play with meeeeeeee
QUESTION: Is anyone interested in a Dark is Rising Sequence read/re-read and commentfest?
So in a move which she will probably regret forever, terrorcandy once loaned me her copies of The Dark is Rising Sequence when we were both about eleven. These were YA High Fantasy classics, packed with coming of age and world-saving. The author, Susan Cooper, had studied under JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. Starved for more adventures after reading Narnia and Redwall, and with things like Harry Potter not quite on the radar yet, I devoured Cooper’s novels whole. And I did it again and again. It got to the point where young preteen me was cursing my mother and father for not giving birth to me earlier and across parallel dimensions, so I could have been a kid in 1970s Cornwall or Wales in a fictional universe. (This was probably a silly instinct, given that some of the stuff which happens in these books tugs at one’s emotions in the most gut-wrenching way possible, but it’s a general fact that eleven-year-olds growing up in boring suburban subdivisions don’t always know how good they have it.)
Of course, now that I’ve talked these books up, I should make the disclaimer that they aren’t perfect. Susan Cooper could stand to write more about ladies more often, for instance. And the magic isn’t quite as flashy as it is in other fantasy books. Some of the things Cooper did were picked up by other writers later on, so there may be moments where you feel like you’ve read the story before.
Overall, though, the books hold up pretty well every time I read them, and there’s a lot about them that’s unique and quite likeable. For one thing, they are unashamedly pagan. They are also British, but multicultural instead of monocultural-they recognize the layers of Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse cultures that went into the building of the British Isles. Furthermore, they highlight the cultural and linguistic divides that exist even today, such as that between the English and the Welsh. And there’s Arthurian legend, but in this extremely subtle way that isn’t really the Theme Park Version. And while there’s a Dark vs. Light conflict, it’s not so simple as Good vs. Evil, especially as the book series goes on. (The Light will work for humanity, but they have a tendency to be unfeeling assholes.) Plus, really pretty landscape descriptions. I admit I am a sucker for those.
For the record, THERE WAS NO MOVIE WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.
So! I’ve been thinking. I want to re-read these books, maybe a chapter a week, and blog about them. Not right away, since I’m finishing South Riding by Winifred Holtby (and that’s good too btw) and it’s long. But maybe in a week or two or three? And, while I may do this on my own just for kicks, it’d be even more fun to do this with a bunch of friends/fellow readers. We could all comment and discuss. I’ll do the main entries and all, so it’s not like other folks would have to invest too much unless they wanted to.
So if you’ve read TDiR and would love to read it again, or if you’ve always wanted to read it but have never got a chance, or if you’ve never heard of it but this post may have sparked your interest, you should read along with me and we can have an internet party.
Might I add that this is a series where people sometimes put “historians” and “academia” as tags for the slash fanfic? I’M JUST SAYIN’
Let me know!
So in a move which she will probably regret forever, terrorcandy once loaned me her copies of The Dark is Rising Sequence when we were both about eleven. These were YA High Fantasy classics, packed with coming of age and world-saving. The author, Susan Cooper, had studied under JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. Starved for more adventures after reading Narnia and Redwall, and with things like Harry Potter not quite on the radar yet, I devoured Cooper’s novels whole. And I did it again and again. It got to the point where young preteen me was cursing my mother and father for not giving birth to me earlier and across parallel dimensions, so I could have been a kid in 1970s Cornwall or Wales in a fictional universe. (This was probably a silly instinct, given that some of the stuff which happens in these books tugs at one’s emotions in the most gut-wrenching way possible, but it’s a general fact that eleven-year-olds growing up in boring suburban subdivisions don’t always know how good they have it.)
Of course, now that I’ve talked these books up, I should make the disclaimer that they aren’t perfect. Susan Cooper could stand to write more about ladies more often, for instance. And the magic isn’t quite as flashy as it is in other fantasy books. Some of the things Cooper did were picked up by other writers later on, so there may be moments where you feel like you’ve read the story before.
Overall, though, the books hold up pretty well every time I read them, and there’s a lot about them that’s unique and quite likeable. For one thing, they are unashamedly pagan. They are also British, but multicultural instead of monocultural-they recognize the layers of Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse cultures that went into the building of the British Isles. Furthermore, they highlight the cultural and linguistic divides that exist even today, such as that between the English and the Welsh. And there’s Arthurian legend, but in this extremely subtle way that isn’t really the Theme Park Version. And while there’s a Dark vs. Light conflict, it’s not so simple as Good vs. Evil, especially as the book series goes on. (The Light will work for humanity, but they have a tendency to be unfeeling assholes.) Plus, really pretty landscape descriptions. I admit I am a sucker for those.
For the record, THERE WAS NO MOVIE WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.
So! I’ve been thinking. I want to re-read these books, maybe a chapter a week, and blog about them. Not right away, since I’m finishing South Riding by Winifred Holtby (and that’s good too btw) and it’s long. But maybe in a week or two or three? And, while I may do this on my own just for kicks, it’d be even more fun to do this with a bunch of friends/fellow readers. We could all comment and discuss. I’ll do the main entries and all, so it’s not like other folks would have to invest too much unless they wanted to.
So if you’ve read TDiR and would love to read it again, or if you’ve always wanted to read it but have never got a chance, or if you’ve never heard of it but this post may have sparked your interest, you should read along with me and we can have an internet party.
Might I add that this is a series where people sometimes put “historians” and “academia” as tags for the slash fanfic? I’M JUST SAYIN’
Let me know!