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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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I liked the way the Magicians books actively called out and dealt with the cruel capriciousness of this sort of thing, even though it doesn't quite bother me on that level personally. (Actually I loved those books a lot - far more than I was expecting to. The last book in the series made me cry more than once, and I still think of some of the scenes in it from time to time.)
Maybe that kind of thing - the Narnia thing, the mindwipe here - are so prevalent in kids' books because kids' lives are full of (to them) arbitrary and implacable rules established by grownups, so it's not so much of a change. I don't remember having any strong feelings on it when I was a kid, or even really noticing it all that much. My memories of these books are extremely vague, but I read the Narnia books over and over, and it didn't bother me at all; I just took it for a given that it was a rule of the place and nothing could be done.
I remember loving gramarye1971's Dark is Rising/Harry Potter crossover fanfic when I was in my teens. It featured an older Will without his friends. I certainly thought it captured the angst of being an Old One combined with Will's general disinclination to angst. (Not going to revisit it in case in doesn't match my memories!)
There's always been something really tragic yet pragmatic about Will. While I'm not going to go looking for the fic either, I think seeing how he develops through time would be very interesting.