The Dark Is Rising (1973)
The Dark Is Rising is a 1973 young adult fiction book written by Susan Cooper.
Snow is falling across the English countryside, and something far older than snow is stirring. On the eve of his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton learns he is the last of the Old Ones, immortal guardians sworn against the Dark. The familiar lanes and farms turn strange, doors open onto other centuries, and Will must gather six great Signs before the Dark rises to its full power. Susan Cooper draws on English folklore and midwinter myth to write a quest steeped in cold, candlelight, and old magic. This is the second book in her Dark Is Rising sequence.
Quick answers
What is The Dark Is Rising about?
Snow is falling across the English countryside, and something far older than snow is stirring. On the eve of his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton learns he is the last of the Old Ones, immortal guardians sworn against the Dark. The familiar lanes and farms turn strange, doors open onto other centuries, and Will must gather six great Signs before the Dark rises to its full power. Susan Cooper draws on English folklore and midwinter myth to write a quest steeped in cold, candlelight, and old magic. This is the second book in her Dark Is Rising sequence.
When was The Dark Is Rising published?
The Dark Is Rising was published in 1973.
Who made The Dark Is Rising?
The Dark Is Rising was written by Susan Cooper.
Similar books
The Dark Is Rising in our writing
- Companion guide: Academies of Magic: The Complete Guide to Magic Schools
A few thoughts on The Dark Is Rising
The Chronicles of Narnia films share the spine: ordinary English children pulled into an ancient war between light and dark, snow everywhere. For the same midwinter enchantment on screen, the BBC's The Box of Delights is a close cousin. And Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth carries that sense of a child crossing into old, dangerous magic.
English portal fantasies about ancient magic waking up in ordinary places
Will Stanton discovers his birthday marks him as an Old One sworn against an ancient Dark, and that same shiver of hidden magic under a familiar English landscape runs through Susan Cooper's own sequence and through Narnia's wardrobe door. These stories share cold country houses, midwinter light, and children who step sideways into a much older world.
Boarding-school magic sagas for readers who love a chosen kid with real power
The Dark Is Rising treats magic as an inheritance older than any school, closer to Harry Potter's wizarding world than its trappings suggest. Both follow a child discovering hidden power at the edge of ordinary life, learning rules and history from mentors, and facing a rising darkness that has been waiting far longer than they have been alive.
Modern mythology adventures where ancient gods still walk among us
Will Stanton's fight against the Dark runs on the same engine as Percy Jackson, Sadie Kane and Magnus Chase's adventures: myth and folklore made literal, with gods, spirits and old magic acting directly on the present day. Readers who like Susan Cooper's Old Ones and Signs will recognize the same thrill in these demigod quests grounded in real legend.
Apprentice-mage fantasy where kids inherit old, dangerous magic
Will's apprenticeship to power he never asked for, learning the Signs and the old lore of the Light under real pressure, matches the arc of these mage-in-training stories. Sabriel, Ged and Nathaniel Underwood all inherit dangerous, ancient magic systems and have to master them fast, with an old evil already loose in the world.