Cooper, Susan: Silver on the Tree
Silver on the Tree (1977)
Written by: Susan Cooper
Genre: YA/Fantasy
Pages: 275 (Mass Market Paperback)
Series: Book Five (The Dark is Rising)
Why I Read It: At last, the fifth and final book in Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, and I can at last return the books to their rightful owner! It's a funny thing, because I borrowed the series as a whole at my friend's insistence, and didn't mind only because I knew I'd be able to have some interesting discussions with him about the series as a whole (we've been comparing this to other childrens' serials, like Harry Potter, Narnia, and while it's not children's, it's still classic fantasy: The Lord of the Rings). It's funny because if left to my own devices, I'm not sure whether or not I'd continue the series (especially if I was reading them as installments versus the omnibus), but I'm glad I was put in a situation where not reading the whole series wasn't an option. If that makes sense. :)
The premise: ganked from BN.com: "And Where the Midsummer Tree Grows Tall by Pendragon's Sword the Dark Shall Fall."
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 Rider and the full force of the Dark.
But the last object of power must first be found. A sword of legend magically forged of pure crystal remains hidden in the Welsh hills. Without it, the Light has no hope against the Dark. Will and his companions must travel through time and space in an epic clash of magical powers that will decide the fate of us all.
In the Welsh hills Will Stanton, youngest of the immortal Old Ones, joins forces with Merriman, Bran, and the mortal Drew children in a quest through space and time against the powers of evil known as the Dark.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: Uh, YAY. If you're not caught up, just skip to "My Rating" and you'll be fine, but expect spoilers not just for this book, but for all of them. I'll be talking about the series as a whole and how the books stand up in my mind, so if you've read the whole kit and caboodle, sit tight! It'll be a fun discussion. :)
Let's see…
The first book, Over Sea, Under Stone, featured the three Drew children: Jane, Simon, and Barney.
The second book, The Dark is Rising, featured Will Stanton.
The third, Greenwitch, brought Stanton together with the Drews.
The fourth, The Grey King, featured only Will Stanton, but introduced Bran.
The fifth and final, Silver on the Tree, brought ALL of these characters together.
And of course, in all of these books, we have the linking and continuing character of Merriman Lyon.
I'll say it first: The Grey King is the best of the bunch, by a long shot. The story seemed more compelling, and it seemed to have a strong sense of internal logic. Whether or not that logic came from reading the previous three books is another question, but based on what I've heard others say, The Grey King can be read as a stand-alone without any trouble, and of the whole series, it was the one that one the Newbery Medal.
The first two books can be read in any order. They're stand-alones, and don't relate to each other save for Merriman and learning more and more about the Dark versus the Light.
Greenwitch is my second favorite, I think because the Greenwitch itself was a rather compelling creature, and I absolutely loved that Jane got to be a hero.
How the rest of them stack up is hit or miss, really, though I'm about to say something that's going to make some of you grab your rotten vegetables and hunt me down: of the five, I think The Dark is Rising is my least favorite book.
*ducks*
Here's the thing, and then I'll move on to talking about the finale and what worked and what didn't: if I'd read these as a child or even a pre-teen, I would've had a very different experience with them. I'm not sure if that experience would've been good or bad, but the very things that bugged me as an adult in The Dark is Rising would've been the things I would've accepted without batting an eyelash as a child. And those things are how the world moves in and out of the fantastic without much resistance or ceremony. I'm not saying that before one time travels or does magic, there has to be a whole set of rules and regulations to follow, mind you, but things just HAPPEN in The Dark is Rising, and Will doesn't have to do anything to earn it because he's an Old One, and he doesn't have to do anything to earn that either.
It's all rather easy. Again, if I'd read this as a younger reader, I wouldn't have batted an eyelash. As an adult reader, I wanted something a little more, despite being able to appreciate, on some level, that this kind of ease was probably perfectly fine for the younger audience.
But that doesn't mean that when Silver on the Tree started, and Will started seeing different times overlapping with his own, or he started slipping out of his own time, that I was a happy camper. I was worried this book would be more like The Dark is Rising, which was enjoyable enough, but nowhere as compelling as The Grey King, and I wanted more The Grey King.
Ease is something of a virtue and a weakness in this series though. How characters just so happen to be in the right place at the right time to find the particular artifacts that will help the Light. Even the climax of Silver on the Tree was rather simple: when the instructions were revealed, I had a moment of, That's it? That's rather arbitrary now, isn't it?. I'm not crying foul that there wasn't a major battle, but let's face it, the battle for the world of men could've easily gone either way, with no real home field advantage to the Light. And it would've made sense too: for some reason, I got the impression this book was set pre-World War II. That may be wrong, and I honestly can't tell you WHY I thought that, but even if it was set in the time Cooper wrote the series, war is something that's always around the corner in our history, and the way the world has changed, letting the Dark win would've made a lot of sense. It's not a happy ending, mind you, but it would've made sense.
