The Dark Is Rising - some concluding thoughts

I'm a bit fuzzy on which of the "Dark Is Rising" stories I've read all the way through.*  I certainly read the eponymous novel as a kid, and later bought a one-volume collection of the entire series.

But I got rid of it during or soon after law school, when I tried reading or re-reading some of the stories and found them underwhelming.

So it has been 15+ years since I last read The Dark Is Rising, and I'd forgotten a lot.

Things I loved on the re-read:

• The creepy atmosphere, especially at the start of the novel.  Susan Cooper really nails it -- the sense of winter, sinister signs and portents, freakish behavior of the rooks.
• The poetic language.
• Good use of winter weather and storm as instruments of the Dark.  (It makes me think now of A Wrinkle in Time, which also has a storm early on.)
• The changing relationship between Will and his family.
• Certain strands of Faërian traditions and lore - esp. the haunting bell-like music.

Things that annoyed me on the re-read:

• The obstacles are too easily overcome.  It seems like all Will has to do is be there at the right time and hold fast; support comes.  In fact, he doesn't even have to go looking for the Signs; they come to him.  
• Example: A the longboat surfaces, and the final Sign is on the body of the dead king. Will is initially hesitant to touch the body, but Merriman assures him it'll be OK, so he reaches out and immediately has the final Sign. Merriman then promptly announces "Now that you have it, they [the Dark] lose their power over Mary forever -- that spell is dead."  (III "The King of Fire and Water," 261)
• It's a curiously male-focused book, from a 2017 perspective.  The only significant female role is Miss Greystone.  It's a nice role, I suppose, but her early magical intervention sidelines her for most of the rest of the tale.  Maggie Barnes is negligible as a force of evil; she seduces the all-too-willing Hawkin to the dark side, but is herself easily dispelled and sent away.  Will's sisters and mother don't have much to do, though his mother and Mary get to be victims of the Dark. And as Deb Sabo noted, virtually all the negative personality traits are given to Will's sisters. The remaining females also have bit roles - e.g. Mrs. Pettigrew, who runs a local market with her fat son Fred, is altogether bewildered and bewuthered by the storm.  The smith's wife is never even named.  And so on.
• The magically enchanted mounting and dismounting of the Light's horse.  It's a little petty of me, I know.

And I don't get excited about things like Herne the Hunter or the strongly-hinted-at-but-not-expressly-confirmed appearance of King Arthur.  I didn't really see the point of either of them in this story, though I can imagine that people who love those traditions would be tickled to see them.





FN * For example, I seem to recall having started Greenwitch at some point, but disliking it, perhaps because it was too overtly pagan for me at the time.  But I don't recall if I read it (or even skimmed it) all the way through.