Cooper, Susan Books

The Dark Is Rising (Boxed Set): The Dark Is Rising, Greenwitch, Over Sea, Under Stone, Silver on the Tree, The Grey King

Susan Cooper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Muddled, but Enjoyable 3 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

(Some Minor Spoilers below.)

The Dark is Rising sequence is one of those ubiquitous book series that all children seem required to read, and although I had it on my "to-read" list, I never got to it as a kiddo. So, when I saw this nice boxed set I thought it was my chance to catch up with a series I had neglected.

Now I wish I had read it when I was younger; I think I would have found them more entertaining. As it is, I feel that the series is average. This isn't to say that singular books weren't exceptional -- but that the whole is not greater than its parts.

The first book, Over Sea, Under Stone, is my favorite of the five. I would easily give it 5 stars. It had me on my toes throughout the entire narrative! The children were sympathetic, realistic, and interesting characters; the plot, entertaining; the tension, quite real. For the first time in a long time, I wondered if the little heroes could pull through all right. Of course, the jaded adult in me said, "Of course they can! It's a children's book!" But this book is so well written, so entertaining -- like "The Goonies," or a child's Indiana Jones -- that I couldn't help but throw my jaded predisposition to the wind and just enjoy the ride.

The second book, The Dark is Rising, I was not so certain about. It reveals Will, the last of the Old Ones, and his mission to find all of the Signs necessary to stop the Dark in the final battle. In my opinion, this is where the series gets awkward. At first I was excited for Will, who finds out he is capable of great things and can set objects on fire with just a word (which I think everyone wants to do at some point). The Dark seemed doubly sinister -- the Dark Rider was a downright thrilling villain, and the Dark attacks people Will holds dear, controls the weather, and altogether seems capable of anything.

And yet, as the story progressed, it seemed Will became less and less a character I cared for, and more and more static and uninteresting. I didn't understand, and still don't understand, the limits of an Old One -- what they can and can't do in our world, what laws govern them in general. Furthermore, the Dark -- this supposedly terrifying, very powerful force -- seems incapable of really touching Will himself, a boy who has not completely grown into the power of an Old One. I found myself wondering if the Dark could really do anything at all, or if the author gave them all this "power" for show and no brains to go with it, for their powers and plots all came to naught with what seemed little effort. I couldn't help but compare them to the villains in the first book -- villains who were terrifying precisely because they could be anybody, anywhere, working in broad daylight just as well as behind the scenes. In a way, this made the fear more visceral and brought it home to the real world -- the Dark could be the hobo in the street or, just as easily, your neighbor. This is lost when Ms. Cooper transforms the Dark into a bogeyman.

A final problem: Ms. Cooper brings up old legends without any backstory, which I would have really appreciated (as I am not an Arthurian aficionado). A little blurb in the back of the book would have been perfect.

When I moved on to Greenwitch, and realized Will and the Drews would join forces, I looked forward to it. Will then proved himself to be an annoying pretentious little twit who I wanted to kick. Merriman told the Drews they were necessary, but as the book progressed I wasn't sure why -- it seemed that what the Drews did, anybody could have done. Although I enjoyed Jane's larger place in the narrative, and the ending was very satisfying, the Drew children ended up "tools," which is really unforgivable. This book also introduced a regretful element that Ms. Cooper abuses: making people forget the incredible things they have seen. Yes, this was done in The Dark is Rising, but I felt it was done for a good reason; it was to protect Will's family and the people in his community, and I had the feeling that Old Ones were to remain absolutely undetected at all times (which was reasonable). Here, it was not done for anyone's safety, and rather, seemed completely indiscriminate. "No, we can't have you Drews seeing Will and Merriman jump off a cliff and float away. I mean, sure you guys know about the fantastical Dark and all, but we can't trust you with any more, even though you helped us find the Grail and Simon saw some creepy supernatural thing happen to Barney and Jane is talking to a nasty spirit in her dreams."

