Re-read June 2013I'm noticing this time around how clever Cooper is to show these events through the Drews' eyes, rather than Will's. The second book was of Will discovering and growing into his power; now we see him fully grown, as it were, relaxed and confident in his role as Old One, and the Drew children's outside perspective on him is invaluable. When he coolly deflects Simon's boyish attempts to quarrel, the way he treats Merriman as a peer--in the previous book, from Will's own point of view, these would seem perfectly natural. But when we see them through a normal human child's eyes, we are reminded of how alien, and how remarkable, he is.There is a similar sense of second-hand witness to many of the supernatural elements of the story--rather than a straightforward confrontation, we get the children's puzzled perception of events as they peep at them from around a corner. Even the scene which concerns them directly--the scrying--is not narrated as it happens; we, like Barney and the others, must wait for Simon's story to find out what really happened in that caravan. I love how Cooper uses this delayed or relayed satisfaction to increase the mystery and awe. The ghostly ship is so much more chilling when seen incredulously from Jane's bedroom window, rather than impassively from some windswept cliff where horrors are to be expected.Note on the sound recording: narrator is ok--not the best, but not distracting from the story--but he apparently can't decide what part of America the Stantons are supposed to be from; their accent wanders obnoxiously over the map. Fortunately they don't do much talking. I can't speak to the Cornish accent, but he does differentiate well between Simon and Barney's voices, which is helpful.______________________________________Beautiful, haunting, and gloriously inventive. Some have complained of the plotting or pacing in this book, but my only complaint is that it didn't last longer. Despite the brevity, however, it doesn't feel rushed--Susan Cooper ends it on exactly the right note, a sigh of relief mingled with just a touch of melancholy and a final surprising burst of wonder. When it comes to spectacle and sheer blessed creativity, this one far overpasses anything Cooper had done before. Sure, there may not be as much action-adventure as the previous books--but ohmygollygracious, that scrying scene! painting spells! Tethys! the haunting! Reading this, there was hardly a moment when my toes weren't curling and my eyes bugging with delight. And then, of course, there's the eponymous Greenwitch. I'm not sure what I was expecting it to be--given the cover art on my copy, I think I was expecting something like Treebeard. Certainly I couldn't have imagined this wild, changeful, childish hurricane of a being--and not to spoil the effect for new readers, that's all I'll say--but I absolutely adored it, and the Tolkien-esque infusion of sadness Cooper managed to give it. A gorgous, spellbinding addition to the cycle, which seems to be getting better and better with each book. I look forward eagerly to diving into the next one.
In Greenwitch, book 3 of Cooper’s The Dark is Rising sequence, Simon, Jane, and Barney Drew meet Will Stanton. However, they resent Will’s bond with their great uncle Merry, not realizing that both are immortal Old Ones. By the end of the book, though, the Drews and Will achieve a tentative collaboration. Even though I enjoyed reading this book, I liked the previous one better. Nothing changed regarding writing style, which means that the author still shows the same inability to write good combat scenes. As this book has a little bit more action, it means that there were a few more scenes which I found slightly disappointing.It all begins with the theft of an ancient Arthurian grail. On the previous book, Simon, Jane, and Barney Drew had found the grail in a cave in the seaside town of Truwissick in Cornwall and given it to the British Museum. Agents of the Dark, who covet this magical object, repeatedly threatened the siblings. Though the Drews gained possession of the grail, they were forced to throw into the sea the container with the manuscript that decodes its cryptic inscription. In Greenwitch, the Drews, Will, and Merriman (mentor to all the child heroes) converge on Trewissick to search for it. Also seeking the grail and accompanying manuscript is the main villain, allied with the Dark, a violently angry painter of creepy, glowing pictures.Unfortunately, Will is a far less sympathetic figure than he was on the second book. He has become kind of a self-possessed superman. At one point, Will and Merriman jump off a cliff and, without needing to breathe, swim for many miles through the ocean to confer with Tethys, Goddess of the Sea. I liked Will better as a vulnerable child, and I preferred Merriman to take a less active role in the struggle between Dark and Light. In the other books, he is a loving mentor to Will and the Drews. The Drews, stereotyped child detectives, have, however, developed a lot. By far the book’s most interesting character is Jane, who, at the threshold of womanhood, is learning to trust her intuition. In Greenwitch, she is initiated into female magic. Jane joins the women of Trewissick in a yearly ritual: construction of the Green Witch, a giant female figure of hawthorn, hazel, and rowan branches, which, the women believe, will grant wishes before being cast into the sea. Jane, sensing the creature’s sadness, impulsively wishes that she be happy. The bond formed between the Green Witch and Jane is decisive to how the outcome of the events in the end of the book.tAll things considered, Greenwitch is a far more satisfying book than the first book, but inferior to The Dark is Rising, in my opinion. Regardless, it is entertaining enough to get yu through the story and onto the next installments. Interesting quotes that I didn't include in the review: Never dismiss anyone's value until you know him.
