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Hey guys, where'd the posting go? =/ Come on, we're not that mean.
Today I'm going to blather about The Dark is Rising, a set of books by Susan Cooper. I get the feeling it's shortly going to become a very large fandom, so I'm hoping to convince people to read the books before the movie comes out, as from what I've heard the movie is... loosely based on the books.
The Dark is Rising pentology is an epic tale of Good vs Evil, set against a background of Arthurian and english mythology.
The first book, Over Sea, Under Stone, introduces the Drew children: Simon, Jane and Barney. It also introduces their adopted great-uncle Merriman Lyon, a fairly major character in all the books. The story takes them to Cornwall, on a treasure hunt; there are secret maps, midnight scrambles, chases, a real treasure, that sort of thing. It was written somewhat before the other books, so it reads as a fairly standalone adventure tale; there's not very much of the mystic in it. It's probably the weakest book in the set, imo.
The second book introduces Will Stanton, who discovers on his 11th birthday that he is an Old One; pretty much an order of wise magicians. There's some time travelling, a healthy dose of evil, another treasure hunt, and a fair amount of southern english countryside involved. This is the book the movie is mostly based on, and the book the sequence is named after. It sets up most of the running themes for the later books, as well.
There's another three books, too, but those probably count as spoilers. If you read the first two and enjoy those, you'll probably read the other three. If you don't enjoy the first two, I'll be wasting my time explaining them. =P
On the down-side, they -are- fairly oldfashioned books, language and behaviour wise. The story does tend to beat with you with the moral a bit, too. I still love them anyway.
Plus I come with a fanfic recommendation for those who -have- read it: Loyalty by shanaqui. It's a short sequel, playing with Bran (a character from the 4th and 5th books); it reunites all the characters, and even the narration is in character. There's 5 chapters out, and I believe there were 6 planned.
Today I'm going to blather about The Dark is Rising, a set of books by Susan Cooper. I get the feeling it's shortly going to become a very large fandom, so I'm hoping to convince people to read the books before the movie comes out, as from what I've heard the movie is... loosely based on the books.
The Dark is Rising pentology is an epic tale of Good vs Evil, set against a background of Arthurian and english mythology.
The first book, Over Sea, Under Stone, introduces the Drew children: Simon, Jane and Barney. It also introduces their adopted great-uncle Merriman Lyon, a fairly major character in all the books. The story takes them to Cornwall, on a treasure hunt; there are secret maps, midnight scrambles, chases, a real treasure, that sort of thing. It was written somewhat before the other books, so it reads as a fairly standalone adventure tale; there's not very much of the mystic in it. It's probably the weakest book in the set, imo.
The second book introduces Will Stanton, who discovers on his 11th birthday that he is an Old One; pretty much an order of wise magicians. There's some time travelling, a healthy dose of evil, another treasure hunt, and a fair amount of southern english countryside involved. This is the book the movie is mostly based on, and the book the sequence is named after. It sets up most of the running themes for the later books, as well.
There's another three books, too, but those probably count as spoilers. If you read the first two and enjoy those, you'll probably read the other three. If you don't enjoy the first two, I'll be wasting my time explaining them. =P
On the down-side, they -are- fairly oldfashioned books, language and behaviour wise. The story does tend to beat with you with the moral a bit, too. I still love them anyway.
Plus I come with a fanfic recommendation for those who -have- read it: Loyalty by shanaqui. It's a short sequel, playing with Bran (a character from the 4th and 5th books); it reunites all the characters, and even the narration is in character. There's 5 chapters out, and I believe there were 6 planned.