The Grey King picks up, and is the second book in the series that I would give 5 stars to. Will becomes capable of making mistakes, actually manages to forget something, and is generally an interesting fellow. The new character, Bran, was equally as fascinating. The story picked up the same sharp tension that was so wonderful about the first book, and I enjoyed it the whole way through. I didn't completely understand the Arthurian elements, but that was all right; it was just as entrancing. The Grey King himself, and his horrible foxes, were delightful foes. This book would make for a fantastic movie.

Silver on the Tree was my least favorite in the series and brought to a head all of the problems plaguing the series. Ms. Cooper was just too vague and arbitrary. Why were some choices bad and some choices good? I'll never know. Why did they do this and not that? Heaven knows why. WHY did she take a character I love and turn them to the Dark? Why, why, why does she make the Drews and Bran forget everything at the end? When Bran tried to give Jane his green pebble I wanted to cry. It's like Ms. Cooper utterly undid any sort of character development that may have gone on in the entire narrative. All the elements that could have made this book satisfying -- Bran meeting his father and realizing his destiny -- might as well have never occurred. Sure, the Lost Land was all sorts of wonderful fun; sure, the Mari Llwyd was utterly terrifying. But it doesn't make up for what seemed to be a storyline thrown together at random and a world whose rules I never quite understood (if there were any at all).

Long ago, I realized that a book can only be as good as its villains. I sometimes wonder if Ms. Cooper really thought through what the Dark was responsible for... what it really meant to banish it, and what it meant to have it in the first place. Because it's when she dives into the supernatural, and what being an Old One really means, and how Old Ones relate to the world, that the plot, characters, and Arthurian legend start to seem muddled, forced, and rushed. Two huge questions remained for me at the end of this series: Why was it important to banish the Dark if evil still dwells in the heart of man? What was so dangerous about it in the first place?

My final word: get these books at the library, and read them while you're young. Maybe there's something you'll see that I can't anymore.

Editorial Review:

Susan Cooper's brilliant Dark is Rising sequence has enthralled readers since the first book, Over Sea, Under Stone, was published more than forty years ago. The second book, The Dark is Rising, was named a Newberry Honor Book and is now a major motion picture. The fourth, The Grey King, won the Newbery Medal. This handsome boxed set includes all five books in the celebrated sequence.

Peter Pan (Aladdin Classics)

J. M. Barrie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great Fun 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This was an interesting book, full of adventure but also has a more serious side about the need to grow up and grow in wisdom. It makes us realize the consequences of our actions and also the importance of family and friends.

The questions it left unanswered for me were:
-What school is it that Hook went to? What is known for its slouch and walk?
-The question of fairies that are unsure of their sex? Androgynous like angels?
-Forget fairies and you kill them the power of naming or unnaming

A great read for children of all ages, and if you like Peter Pan then check out Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youthby J.V. Hart for an introduction to Hook as a young man.

(First written as Journal Reading Notes in 1999.)

Editorial Review:

The character of Peter Pan first came to life in the stories J. M. Barrie told to five brothers -- three of whom were named Peter, John, and Michael. Peter Pan is considered one of the greatest children's stories of all time and continues to charm readers one hundred years after its first appearance as a play in 1904.

The Dark Is Rising Sequence: Silver on the Tree; The Grey King; Greenwitch; The Dark Is Rising; and Over Sea, Under Stone

Susan Cooper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 204 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Light Is Rising 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The series as a whole is great. if you have never read them before but enjoy other great fantasy such as Harry Potter, the Forgotten Realms, or even the Lord Of The Rings these are a must read. they have been great books for the last 35 years or so and will continue to be great books 50 years from now.