What do You think about Greenwitch (2000)?
This story is based on an ancient ceremony of the people of Cornwall. The story begins with the grail mysteriously disappearing from a museum. Merriman, upon hearing the news, decides to bring the Drews and Will Stanton together to create a plan. They decide that the most likely place for the grail to be hidden is Cornwall itself. When they get there, the Drews still do not know that Will and Merriman are not the same as themselves. They continue their quest for the grail, along the way meeting many shady characters and, most important of all, the Greenwitch herself. Woven together from reeds and twigs, the Greenwitch is remade every year and thrown off of Kemare Head into the sea. To most, this is just an ancient ceremony that will be continued for a long time. But the Drews soon discover that the Greenwitch has a spirit, a spirit that will soon discover a very special "secret".......-Davis
—Christe
Greenwitch is the third book in The Dark is Rising series, and it is necessary to be familiar with the first two books Over Sea, Under Stone and The Dark is Rising to fully understand what is going on in this volume. In the first book siblings Simon, Jane, and Barney uncovered the grail from its hiding place, but unfortunately lost the lead-incased manuscript that would decipher the inscription on the grail's side. Now after the grail has been stolen from the museum, their great-uncle Merry brings them once more to Trewissick in order to find what they once lost.Meeting them for the first time is Will Stanton, the youngest of the Old Ones, the beings of the Light that guard mankind against the Dark. He came into his own in ... Read More:http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
—Fantasy Literature
The first book in this series was a treasure hunt plot with hints of magic. The second book in this series was all about the magic with little actual plot. This book, the third in the series, combines the two, with magic AND a plot. The results are... okay.My main problem with the series so far is that not a lot of details are given about this ongoing battle between the Light and the Dark. Through two books we've been told of this ancient battle, and we've sort of seen some fights, but though the effort to make them epic is there, the pay off has been rather anemic. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the magic being used, and it usually comes down to "magnet magic": if one side is more powerful than the other, the other will be repelled. And the Light is always more powerful. That's it. No actual physical fighting, no swishing of arms or wands or beards or hands or sticks or anything. It's the Old Ones standing there, doing something not exactly visible, staring down the enemy and the enemy fleeing. Not very riveting.(There is more action in this book than in TDIR, but even that was a letdown---the climactic "battle" was interesting but didn't seem to fit very well---like a lot of what happens in these books, showy but not very convincing.)Another of my problems is with capitalizing things to make them more significant---here we have the White Lady, Wild Magic, the Lady of the Sea, the Law, High Magic, and Cold Spells. They're mentioned but nothing is really explained. What exactly is this Law we're hearing about for the first time? Why would using Cold Spells cause the evil painter to be detected? Does that mean there are Hot Spells and Warm Spells and Lukewarm Spells? What's the difference between them? What's the difference between Wild and High Magic? Does that mean there is a Middle or Medium or Intermediary Magic? No answers here.A really annoying part involves talk or mention of "the spell of Mana and the spell of Reck and the spell of Lir." Whenever they are mentioned, they are ALL mentioned. They don't say "the spells of Mana, Reck, and Lir." No, they say "the spell of Mana and the spell of Reck and the spell of Lir." Are the spells explained at all? Nope. Are we told who are Mana, Reck or Lir? Nope. This book at least had forward momentum, but the ins and outs of this magical world are still as enigmatic as they were at the beginning. The Old Ones can't be hurt, so there's no sense of danger there. The Dark can't directly hurt any mortals, so there's no danger there since no mortals have even been indirectly harassed.I'm sensing that lots of myths and legends are being alluded to lightly or heavily, but since I'm not familiar with them they're lost on me. And if knowing them would make these books much more enjoyable, then that's quite a huge flaw for these books to have. They should work just as well on their own, without this prior knowledge. So far, they're lacking.I'm sure I'll have more to complain about in the next one, but the next one is the only book to win a Newbury Medal, so who knows?
—Andres
