Review - Over Sea, Under Stone
Very few people are unaware that The Dark Is Rising is possibly my favourite series of books in the history of ever. Still, I haven't done a series of proper reviews for them, which is a horrible shame, and I'm going to do that this time through.
This is probably the fifteenth time I've read Over Sea, Under Stone, give or take a few times. Someone I knew recommended skipping it, since it's the most childish book in the series -- written, if I recall correctly, well before the other four, and most definitely aimed at kids. The scenario reminds me a little of a faintly Arthurian Enid Blyton story: three kids are on holiday and stumble into a mystery. On the other hand, it's much fuller than an Enid Blyton story. It's a fantasy story, at its most basic, really: the Dark vs. the Light. There's hints at an underlying story about King Arthur.
Character-wise, at this point it's relatively simple. Simon, Jane and Barney are pretty typical kids: the bossy older one, the practical and prepared girl, the youngest daydreamy boy. Still, they're endearing: Barney would have had my heart from the moment he opens his mouth and calls his big brother "cleversticks" -- if he hadn't had it already from being as devoted to King Arthur as I am. They may be simple characters, but they're also realistic. They get scared about what they're getting into, they doubt things, they underestimate the danger...
The writing itself is lovely. Not too fancy, and yet still describing things well. There's a real sense of ominous danger in parts of it, and yet the writing also brings across a feeling of childhood, summer vacations and sunburns and going to see the sea.
All in all, reading it now and knowing what the rest of the series is like, I look for the hints and things that will connect up, later. Something I've noticed this time through especially is the hints at Barney being something special, which is followed up on in Greenwitch and Silver On The Tree. It's interesting how often he knows or intuits things which seem hidden from everyone else.
Over Sea, Under Stone isn't my favourite book of the sequence, but it's still worth reading if you can get into it for the light it sheds on the later books.
Now, onto The Dark Is Rising itself! Spending a book with Will and the other Stantons feels like a lovely idea right now.
This is probably the fifteenth time I've read Over Sea, Under Stone, give or take a few times. Someone I knew recommended skipping it, since it's the most childish book in the series -- written, if I recall correctly, well before the other four, and most definitely aimed at kids. The scenario reminds me a little of a faintly Arthurian Enid Blyton story: three kids are on holiday and stumble into a mystery. On the other hand, it's much fuller than an Enid Blyton story. It's a fantasy story, at its most basic, really: the Dark vs. the Light. There's hints at an underlying story about King Arthur.
Character-wise, at this point it's relatively simple. Simon, Jane and Barney are pretty typical kids: the bossy older one, the practical and prepared girl, the youngest daydreamy boy. Still, they're endearing: Barney would have had my heart from the moment he opens his mouth and calls his big brother "cleversticks" -- if he hadn't had it already from being as devoted to King Arthur as I am. They may be simple characters, but they're also realistic. They get scared about what they're getting into, they doubt things, they underestimate the danger...
The writing itself is lovely. Not too fancy, and yet still describing things well. There's a real sense of ominous danger in parts of it, and yet the writing also brings across a feeling of childhood, summer vacations and sunburns and going to see the sea.
All in all, reading it now and knowing what the rest of the series is like, I look for the hints and things that will connect up, later. Something I've noticed this time through especially is the hints at Barney being something special, which is followed up on in Greenwitch and Silver On The Tree. It's interesting how often he knows or intuits things which seem hidden from everyone else.
Over Sea, Under Stone isn't my favourite book of the sequence, but it's still worth reading if you can get into it for the light it sheds on the later books.
Now, onto The Dark Is Rising itself! Spending a book with Will and the other Stantons feels like a lovely idea right now.