But that's the adult talking. Yet I have to ask: do kids HAVE to have a happy ending? This is something I'll be discussing a great deal with my friend when I return his books to him, because that was one of his observations: we were comparing Tolkien and Lewis to Copper and Rowling. The women opted for the happy endings, whereas the men opted for bittersweet.
It'll be a fun discussion. I say there's a certain amount of bittersweet in regards to the end of Harry Potter if you ignore that damned "And they all grew up and got married and lived happily ever after!" epilogue. And really, with the loss of Merriman, even Cooper's series ends on a bittersweet note, because Merriman's been the central figure that held this series together, though Will's been in every book save for the first.
Yet, what did the kids lose? Or sacrifice? Bran chose to stay in the time in which he was raised, the time where he loved and felt loved, rather than go into the mists (or wherever) with his legendary father that he'd never known. Sacrifice, or common sense? The Drew children didn't contribute much to the end except being there to hold the signs at the right time, and then they, like Bran, had their memories wiped. Only Will remembers it all, thanks to him being an Old One, but the final book ends far too quickly for much of a sense of what Will makes of all this.
Don't take me wrong: I'm not criticizing the end, nor the series, so much as trying to wrap my head around my thoughts and formulating some discussion points for when my friend and I sit down to hash out the series and compare it to others. In truth, the ending (and by that I mean the latter portion of the book), was the best part of the book for me. Sure, it had some stuff I didn't care for, but things really came together at the very end and I was tense and worried for the characters. It all worked out well in the end, but I felt for them: John Rowland's discovery of his wife's betrayal was very adult to me, and a very interesting choice for Cooper to make (and a very random one at that, but I did see it coming in this text).
Let's see what notes I made while reading….
One thing that always struck me while reading was trying to figure out just how bad the Dark was. What was so bad about the Dark? As a child, it would've been easy to see, but as a jaded adult, it kind of had to smack me with its obviousness. I think, ultimately, the Dark is the under-lying force for all the BADNESS in the world. So wars count, sure. But so does the bullying of one boy. The racism Cooper focused on in the beginning threw me for a loop, partially because I never expect to hear about racism outside of the U.S. (I know, I know, stupid assumption, I know), but mostly because I couldn't figure out why it was in a children's fantasy until I realized it was one of the many vehicles the Dark would employ to ruin mankind. So yay, I figured it out. Yet, as a jaded, cynical adult, defeating the Dark didn't help much, did it? Humankind makes its own destiny, and there will always be assholes. :)
If I didn't mention it before, I really liked how all the kids were brought together for this final adventure. I also was amused that "Caradog" seems to be the de facto name for BAD GUY in these last two books, though I think it's rather safe to surmise that Caradog Lewis is an ancestor the Caradog from The Grey King. I also got a chuckle at the Tolkien reference: the crystal sword turns blue when the dark is near! I'm sure that blue applies to orcs and goblins too. ;) And speaking of Tolkien references, everybody leaves at the end by boat, just like at the very end of LOTR. I like the nods, really. But they do take me out of Cooper's story, just a wee bit.
And what was the deal with the Huntsman and Bran having the same eyes AS the Huntsman? Was Cooper inferring that King Arthur and the Huntsman were one and the same, or that Guinevere slept with more men than just Lancelot and Arthur? Or is LANCELOT the Huntsman? Ah-ha!
No, seriously, what's up with that? There's a line on page 269:
Bran turned sharply toward Arthur, and as he watched the two star at one another, Will saw again the tawny eyes of Herne the Hunter in Bran's face, and yet a look of Arthur too, as if all three were ne and the same.
We're getting a Holy Trinity allusion here, right? RIGHT?
Moving on, there were no dogs in this book. Every book, save for this one, had a dog. How sad. :(
Last thing: I know Bran's making the moves on Jane (clearly, their antagonism and his final offering was all about budding love), but I'm still shipping Will and Jane. ;)
My Rating: Worth Reading, with Reservations
I'll be honest, it wasn't until the end that this book really gelled together for me, and before that, I wasn't very engaged. That's not to say this book doesn't have a lot to offer. All of the protagonists from the series unite in the final battle against the Dark, and the ending in and of itself rather moved me. That said, The Grey King is still my favorite of the whole series. As a whole, I'm glad I read the series, though I feel I would've gotten much more out of it had I read it as a child, rather than a more jaded adult. Sometimes, it was hard to put aside that jadedness and fall in love with what wonder the books had to offer, but that's an age thing. It's not to say that adults reading this for the first time can't enjoy it, they can, but it is to say that of the classic fantasy I never got to read until I was an adult, this series isn't the highest on the list. Enjoyable, and I'm glad to have it under my belt, but not my favorite. That said, there's a part of me that can see myself re-reading this one day. But perhaps in the omnibus edition, so I don't forget little details. :)
Cover Commentary: Not the best resolution, but the cover for the book I read is here. Can't say I'm fond of this. There were other more compelling images that would've worked, and linked to the title a little better (though there is a silver glow in a tree at the very bottom of the picture!). That said, not really fond of the cover featured in the review either, because it makes me think the silver referred to in the tree is a sword. :) Can't win with this one!
Next up: Magic Gifts by Ilona Andrews