Editorial Review:

Joined by destiny, the lives of the Drew children, Will Stanton, and a boy named Bran weave together in an exquisite, sometimes terrifying tapestry of mystery and quests. In the five-title series of novels known as The Dark Is Rising Sequence, these children pit the power of good against the evil forces of Dark in a timeless and dangerous battle that includes crystal swords, golden grails, and a silver-eyed dog that can see the wind. Susan Cooper's highly acclaimed fantasy novels, steeped in Celtic and Welsh legends, have won numerous awards, including the Newbery Medal and the Newbery Honor. Now all five paperback volumes have been collected in one smart boxed set. These classic fantasies, complex and multifaceted, should not be missed, by child or adult. The set includes Over Sea, Under Stone, The Dark Is Rising, Greenwitch, The Grey King, and Silver on the Tree. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter

The Dark Is Rising (The Dark Is Rising Sequence)

Susan Cooper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 161 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back,
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone."

With these mysterious words, Will Stanton discovers on his 11th birthday that he is no mere boy. He is the Sign-Seeker, last of the immortal Old Ones, destined to battle the powers of evil that trouble the land. His task is monumental: he must find and guard the six great Signs of the Light, which, when joined, will create a force strong enough to match and perhaps overcome that of the Dark. Embarking on this endeavor is dangerous as well as deeply rewarding; Will must work within a continuum of time and space much broader than he ever imagined.

Susan Cooper, in her five-title Dark Is Rising sequence, creates a world where the conflict between good and evil reaches epic proportions. She ranks with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in her ability to deliver a moral vision in the context of breathtaking adventure. No one can stop at just one of her thrilling fantasy novels. Among many other prestigious awards, The Dark Is Rising is a Newbery Honor Book and a Carnegie Medal Honor Book. (Ages 8 and older) --Emilie Coulter

King of Shadows

Susan Cooper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 58 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

For lovers of Shakespeare and theater 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Nat Field has been chosen along with a group of select boys to perform Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night's Dream at the newly-built Globe in London. The cast consists of all boys - the director wants this play to be as true to the time as possible. A different adventure begins for Nat when he awakes to find himself 400 years back in time, when the original Globe was first built!

A couple of summers ago I took part in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is the play this book mainly focuses on. I had a wonderful time reading about their preparations, costumes, and ultimately the performance. It brought back a lot of memories!

I also enjoyed reading about Nat's friendship with Shakespeare. When they acted together (Nat as Puck and Shakespeare as Oberon) the author wrote that they had a natural chemistry. And as a reader you could feel that chemistry working between them, whether they were on or off stage.

My main complaint with this book was that in the few chapters that didn't take place back in time, there was some foul language scattered throughout. I'm not sure why the author thought it necessary to make the modern-day kids and adults have bad mouths, it certainly didn't add anything to the story. Also, *POSSIBLE SPOILER* parents of young children should be warned that Nat's father commits suicide, and that scene gets just a little graphic. *SPOILER OVER*

That aside, I think King of Shadows is a well-written, intriguing peek into life as an actor during the Elizabethan time period. Anyone who is interested in history or acting is sure to enjoy it.

Editorial Review:

Nat Field is a young actor who has travelled from America to rehearse and perform as Puck in a "Midsummer Night's Dream", at the new Globe Theatre in London. As rehearsals intensify, Nat's health begins to fail and soon the rest of the cast are horrified to hear that he's been rushed into hospital with Bubonic Plague! Something strange happens, and as Nat's friends worry about him, he is experiencing an amazing adventure with the King of Shadows, William Shakespeare himself, and performing in the original Globe Theatre.

Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark Is Rising Sequence)

Susan Cooper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 89 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A good adventurous read -sort of Famous Five meets King Arthur!, 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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 the rest of the house as they like. In real Enid Blyton style they soon discover a secret stairway hidden behind a large heavy wardrobe in the boys' bedroom... and off they go to explore.... An ancient treasure map soon emerges & the children have found an adventure for their holiday... secrets to discover.

But are they out of their depth? They don't seem to be the only people chasing after hidden treasure. Soon, they find an ally in Great-Uncle-Merry & Rufus, the dog... but can they reach the treasure before the sour Mr & Miss Withers, the rude ruddy-faced boy, Billy and the man they think is the vicar?!!

