Dark Is Rising Sequence Box Set (Paperback)

But kids aren't wise or aware. Re-read as an adult, the series is a missed opportunity, instilling numerous problematic assumptions that can only mislead a child.

The book is not "Arthurian" to those who know what that means. It is the opposite. The link is that poor old King Arthur is exhumed from the grave and reanimated as a magical totem. There is no exploration of civilization based on codes of honor and the subsuming of human kings under a transcending divine. Absolutely the opposite of the Arthurian tradition.

There is no insight into what evil is. The bad guys merely project an inexplicable sense of foreboding and darkness while engaging in cryptic banter. Evil, apparently, is an emotional feeling one "senses" without knowing or understanding.

The good guys (Uncle Merry), always "suddenly stand erect" and start fighting evil with incantations, magical talismans and arcane tasks. Human action is irrelevant. One starts to wonder why Uncle Merry is slouching such that he always needs to "suddenly stand erect"...

So mystical forces clash. The idea is there are elites BORN with special knowledge (instincts, really) who act to protect normal people. We must assist them and do what they say. That nature is magic beyond understanding. That the "fight" between good and evil is a sort of game, not real, in which representatives of good and evil meet in council together to decide matters. Then go out to play-act their roles. That good and evil NEED each other.

All while appealing to create tribal sensibilities and notions of Celtic racial heritage.

This will seem harsh to many who have gradually incorporated such beliefs or like the books, but most of what is contained in this series reflects the 1930's ideology of German National Socialists i.e. fascism, gradually mainstreamed since then, now resurging in popularity behind a "kinder, gentler" face under the banner "New Age", "PC", etc.

If the world were different, this could be a "fun" book. But there is increasingly nothing out there to illuminate the truth behind such ideas; to show were they must inevitably lead. There is a reason why almost every TV show directed to teens revolves around witchcraft and demonology ... why the generations are increasing into violence, body-piercing, open and aimless sexuality (basic primitivism). Treating this series as if it has value is part indicator, part contributor

The first book in the sequence was clearly originally written as a stand-alone book, but I would guess it planted seeds of ideas which took a decade to germinate when she picked up the story again. After the long gap, the next four books came quite thick and fast (coinciding with my childhood) and the writing of them is dynamic and exciting. The characters are fantastic, with the Merlin figure Merry being one of the most endearing attempts to create that arch-sorcerer. They are great fun from start to finish and are as intelligent, fresh and fantastic as when I first read them nearly thirty years ago (ouch!).