Susan Cooper spins an absolute gem of a fantasy tale--one that mixes two of my favorite subjects, British mythology and time travel against a modern day setting (in this case 1970s England at Christmas).
Like all excellent fantasy children's fiction from UK authors there is no absence of real consequences or danger for 11-year old Will Stanton in this story. Will is an Old One, part of a group of powerful Light warrior-immortals given the task of keeping The Dark at bay. But Will isn't just any Old One: he is the Sign Seeker, tasked with finding six Signs of the Light (scattered over the region) and bring them together to give the Light the upper hand in this latest attempt for The Dark to plunge the world into chaos and despair.
The images that Cooper conjures of Will engaging with this unseen world and calling are rich--from the appearance of time-doorways opening early medieval halls to a mythical king's ornate funeral barge emerging from water to a battle between The Light and The Dark happening in a moonlit sky.
The only real gripe I had with the story is Cooper's seeming need to rank her magical world above that of Christianity and the power of faith in Christ. It's subtle and mostly relegated to a key scene (and a few pages total over the book), so it doesn't much take away from the value of the overarching message and the truth of spiritual battles overlapping real-world events. Still, it comes off as a bit disingenuous and self-serving whe it does manifest, as if there was a concern that her story couldn't maintain its integrity if it wasn't #1. (Truly, what series of beliefs can carry more weight than Christian faith given her world of the Old Ones is rooted in the power of relics?) Cooper could easily have left these out of the narrative--even if she disagrees with Christianity. Ironically the story has some wonderful metaphor more in line with the sacarament of Christian Baptism and the unchanging timelessness of God than mere myth, and Cooper goes out of her way to include the deep value of the Christmas season and the power of its music; these scenes are deep and very well-written.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this book's relationship with its deadpanned live-action film version from 2007. The easy charge against the film is how it utterly fails to capture the book. I have come to the film's defense alone on the basis that no film can truly adapt a book given the realities of film production and conventions. Having read the book I am even more convinced this would have been impossible given the length of time the film had to tell the story and the lack of budget to properly realize even the most important of the story's dramatic scenes. So in these cases it's best not to try and come off as a mess; the film still works as a great way to inroduce someone to the series.
Where the film really could have done better is fitting the important sub-plot of The Walker into the screenplay, which I have read in places was actually filmed but ultimately cut. This character would have done much for Will, The Rider, and Merriman, but especially Merriman. Also themyth-character, Herne, should definitely have been retained for the end because the way the film actually ends--with Will defeating The Rider himself--comes off as quite flat and unbeliaveable given the breakneck pace of the film. But Will's joining the signs to summon forth The Light's champion horseman would have been a tremendous scene and could certainly have fit within the film's budget.
GRADE: A+
(Note: This book is technically Book 2 in the series, behind Over Seas, Under Stone, but Book 1 does not need to be read first to appreciate this story. Book 1 contains Merriman but otherwise has a completely different set of characters [a set of three siblings] with a different quest [for a relic known as 'the grail'] only loosely related to this one. However I would suggest reading Book 1 before Book 3, Greenwitch, because both Will and Book 1's three children join forces.)
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