A good, innocent, Famous-Five-style adventure story (first published In 1965), with just a hint of Arthurian legend & magic thrown in. From reading other reviews, it sounds as though the magic & legend are developed in the rest of the series, so here I guess just the foundations are laid. The children are all very cheery, optimistic, happy-go-lucky, although individual characters aren't developed at all in the story. Well-written, with more depth than an Enid Blyton story, lacks pace in a few places but overall recommended.

Editorial Review:

"I DID NOT KNOW THAT YOU CHILDREN WOULD BE THE ONES TO FIND IT.OR WHAT DANGER YOU WOULD BE PUTTING YOURSELVES IN."

Throughout time, the forces of good and evil have battled continuously, maintaining the balance. Whenever evil forces grow too powerful, a champion of good is called to drive them back. Now, with evil's power rising and a champion yet to be found, three siblings find themselves at the center of a mystical war.

Jane, Simon, and Barney Drew have discovered an ancient text that reads of a legendary grail lost centuries ago. The grail is an object of great power, buried with a vital secret. As the Drews race against the forces of evil, they must piece together the text's clues to find the grail -- and keep its secret safe until a new champion rises.

The Grey King (The Dark Is Rising Sequence)

Susan Cooper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 66 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Another struggle between Dark and Light 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The boy Will recovering from a nearly fatal hepatitis
is sent to his aunt's in Wales to recover, but also
on a mission to retrieve the golden harp and awake the six sleepers.
In his way is Brenin LLwyd, the Grey King, who is one of the
ancient dark powers. His unlikely new friend turns out to
be a son of power out of time.
What I liked about this book is the explanation pronunciation of Welsh
names. Where many place Arthur in the midlands or lakes area,
it seem that Susan Cooper is for the hills of Wales.
This book is the third of these serial tales that I have read,
and I think Greenwitch (The Dark Is Rising Sequence) may be slightly better in characterization and plot.
Others have done this kind of writing better that I have read.The Owl Service is a good example.

Editorial Review:

"Fire on the Mountain Shall Find the Harp of Gold Played to Wake the Sleepers,Oldest of the Old..."

With the final battle between the Light and the Dark soon approaching, Will setsout on a quest to call for aid. Hidden within the Welsh hills is a magical harpthat he must use to wake the Sleepers - six noble riders who have slept for centuries.

But an illness has robbed Will of nearly all his knowledge of the Old Ones, andhe is left only with a broken riddle to guide him in his task. As Will travelsblindly through the hills, his journey will bring him face-to-face with the most powerful Lord of the Dark - the Grey King. The King holds the harp and Sleepers within his lands, and there has yet to be a force strong enough to tearthem from his grasp...

The Boggart

Susan Cooper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Definitely Not Exciting 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I guess I expected to see a smaller quantity of flat humor throughout my reading of The Boggart. Sure, there are a few laughs, but most of the content intended to be comical falls through and leaves the reader with only a feeling of emptiness. Add to that an awful comment comparing a somewhat pushy psychologist to the genocidal maniac Hitler, and it becomes painfully obvious that this isn't Mrs. Cooper's best material. Maybe she was trying to meet a writing deadline or something, I don't know.

All that being said, the main points of this book could be summarized in a few sentences. The Boggart is an invisible mischief maker who lives in Scotland. He inhabits a castle that's being left to a Canadian family after the death of the owner. The family can't stay in the castle, so they just take some of its furniture. The Boggart gets trapped in a desk and is transported to the family's modern home in Canada. He causes mischief there, until he gets homesick. Then he goes into the (very dated) computer, and crams himself into a floppy disk (See??...very dated) and the kids of the family mail the disk to Scotland where the castle's next door neighbor downloads the Boggart back into his old home.

I guess the Boggart's love of mischief is supposed to be the funniest thing in the whole darn world, but I found his antics to be just a shade below the first half of a Home Alone movie on the comedy scale.

