling like I might want to do a similar dive into another series I haven't reread in a while.
Over Sea, Under Stone - I really liked it!
It's definitely a book of a particular type, but a very fun and vivid one. I really enjoyed the kids, and I wonder if the introduction of actual magic (however subtle) would have been startling for someone who had come into it cold. Obviously it's much less of a surprise after having started with Dark is Rising! But it's a really enjoyable quest/treasure hunt and I had a lot of fun with it.
Also, I read the entire series as a kid without ever once catching onto Merriman = Merlin. Now that I've read the rest of it as an adult, I think I would probably have figured it out in Silver on the Tree, but that went completely over my head so it was startling to have it spelled out here.
The Grey King - A really lovely, evocative book; I enjoyed it even though I don't have a lot to say about it.
I did remember Bran, but not what the whole deal was with him, so it was fun working that out; I like the further development of powers beyond Light and Dark, and ways in which the Light and Dark balance each other. And the scenery descriptions and the kids' exploration of the Welsh mountains are gorgeous. I did not remember the dog's death at all, so that completely blindsided me!
Silver on the Tree - I could see why this was a lot of people's least favorite.
It's all right, I guess? But it certainly does feel like a lot of book for not a lot happening, which I guess is ironic for a book with a big climactic battle between good and evil. The descriptions of the Lost Land are really vivid and beautiful, but this one really doubled down on the parts I didn't care all that much about in this series (big magical set pieces, fated destinies and characters being jerked around by fate and given orders by more powerful characters) while also feeling strangely anticlimactic considering that the ultimate battle between good and evil to decide the fate of the world basically comes down to a courtroom-style debate over Bran's heritage in some random part of rural Wales. (Most likely a folklorically significant part, but still.)
I'm still figuring out how I feel about the ending. I am guessing that readers overwhelmingly hated the kids losing their entire memory of the rest of the series, but I kind of ... don't? I mean, in the context of the bigger picture, which is basically "the world belongs to humans now, it's up to you what you do with it" - which I liked. Mainly I was just glad that Bran didn't leave with the other magical folk and gets to stay with his friends and adopted family.
I'm glad I reread the series; it's been an entertaining read and now I'm feeling like I might want to do a similar dive into another series I haven't reread in a while.
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The Arm of the Starfish is the one where the moral atheist gets shot in a cathedral and dies in the arms of a canon with the word "God" on his lips. (Is it a cathedral? Did my memory just at that for extra drama?) This happens in front of his newfound BFF Adam who is profoundly scarred, because, IIRC, Adam is in some way responsible, having told something to a beautiful girl that he should not have shared. Then the beautiful girl nearly loses an arm to a shark attack and the only way to save it is for the doctor friend of the moral atheist to make use of his starfish research (because starfish regrow their limbs!) and Adam is appalled that the doctor willingly does so, but also oddly inspired by this example of redemptive forgiveness.
(Given the themes of redemptive forgiveness, I always wanted Zachary to make some movement toward becoming a better person, but if he didn't manage it in An Acceptable Time then clearly he just never did.)
It's been years since I read either of these books. L'Engle was just very good at writing books that stick in one's head forever.
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Zachary does not learn an everloving thing in An Acceptable Time! I was very annoyed about this. He's also SO CLOSE at one point and then goes the other way. Damn it, Zachary, we had such hopes for you.
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THE ETERNAL QUESTION. L'Engle must have enjoyed writing him, because he keeps turning up like a bad penny, but why?? I realize that authors sometimes fall for their villains, but he's not even a fun villain, really.