The Dark Is Rising

For some reason this book has stayed in my mind since childhood. It makes me think of sitting in the old English block at my high school on a dark, winter afternoon. It's a very vibey book, with a strong sense of Englishness and of winter, particularly Christmas. The family Christmas scenes are very cosy and quintessentially English, perhaps even of southern England. The setting was strongly presented and well written, as was the light vs dark trope.

The characters seem a bit flat and under-developed, even the main character of Will. I'm not sure whether that's simply because this is children's literature and so it moves a lot faster than a more adult fantasy novel would. The plot felt similarly under-developed and fast-paced in a lot of places. Again, maybe because it's for children. We just have to accept things as they are without really being given much of a back story as to how they came to be, although I did enjoy the story arc of the Walker—that was more fleshed out and had a satisfying ending.

I'll be continuing with Greenwitch very soon.