While the Boggart is causing mischief in the Canadian family's home, a psychologist butts in and claims the flying chairs the Boggart is throwing around are simply effects from an ESP condition possessed by one of the kids. I guess the pushy implication of such a thing ranks right up there with killing three million people. Bad, bad, bad.

Editorial Review:

Centuries old and thousands of miles from home

When Emily and Jess Volnik's family inherits a remote, crumbling Scottish castle, they also inherit the Boggart -- an invisible, mischievous spirit who's been playing tricks on residents of Castle Keep for generations. Then the Boggart is trapped in a rolltop desk and inadvertently shipped to the Volniks' home in Toronto, where nothing will ever be the same -- for the Volniks or the Boggart.

In a world that doesn't believe in magic, the Boggart's pranks wreak havoc. And even the newfound joys of peanut butter and pizza and fudge sauce eventually wear thin for the Boggart. He wants to go home -- but his only hope lies in a risky and daring blend of modern technology and ancient magic.

Victory

Susan Cooper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

V for Victory 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 13 people found this review helpful.

Certain authors publish with an aura of definite mystique. Lloyd Alexander, for one, can still elicit a certain thrill when his books sit on a shelf. Ditto Philip Pullman. But of all these fellows, not a one of them can hold a candle to the majesty and plum good writing of Ms. Susan Cooper. Her "The Dark Is Rising" sequence is still the go to series when it comes to Celtic myth and Arthurian legend. It was with great shock that I discovered a couple years ago that not only had she written comic pieces (as with "The Boggart") and time travel ("King of Shadows") but that she was STILL WRITING. Somehow I'd assumed "The Dark Is Rising" books were written decades ago solely for my own enjoyment and that the author had long since passed on to another world. Hardly. It is fortunate indeed that "Victory" proves how wrong I was. Not quite a time travel book, but not quite realistic fiction either, this latest Cooper saga follows two children, inexplicably tied to one another. And while it's not the author's finest work, there's no denying the fine fabulous writing that has gone into it.

Molly's world has fallen totally and irreparably apart. A logical girl, she understands why she and her family have moved from London, England to Connecticut. She knows that her new stepfather and stepbrother are fine fellows and that her house and room are bigger and more beautiful than anything she's ever had before. She knows this. However, Molly is so homesick for England that she'll hold on to anything that might tie her to it as if it were a lifeline. When a book of the life of Lord Nelson falls into her possession, Molly starts finding herself connected to the life of a boy who lived hundreds of years before her own. Sam Robbins was, during the time of the Napoleonic wars, pressed into serving on Horatio Nelson's ship. Once he is on The Victory, Sam finds himself both horrified and awed by his experience as one of the crew's powder monkeys. Told in alternating chapters, the book charts Molly's journey back to her former home to visit The Victory today, and Sam's journey over the seas on the boat he would soon regard as his own.

Because the book is shifting continually between the present and the past, Cooper sometimes writes herself into an interesting predicament. On the one hand you have Molly, who's misery is palpable. Cleverly, Cooper allows the reader to feel the child's homesickness and sheer unhappiness just as if it were their own. We are utterly sympathetic. At the same time, though, Cooper has coupled this tale alongside Sam's story. There is a moment in the book where Sam has just been forced to wear an iron bar in his mouth for three days as punishment for something he mistakenly did. He cannot eat or drink or sleep and the bar cuts painfully into his skin, drawing blood. The chapter ends after the bolt is removed and suddenly we're back with Molly who's problems, let's face it, shrivel up and dry in the face of Sam's agony. As I read the book I wondered if Cooper was aware that the reader might not sympathize with Molly as keenly once they'd been introduced to Sam's torturous situation. I needn't have feared. I suspect that Cooper knew exactly what she was doing when she paired Sam's tale with that of Molly's because at that moment the reader starts to feel that the Molly dilemma can only be solved if she herself understands how small her problems really are. The climax comes when Molly does realize this in an almost violent but necessary fashion.

