It was more like he stumbled upon them, or they were handed right to him. Will didn't really go on an actual quest for the signs. Will's objective throughout the book is to seek out the six signs (water, fire, bronze, stone, wood, and iron)so that they may be joined together and help vanquish the dark. Everything the main character, Will Stanton, went through seemed entirely too easy. After reading this book, I still feel like I'm in the dark (no pun intended) about the plot and what exactly was accomplished in the book. Honestly, I can't see what all the fuss is about. Critics raved about this book and claimed that it deserved a spot among the ranks of Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. I had a 25 year old copy sitting in my house, which I had been meaning to read anyway, so I decided to invest the time in to reading this Newberry Honor book. I wanted to give this book a shot because it was recently re-released with a fancy new cover. Read moreĪfter practically a month of reading this book I'm finally finished. This is a good fantasy book for middle school aged children and the series, even though it is based in the seventies will never get old. A reader might not understand all that is happening or where. There are times the story gets confusing. The style of the novel fits within the time era that it is set in and when it does draw on other time eras, terms and ideas from them do come in. The over all theme is the typical Good vs. The HUGE snowstorm, the kidnapping of Will’s sister, the flood. The struggles between the Light and the Dark affect the “real world”, ie. The story is set in the modern world (modern in 1974) in England. Will must find 6 signs in order to call the hunt to drive back the Darkness.

Old Ones are people can live forever to fight for the Light versus the Dark, which is seen in the Dark Rider. He is the 7th son of a 7th son, which makes him the Sign-Seeker. The story focuses around Will Stanton, the last of the Old Ones. The Dark is Rising is the second book of the Dark is Rising Sequence.

Susan cooper the dark is rising series