The Dark is Rising

This was a re-read for me. I first read The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper while in college. My friend, Ali (I have a lot of friends named Ali) recommended it to me and I was on a "read books recommended by others" kick. What I remembered about it when I embarked on this re-read was that it starred a young boy of 11 or 12 years old in England who on his birthday wanders outside into the snow and finds himself in a different century. He then encounters a blacksmith and a guy on a horse. His quest becomes fighting a menacing force called "the dark" which as the title tells us is rising. When I re-read this book (technically, I first-listened to it as I took it in via audiobook) these details remained true, but were only a very tiny part of the narrative. The very beginning, in fact. Will Stanton (the aforementioned boy) goes on to encounter various characters: the walker, the rider, the hunter, Merriman, the lady, etc. and as he meets them he learns more about his new identity as an old one which he assumed upon reaching his 11th birthday shortly before Christmas. As he continues his journey many fantastical things happen. The main premise is that Will has become the sign seeker and must find and collect all six signs in the fight of the light against the dark. Each sign is a circle quartered by a cross.

There are many things I like about this book:
1. It features a young boy so there is a lot of imagination and precociousness.
2. It takes place in England.
3. It has fantasy elements.
4. It involves an epic fight of good against evil.
5. There's snow. I love snow. I don't even care that it's menacing. I like it.

But for some reason this time around there were a lot of things I did not like about this book:
1. There are lengthy scenes that involve delving into fantastical elements in detail. Like when Will is reading the book of grammary. Or when he notices a twig. Or basically any time time stands still. This seemed tedious to me.
2. The characters felt sort of flat. The rider, for instance, apparently has a back story that Will learned about from reading grammary, but the reader doesn't get to hear it. Everyone is either fully good or fully bad. Not so very interesting.
3. The fantastic happens a little too often. Makes it seem even less likely. And I'm inclined to like fantasy stories.

Not long ago I listened to Over Sea, Under Stone on audiobook (the first book in The Dark is Rising series) and I rather enjoyed it. There's some simplistic elements to it, but it follows four children and allows for more interesting interactions between characters. Plus Merriman isn't as harsh a character and is therefore more likable. It is for the sake of that book that I finished The Dark is Rising even though it did not grip me in the same way. And for the sake of that book I will finish the series. All in all I give it an Eh rating.

Note: this book was made into a movie in 2007, which did not do well. I started to watch it while flying somewhere sometime and I couldn't watch past the first ten minutes. Watch at your own peril.