Product Description

Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence has sold more than two million copies in hardcover and paperback. Now the second book in the sequence, the Newbery Honor Book The Dark Is Rising, has been adapted for the screen as a live-action film with an impressive international cast.

HERE IS THE AWARD-WINNING BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE FILM, IN A HANDSOME MOVIE TIE-IN EDITION.

Based on the award-winning novel by Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising is the first film adaptation of the author's acclaimed Dark Is Rising Sequence. The film tells the story of Will Stanton, a young man who learns he is the last of a group of warriors who dedicated their lives to fighting the forces of the Dark. Traveling back and forth through time, Will discovers a series of clues that lead into a showdown with forces of unimaginable power. With the Dark once again rising, the future of the world rests in Will's hands.

www.darkthemovie.com

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1828284 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"Susan Cooper is one of the few contemporary writers who has the vivid imagination, the narrative power, and the moral vision that permit her tocreate the kind of sweeping conflict between good and evil that lies at the heart of all great fantasy. Tolkien had it. So did C. S. Lewis. And Cooper writes in the same tradition." -- Psychology Today

About the Author
Susan Cooper, one of today's most distinguished children's book writers, won a Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor for books in her fantasy sequence, The Dark is Rising. She is also the author of King of Shadows, a Boston Globe -- Horn Book Honor Book, and Green Boy, which was called "an intriguing and truly lovely book" by the New York Times Book Review. She lives in Fairfield, Connecticut, and her Web site is at www.thelostland.com.

Customer Reviews

The dark is rising...
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 Lady and Merriman Lyon, who are immortal, powerful, wise, and the guardians of the world. And it turns out Will is one too.

And as an astonishingly cold winter settles over England, Will is taught some of the ways of the Old Ones, who fight the Dark (forces of evil, like the Dark Rider). He has one of the signs of power, but must get them all: Iron, Bronze, Stone, Wood, Fire and Water. And he must contend with the Dark Rider, his own failings, and a mysterious stranger whose future is inextricably entwined with his...

To put it simply, this is Susan Cooper at her peak -- she creates an amazing look at a world where where the mysterious and magical exist just a few feet from our homes and. The slighest actions have significance, time is easily manipulated, and there's a sprinkling of Welsh myth and Arthurian legend here and there -- particularly at the end.

Since her first book, Cooper also became a truly brilliant writer -- in "Over Sea Under Stone," her writing was rather spare, and reeked of E. Nesbit. Here, she more than makes up for it -- while the story is a straightforward quest, she complicates matters with a subplot about Merriman being forced to make a terrible sacrifice, and the Dark threatening Will's family. Sometimes being on the good guys' side isn't easy.

The book is also thick with atmosphere -- the shocking, icy presence of the Dark, the bustling farmhouse, the eerie woods where the Walker goes, and countless other situations. Cooper does sometimes get too detailed (I really don't care how you feed chickens) but her intricate writing is what brings the book to life: the howling blizzards, rings of black birds, the tainted merriness of a Christmas party, and a book of ancient magic that can't be read -- only experienced.

Will himself is an astonishingly three-dimensional character: at times he's a smart, quiet eleven-year-old, and sometimes he's an Old One with immense power and wisdom. This transition is not one that is handled lightly, as he gradually loses his innocent, boyish outlook. The person who guides him is Merriman Lyon, a majestic old man who has made some terrible choices in the past.

"The Dark is Rising" is a spellbinding classic fantasy, which fully reveals the good vs. evil battle that Cooper only hinted at before. Entrancing, intoxicatingly written, and always magical.