27. The Grey King by Susan Cooper (Children’s Fantasy) 165 p.

Having been desperately ill, Will Stanton goes away to Wales to recover at his aunt and uncle’s farm. His illness has wiped all knowledge of the Old Ones from his mind, and he can recall only a few snatches of a poem which he knows is vitally important. All sorts of sinister things are going on in the Welsh countryside, and Will needs all his knowledge and power if he is going to find the harp of gold and wake the Sleepers.

Once again, Susan Cooper paints the setting with such rich and vibrant colour that I almost felt I was there. She also includes a surprising amount of Welsh, including a plethora of Welsh place-names, and even manages a fairly natural way of weaving a pronunciation guide into the text!

The only drawback, from my point of view, was the inclusion of a certain legend that I really would rather not have had used, but that’s entirely a matter of personal taste.

I think this is actually my favourite of the series so far. The tone felt more serious, and the story more real and immediate, than either of the others. For the first time, I felt as though Will and the other characters were truly acting on their own, rather than stumbling through a series of fated events or merely reacting to what the Dark was doing. For the first time, I was genuinely in suspense as to the book’s resolution.

I’m now especially eager to find out what Silver on the Tree has in store.
Pages read: 7,840

Sort of off-topic, I got a comment on this blog last week from an Indigo employee. Among other things, she corrected my earlier remark about Indigo’s children’s and young adult sections. When I was in the same store again today, I realized that she’s absolutely right; since the whole section was being moved around the last time I was there, the signs at the time were probably just mixed up.

I’m having a very good week so far. Aside from hearing that some of my students are showing noticeable improvement in the classroom and on tests, I also found a new favourite bookstore, just a couple of blocks from where I work. I not only found some books I’d pretty much given up home on, I discovered one of the most pleasant and best-organized used bookstores in the city. And none of the paperbacks (mass market and children’s trade) I bought was more than $4; most were $3.

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, 888 Challenge, Eponymous Challenge, Susan Cooper, The Dark Is Rising