By Susan Cooper

Do you like Arthurian fiction?

The answer should be yes.

And if the answer is yes, then you will like this book.

Think about it this way. Imagine that you went on holiday to an old house in Cornwall. In this house, you and your siblings proceeded to find a map – an ancient map – that revealed the location of an ancient Arthurian artifact. And as you and your siblings set out to recover this artifact, you realized that you had become caught up in the fight against the Dark itself, which is as old as time itself.

Pretty epic, right?

This is one of my favorite retellings of the King Arthur legend because it creates a world I desperately wish I could inhabit. It takes place in the real world (probably 30-40 years ago) and the characters are ordinary kids. But they get to participate in the world of this legend that goes back hundreds of years. How cool is that? As someone who has always loved King Arthur legends and wants to go into the field of medieval studies, I love this book.

The best part is that this book is also a part of series, The Dark is Rising Sequence. I believe that there are five books in total and I think I have most, if not all of them. Each of the other books takes spin in a slightly different direction, and though on the surface they might not all seem connected, they definitely are.

One of my favorite parts of this book, and really in the series in general, is that the overall conflict is between Dark and light, good and evil. While there may not be a real villain, all the “bad guys” are serving the same forces of evil, and that is a literary device that I particularly love. It’s definitely a theme rooted heavily in ancient Celtic and British myths.

Overall, I wouldn’t say this book has any content to watch out for. The only thing I would note is that it can be a bit creepy at times, as some of the plot features the main characters (who are children) coming into conflict with adults who are working for the Dark.

General Stats:

• Genre: Fantasy (Arthurian)
• Book 1 of 5
• Age: 5th grade and above
• My rating: ★★★★☆