The Grey King

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cooper, Susan. 2002. THE GREY KING: THE DARK IS RISING. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks. ISBN: 9780758701886

PLOT SUMMARY

This story follows the journey of young Will Stanton as he visits Wales to recover from hepatitis. Along his journey, he meets Bran and together they seek out the Golden Harp. The Golden Harp is protected by magic and men, so they must work together to figure out how to try to get to the Golden Harp.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Not having read the prequels to this particular book made it very hard to understand what was going on at the beginning, it is definitely not a stand-alone book. The first few chapters feel very rushed and do not provide a lot of background information. This book is the fourth book in The Dark Rising series.

After the confusing start of the book, the plot does begin to develop and becomes enjoyable as Will is on his journey. With his recent health issues of hepatitis, Will has memory issues that cause him to not remember a lot of what he knows about the Golden Harp. He is sent to stay with a relative while he is not allowed to return to school to heal and rest after hepatitis. His journey to his relative is when he cannot remember certain things about the prophecy. 

Cooper pulls into the standard genre of fantasy by including the magical elements throughout the story, as well as the good guys versus the bad guys. Of course, the main protagonist, Will, is our “good guy/hero” of the saga. 

This book has multiple themes present and deals with violence, betrayal, loss, adultery, and issues with humanity. I’ve never met anyone with the Welsh language personally, but I feel like I traveled across the waters to meet people through Cooper's language in the book.

The biggest takeaway is that this should be read in order so that the background knowledge is there before diving into this particular book.

REVIEW EXCERPTS / AWARDS

School Library Journal (January 1, 2017)

In Cooper's sweeping epic of the struggle between forces of good and evil, the background of Arthurian legend is prominent. When the Dark comes rising, Will Stanton, the youngest of the Old Ones, is guided in his quest to save the world by his mentor Merriman (Merlin), who also involves the three Drew siblings and a strange Welsh boy, Bran. 

Kirkus (October 27, 2011)

Will Stanton, youngest of the Old Ones, goes to visit his Welsh relatives to recover from a serious illness and complete the first quest he has undertaken on his own. Aided only by the mysterious albino boy, Bran, and his gray-eyed dog, Cafall, Will must find the magic golden harp and use it to defeat the Grey King of the mountain and awaken The Sleepers, who will be powerful allies of the Light in its final stand. Strangely enough, it is the very real peril of two dogs—Cafall and Pen, who become pawns of the Grey King and are accused of sheep killing by the villainous farmer Caradog Prichard—which occasions most of the suspense. In the whole epic tug of war between Good and Evil, Cafall's death is the first loss worth tears and it makes us care deeply about his loyal, grieving owner, Bran. . . who turns out to be the son of Guinevere and King Arthur, but that's another matter. The Welsh-accented spells, the gray, spirit foxes who come out of the hills to prey, the climactic battle of enchantments between the swans and cormorants commanded by Will and the seething fish controlled by the Grey King must stir even the most sluggish imagination. Yet Will's special status as an Old One—his ability to summon a new, previously unheard of spell or power at each crisis—tends to lull the reader into passivity; there's something alienating about not knowing the rules ahead of time. Although the imagery here is somewhat more familiar and less eerie, this is every bit as grandly orchestrated as Green-witch (1974). Cooper is clearly building towards a thumping conclusion in the fifth and next volume and even those of us who have doubts about the significance of all this thunderous moral absolutism will want to get in on the action.

Awards: 

  • Newberry Medal, 1976

CONNECTIONS

Other books by Susan Cooper:

  • Cooper, S. GREEN BOY. ISBN 9781413168792 

  • Cooper, S. OVER SEA, UNDER STONE. ISBN 9780758756350

  • Cooper, S. KING OF SHADOWS. ISBN 9781413146059 

In the classroom:

  • ELAR - There are so many different phrases and lines to be taken from this story to be used as mentor sentences to enrich learning. 

  • ELAR - Could use this novel and have students write/predict the next book and how they believe the series would end.

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