Over Sea, Under Stone

I'm pretty sure I read the full sequence as a kid, though I really only remember the titular Dark is Rising. That's the book that brought me back to this adult reread, but I figured I'd start with the first book. I have to say I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Sometimes childhood loves don't hold up well—I'm looking at you, David Eddings!—but in the case of this opening novel to the sequence, it really does. There are strong vibes and a sense that this book knows what it is.

And what is that?

I'd say that England is the vibiest part of the book. I know Cornwall pretty well and have visited Mevagissey, the town on which the setting of this book is based, so I had a good time with the location and scenery. The plot was a straight forward grail quest with kids outwitting the baddies in Scooby-Doo fashion. They really would have got away with it had it not been for those pesky kids! They're of a time, when kids weren't helicoptered as they are now. I can just imagine modern parents' horror as the characters set off around a headland at low tide to seek out a grail in a cave in nothing but shorts and sandals.

Character development was thin, with the possible exception of Barney, the youngest of the three siblings. Plot development was fast and also thin, but hey, it's children's literature.