Review - The Grey King by Susan Cooper

Short review: Will Stanton goes to Wales and meets Bran. Together they oppose the machinations of the Grey King and Bran meets his destiny.

Haiku
Once he goes to Wales
Stanton meets albino Bran
Who is his father?

Full review: The Grey King is the fourth book in Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence. It is also my favorite book of the series. Perhaps this is because the book features Welsh and Arthurian myth so heavily, or perhaps it is just because I read this book for the first time when I was the target age for the book, or, as I believe, just because the book is simply that good. The book focuses once again on Will Stanton, but this time he is ill and sent to stay with his uncle in Wales to recuperate. Once there, he meets up with and befriends an albino loner named Bran.

The book is essentially a second coming of age story for Will Stanton, and he is aided by Bran along the way. They must unravel a series of mysteries, mostly by figuring out what some cryptic poetry means, and prepare for a coming confrontation between the Light and the Dark. Many of the disparate threads started in the first three books begin to be tied together in this book, and the true nature of many of the things the characters have done (and the true nature of some characters) is made clear. The novel is more grown up in tone than the earlier books in the series – Stanton is older, there is more danger, and the villains are creepier. Still, it is a young adult book, and a very well-written young adult book at that.

The book won a Newbery Medal in 1975, and the reasons for that seem abundantly clear when one reads it. I loved this book when I read it when I was eleven (even though I had not read any of the others in the series), and I loved it again when I reread it as an adult (as part of the series).

Previous book in the series: Greenwitch
Subsequent book in the series: Silver on the Tree

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Review - The High King by Lloyd Alexander

Short review: Arawn reaches his hand out to take Prydain in his grasp. Taran and his friends must struggle and sacrifice to stop him.

Haiku
The white pig banner
Rallies the free to Taran
Kill the cauldron born

Full review: This is the last book of the main story of the Chronicles of Prydain, and a worthy climax to the series. The bulk of this book describes the war between Arawn and the rest of Prydain, led by High King Math, Prince Gwydion, and the rest of the Sons of Don. Taran and his companions gather together the people he had befriended on his many journeys in the previous books and join Math and Gwydion's side, fighting under Taran's banner of a white pig.

Much of the war goes badly for the heroes: they are betrayed by those they depended upon, sacrifices must be made, good people fall. For a book aimed at a younger audience, the book is definitely dark, and the war quite brutal; many characters who have been in the series for numerous books must give up things that are precious and valuable to them, and many others die. Finally, through a twist that was quite a surprise to me when I read the book the first time (albeit when I was much younger), Arawn is defeated.

But that's not the end. And in many ways, the elements of the book that follow Arawn's defeat are the most important part of the book - the choices and sacrifices Taran and his friends must make in victory are the most critical, and without them, the book (and in many ways, the entire series) would have been a throwaway piece of fluff. In the end, Alexander shows that although victory has its rewards, it definitely has a price that must be paid, both to achieve it and after it has been attained.

Previous book in the series: Taran Wanderer
Subsequent book in the series: The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain

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