The Grey King

The Grey King
by Susan Cooper
★★★★☆

This is the fourth book (out of five) in The Dark is Rising series and so far, one of my favorites. Will Stanton is young boy on the outside, but he’s also one of the “Old Ones,” who are in the midst of fighting a continuous battle against the dark forces that try to corrupt the world. In my opinion, the later books do not work well as stand alones. You really need to read the earlier ones to understand who the Old Ones are and grasped the overall story, so start at the beginning.

In this book Will gets sick and his family sends him off to Wales for a little R&R with some extended family. Once there he makes friends with Bran, a kind albino boy, and his faithful dog Cafall. Bran is a wonderful addition to the stories mythology and I love watching his story unfold. I was also glad to see Merriman make an appearance as well.

I will admit that I’m sure I would have loved this series even more if I’d read it when I was younger. A mystery, good vs. evil, a bit of fantasy, it would have been right up my alley. That’s not to say I still don’t love it, it’s just different when you can read a series with a certain innocence. Your mind isn’t already saturated with hundreds of books and each new addition is startlingly new and wonderful.

As it has been with the other books in this series, the best part of the plot comes as things are wrapped up in the end. There’s always a little twist or new bit of the story revealed and I particularly loved this one. I won’t give anything away, but I am really looking forward to reading the final book in the series.

Here are my reviews of The Dark is Rising and Greenwich (the 2nd and 3rd books in the series).