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The Dark Is Rising

Book 2 of The Dark Is Rising Sequence

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The Dark Is Rising

By: Susan Cooper
Narrated by: Alex Jennings
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About this listen

 On the Midwinter Day that is his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers a special gift: he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to keeping the world from domination by the forces of evil, the Dark. At once, he is plunged into a quest for the six magical Signs that will one day aid the Old Ones in the final battle between the Dark and the Light. And for the twelve days of Christmas, while the Dark is rising, life for Will is full of wonder, terror, and delight.

This book is a rare act of creative imagination in which the listener will be equally moved by the warm happy village life Will shares with his large family and the nearly overwhelming danger he encounters, often in other centuries and places, while he seeks the Signs and learns their power. Interweaving ancient Celtic and English traditions with the legends of the Buckinghamshire hills and valleys where she grew up, Susan Cooper has written a superlative dramatic fantasy of the eternal conflict between good and evil out of which all myth is made.

Listen to more in the Dark Is Rising Sequence.©1973 Susan Cooper (P)2000 Random House, Inc., Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Fantasy Christmas

Critic Reviews

"As narrator, Alex Jennings superbly conveys Will's mixed emotions." (AudioFile)
"So perfect is the match between Alex Jennings' voice and this mysterious magical tale that it is difficult to imagine any other voice reading these words." (The Horn Book Magazine)

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Enjoyed "Over Sea, Under Stone" but this one was a bit hard to follow on audio. It jumps around in time and doesn't really explain it (especially at the beginning). And there are lots of references to English folk lore/places/etc that the author assumes people already know the context of (which is also a bit hard to follow on audio as you can't flick back through pages to get your bearings or re-read sections). Anyway, it was fine but think I would have much preferred this one as a read rather than a listen. Performed wonderfully by the orator.

Ok, a bit hard to follow

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Loved the story when I was a kid, a wonderful revisit for myself. All the voices quite well done by the narrator.

Timeless classic

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This has been a fave book of mine for years, so hearing it read was a wonderful revisit. at first i wasn't sure about the reader... but as the story moved on, his skills with character accents were smooth and realistic. he speeded up his reading in fast paced sections and it actually added to the story. i didn't want it to end. its a wonderful moody depiction of Christmas in the snow as the dark and light battle..

You feel like you are in the cold, at Christmas ti

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.