The Dark Is Rising - Book Group discussion thread

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quimby Dec 2019 4:20pm, 21 Dec 2019 4,418 posts	0 quimby I have only just started the book, but having read it multiple times, I turn up here momentarily to inform everyone that this book has imprinted all the verses of Good King Wenceslas in my brain.
Little Nemo Dec 2019 4:48pm, 24 Dec 2019 10,005 posts	0 Little Nemo I think I've read this when I was a child but I couldn't remember anything about it. Maybe I read one of the other books in the series or maybe this wasn't very memorable. It feels very much of its time, a children's book that isn't aimed at the YA market. I found it a bit one dimensional at the beginning as it was set up as good vs evil and Will never questioned what was going on. I did like the descriptions of the countryside and the relationships between the family, that felt quite real. It's a difficult balancing act writing about fantasy set in the real world. It can feel clunky and a bit cringy especially when quasi-mystical language comes up. This book did stray occasionally into this but on the whole it managed to avoid the worst crimes of the genre. I enjoyed the middle part of the story the best. There was some attempt of making the story more morally complicated with the Hawkins character and travelling between different times was a good slant. I really liked the twist that Hawkins ended up as the Walker. The descriptions of the cold were very effective. I wasn't so keen on the ending, everything seemed too neatly tied up with very little jeopardy. This is probably being harsh and judging this as an adult but I would have liked Will to have wondered about whether The Light was on the side of the good after all. Overall I enjoyed it and it was a fun Christmas read - I gave it 6.
McGoohan Dec 2019 3:03pm, 25 Dec 2019 42,698 posts	0 McGoohan Clearly a lot of people love this book. In fact it's one of those beloved books they remember from childhood, the recollection of which gives them a warm glow. With that in mind, and in the spirit of Christmas, my present to you is that I'm not going to review it.
Night-owl Dec 2019 2:05pm, 26 Dec 2019 33,316 posts	0 Night-owl I think I'm in the minority here. I definitely do not remember reading it as a child Saying that its not really my genre. At times i felt I was reading another book to everyone else as everyone seemed to love it even reviews online/twitter something I normally avoid I did find it hard to get into didn't excite me, some sections when Will was with his family I did like, but in the end I was willing it (no pun) to end. And relieved when I did. Sorry it was not for me I gave it a 5 and I think I was being generous
Presentinator Dec 2019 1:46pm, 28 Dec 2019 391 posts	0 Presentinator The Darkness is Rising There is a common trope in children’s literature of a child (usually a boy) entering their teens and singled out as different. Maybe girls aren’t allowed to be different in the same way as boys. For a whole generation that character will now be Harry Potter. Pre-HP, there were other books - the one I read aged 11 years was John Christopher's "The Sword of the Spirits" trilogy. TSOTS forms an interesting pair of narratives with TDIR. In some ways very similar. Both were published at about the same time by Puffin books (TDIR: 1973, TSOTS: 1970 - 1972). Both have settings that link strongly to parts of southern England (TDIR: Windsor and the Thames Valley, TSOTS: Winchester and Hampshire). Both start from a similar point: a boy around his birthday (TSOTS: Luke is 13, TDIR: Will is 11), in the winter. For reasons that are not initially apparent, both Luke and Will are marked out in life. But the books then go off in opposite directions, both as stories and in style. The plot of TSOTS moves at a pace over three slim books. Even to an emotionally illiterate 11-year-old boy, it was evident how aspects of Luke's character lead him to both success and failure. And how other characters' personalities affect the course of the story. TDIR is much heavier fare: it needs a lot of chewing descriptions to make it digestible. The only character in the story whose motivations we understand is Hawkins. Everyone else seems to have been allocated to Team Good or Team Evil and is expected to play for that side. But the big difference is that TSOTS is Science Fiction, and TDIR is Fantasy Fiction. With TSOTS, part of the enjoyment is uncovering the story's rationales. TDIR combines mythic material from everywhere, but I didn't get the laws and limits of the magic. In the end Good wins because Will collects all the signs. There is lots of darkness and light heaving against each other. But it is a bit like watching a sport where you have no idea of the rules, what tactics or strategy should be used, who is winning at any point, what the threats are (other than Good losing is clearly a bad thing), or what anyone needs to do, other than just be there. For example, the dark forces have Will's sister Mary. Will collects the last sign (picking it from King Arthur's funeral boat that miraculously appears in the Thames) and Merriman says, "Now you have it, they lose their power over Mary forever". Wait, what, how does that work, when was that dependency made apparent? Did Will know that, when he was bargaining with the Black Rider some pages before? Was that knowledge imparted in the Book of Gramarye – a black box knowledge-base that we have no access to? So I can see the appeal of the descriptions of a village in winter: TDIR does a nice job covering the liminal state of darkness and light. And the images of past and present merging and separating. And even trying to wrap ancient myths and legends around a modern world. But in the end it is not enough to really engross either the current me, or I think the 11-year-old me. Maybe reading it aloud on dark cold nights would make it more intense.
Little Nemo Dec 2019 2:47pm, 28 Dec 2019 10,009 posts	0 Little Nemo You've articulated a lot of what I wanted to say, Peregrinator. I like your review a lot
Columba Dec 2019 10:22pm, 28 Dec 2019 18,949 posts	0 Columba It's a very good review. And has not in the least made me regret having abandoned the book early on.
Serendippily Dec 2019 12:10am, 30 Dec 2019 15,504 posts	0 Serendippily Loved it actually. Romped through it and looking forward to properly reading it with c9 later. And Herne the Hatstand makes an appearance at the end too: good on him. He was always my favourite from that itv robin hood serial
Serendippily Dec 2019 12:13am, 30 Dec 2019 15,505 posts	0 Serendippily I laughed at team good and team evil: they should’ve got tee shirts made. Hawkins slogan would be too grimy to read obvs
Peregrinator Dec 2019 12:49pm, 30 Dec 2019 395 posts	0 Peregrinator Hern the Hatstand 😂 Have to pass that on to someone who (still) loves the ITV series. Looking back at the comments there are some common themes, including a need to tread softly because we tread on people's pre-teens. As N-O + Columba say, not really my genre either. LN: yes, jeopardy, moral hazard seemed oddly missing, any depth to the characters apart from Hawkins. Not dissing those who love/loved it - I can see why. And, like other Christmas fare, a surprising amount of it seems to have stuck to me.....