A co-worker of mine started reading the book, but stopped when she found it dull. I was fascinated by this reaction, especially since I've been wondering how kids would react to this story. Would they be bored? Thrilled? I think Molly's contemporary tale is definitely necessary. I suppose the first image of the funeral march for Lord Nelson might be a bit slow as beginnings go, but once Molly is thrown head over heels into the ocean as her step-brother and step-father sail, the tale definitely picks up. Of course, it's filled to brimming with ship terms. And there's quite a lot of discussion of how the ship is laid out. Interestingly enough I kept suddenly envisioning the layout of the ships found in "The Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. I suspect that if you wanted to make a reader reluctant to pick up this story, just explain to them that there are ship fights similar to those in the "Pirates" movies. I can't guarantee that that would work, but it's certainly worth a shot.

But you know, it's just all about the writing, isn't it? The little moments that separate the good books from the so-so ones. Cooper has a couple of those up her sleeve. One of the story's more touching details is the fact that Molly adores her new little baby step-brother, Donald. At one point the family is on the Tube in London and Donald is alarmed by the loud noises. Molly plays peek-a-boo with him to cheer him up. "All the surrounding grownups watch, with nostalgia soft in their faces, except one thin man in a tight dark suit, who retreats behind a newspaper with a disdainful sniff". I could never tell you why, but that's one of my favorite moments in the book. Cooper's writing never lightens the story's tough situations, by the way. Sam is pressed into service with the Navy against his will and the ship situation is gritty, gory, and thoroughly unpleasant. Just the same, you get a hint of why Sam felt that it should become his life's work, no matter what.

Boy, I sure hope that a huge swath of kids today are Anglophiles. Between "Endymion Spring" trying to convince them that Oxford is a hip youth hang-out and Ms. Cooper giving us a hearty heaping of Lord Nelson facts, the time has never been better to be enamored of all things English. With it's almost too tasteful cover and whopping great amounts of historical fiction ah-flowing through its gills, "Victory" is probably not going to be the first book the kids pick up when they walk into a library or bookstore. For those with a penchant for both history and realism, however, they may well find much to love here. Enjoyable indeed.

Editorial Review:

LIVING CENTURIES APART, BUT JOINED IN AN EPIC BATTLE.

Sam Robbins is a farm boy, kidnapped to serve on HMS Victory, the ship on which Lord Nelson will die a hero's death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Molly Jennings is a twenty-first-century English girl transplanted to the United States by her stepfather's job, who's fighting her own battle against loss and loneliness.

Two lives that couldn't be more different, two hundred years apart, are linked by a tiny scrap of fraying cloth, tucked into an old book. It draws Molly into Sam's world, to a moment in time that changed history -- a frightening shared moment that holds the key to secrets from the past and hope for the future.

Silver on the Tree (The Dark Is Rising Sequence)

Susan Cooper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Changed My Life 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Reading the last sentence of this book 24 years ago changed my life. BOYCOTT the travesty that is the Dark Is Rising film. Keep the pure elements of Cooper alive. The amazing tale she spun, weaving in elements of Celtic/Welsh mythology into a modern narrative leaves me shaking today. This book made me who I am today. I will not stand by and watch it raped and pillaged. READ the BOOK and BOYCOTT the film.

Peace.

Editorial Review:

"And Where the Midsummer Tree Grows Tall by Pendragon's Sword the Dark ShallFall."

The Dark is rising in its last and greatest bid to control the world. Six individuals have come together to drive it back for good: Will, the Sign seeker;Bran, the raven boy; Jane, Simon, and Barney, the grail seekers; and Merriman,the wise mentor who unites them all. Together they stand ready to face the Riderand the full force of the Dark.

But the last object of power must first be found. A sword of legend magicallyforged of pure crystal remains hidden in the Welsh hills. Without it, the Lighthas no hope against the Dark. Will and his companions must travel through timeand space in an epic clash of magical powers that will decide the fate of us all.