Books : Search

Average Rating:

.The Dark Is Rising Sequence 5 Volume Boxed Set

by: Susan Cooper

August 21, 2007
I have treasured these books since childhood, luckily for me my first child is approaching the age where I can read them to him. I still remember being totally captivated by the characters and stories - in the way Harry Potter has for a new generation. Like the Potter, these books chronicle the ancient battle of good versus evil - and how the choices we make for ourselves can influence the outcome. And what stories! I know there has been a film, but refused to watch it on the grounds that these stories should be read in order, and the film appeared to jump right in at the middle. I cannot recommend these books highly enough.
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Dark Is Rising Sequence 5 Volume Boxed Set

Used Price: £11.65

Average Rating:

.The Dark is Rising Sequence: "Over Sea, Under Stone"; The "Dark is Rising"; "Greenwitch"; The "Grey King"; "Silver O": "Over Sea, Under Stone"; The "Dark ... The "Grey King"; "Silver O" (Puffin Books)

by: Susan Cooper

October 25, 1984
I am sorry to confess that I really didn't like this book. Reading all the enthusiastic reviews, I am clearly out-numbered but if I explain why I didn't like it then maybe you can decide whether your mind works like mine or like the books' admirers.

Perhaps the difference is that I read the book aloud and I have the impression most of the reviewers read it alone as children. When you read a book aloud you are very conscious of the quality of the prose and especially the dialogue. That, I believe, is the weakness in Susan Cooper's books.

The story is nicely crafted and it is easy to identify with the brave and occasionally foolish children who are the heroes. But I found the prose excruciating. It is difficult to explain ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Dark is Rising Sequence: "Over Sea, Under Stone"; The "Dark is Rising"; "Greenwitch"; The "Grey King"; "Silver O": "Over Sea, Under Stone"; The "Dark ... The "Grey King"; "Silver O" (Puffin Books)

Used Price: £1.50

Average Rating:

.King of Shadows

by: Susan Cooper

September 07, 2000
One of the best Books I've read, and considering how many books I have read it is really really good!
I definitely recommend it!
>>See More Reviews & Details on King of Shadows

Used Price: £0.01

Average Rating:

.The Dark is Rising Sequence (Dark Is Rising)

by: Susan Cooper

October 04, 2007
I am sorry to confess that I really didn't like this book. Reading all the enthusiastic reviews, I am clearly out-numbered but if I explain why I didn't like it then maybe you can decide whether your mind works like mine or like the books' admirers.

Perhaps the difference is that I read the book aloud and I have the impression most of the reviewers read it alone as children. When you read a book aloud you are very conscious of the quality of the prose and especially the dialogue. That, I believe, is the weakness in Susan Cooper's books.

The story is nicely crafted and it is easy to identify with the brave and occasionally foolish children who are the heroes. But I found the prose excruciating. It is difficult to explain what ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Dark is Rising Sequence (Dark Is Rising)

Used Price: £6.93

Average Rating:

.The Dark Is Rising (Puffin Books)

by: Susan Cooper

March 25, 1976
What a brilliant fantasy. Although this is the second of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence (and there are 5 books in total), it could easily be read as a stand alone book too.

On Midwinter's Eve, young Will Stanton, the youngest of a large family in the Thames Valley and seventh son of a seventh son, is about to turn eleven. But something strange is in the air. The atmosphere feels odd, the rabbits shrink away from him when he goes to give them their feed, the radio shrieks with interference when Will walks past it and it feels like snow is on its way...

Events only get more strange during the course of the night and in the morning Will awakes early on his birthday to find a very different world looking back at him through ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Dark Is Rising (Puffin Books)

Used Price: £0.01

Average Rating:

.Over Sea, Under Stone (Puffin Books)

by: Susan Cooper

August 26, 1976
Simon, Jane & Barney are off on their summer holidays with their mum & dad, to a holiday house in the village of "Trewissick" on the Cornish Coast, where they will all stay with Great-Uncle-Merry in a rambling old house overlooking the sea. They are all thrilled to be going to Cornwall, but none more so than Barney, the youngest, who loves the stories of Arthurian Legend and dreams of stories of King Arthur and his Knights. He can't wait to see Cornwall, the land of the Pendragon, the centre of Arthurian myth.

On a miserable rainy day at the beginning of their holiday, the children decide to make an adventure of exploring the house where they are staying. Locked cabinets, chests and personal papers are out of bounds but they are free to explore ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Over Sea, Under Stone (Puffin Books)

Used Price: £0.01

Average Rating:

.The Dark Is Rising

by: Susan Cooper

September 06, 2007
Susan Cooper has yet to equal "The Dark is Rising," the second book of her classic Dark is Rising Sequence. Too bad the movie adaptation looks like a hollow "Harry Potter" ripoff.

That whole attitude betrays the beauty and spirit of her second "Dark is Rising Sequence" novel, which is independent of her the first book "Over Sea Under Stone." This book is deeper, darker, more dreamlike, more intense, and with an unlikely hero -- a stunning battle between good and evil.

Will Stanton is an ordinary boy, until his Midwinter eleventh birthday. On that day, he ventures out into a seemingly changed world, encounters a sinister Dark Rider, then a beautiful white horse that leads him to a hidden place. There he encounters the Old Ones -- the mysterious ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Dark Is Rising

Used Price: £0.02

Average Rating:

.The Grey King (Puffin Books)

by: Susan Cooper

July 28, 1977
Yet another enchanting story from Susan Cooper in The Dark is Rising Sequence, her Arthurian legend fantasy series. `The Grey King' is book 4, out of a total of 5.

In `The Grey King' young Will Stanton is sent to stay with family on a remote farm in the Welsh hills, to recover from a serious illness. Here he meets and befriends a local boy, Bran, and his dog Cafall. Bran is no ordinary young boy but is albino, and from their first meeting he recognises Will as one of the Old Ones, guardians of the Light against the powers of the Dark. The Dark is rising and Will soon realises that he has been brought to Wales to complete the task of raising the last great defence of the Light, before the great battle of Dark and Light takes place (book 5).

`Fire ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Grey King (Puffin Books)

Used Price: £0.01

Average Rating:

.Victory

by: Susan Cooper

February 01, 2007
Hers we have two stories separated by two hundred years, yet joined by a fragment of cloth. It is a book that will be very welcome in school libraries as well as in many a private home for it is an extremely well written tale that carries with it a craftily concealed history lesson.

The tale alternates between the story of young Molly, who is homesick when she goes to live in America, and that of Sam, a young boy press-ganged into service on HMS Victory, in time for the battle of Trafalgar.

Molly discovers, in the cover of an old book about Nelson, a piece of the flag that draped his coffin and she senses an echo from the past. However, when she returns home to England, she visits the Victory, and there, for four hours, the two centuries that separate her and Sam disappear ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Victory

Used Price: £0.01

Average Rating:

.The Boggart

by: Susan Cooper

May 31, 2005
Its good to see Susan Cooper is back writing again, one of our more intelligent writers for children. This is a sweet and fun kids book in the old style about a Canadian family inheriting a castle in Scotland.. with an extra inhabitant, a tricksy boggart, who's very confused by modern life when he accidentally crosses the Atlantic. The computer stuff has dated already as these things tend to do but I think most 8 and 9 year olds would enjoy this as much as this adult did.
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Boggart

Used Price: £0.83