The Dark Is Rising Sequence is a series of five contemporary fantasy novels for older children and young adults that were written by the British author Susan Cooper and published from 1965 to 1977.

The sequels were published 1973 to 1977, almost simultaneously in the U.K. and the U.S.[4][a] Volume four, The Grey King (1975), won both the Newbery Medal, recognizing the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children",[5] and the inaugural Tir na n-Og Award for English-language books with Welsh background.

[5] Its 2007 film adaptation, titled The Seeker in America and The Dark Is Rising in Britain, made significant plot and character divergences from the book.

Capable of performing seemingly impossible feats, including freezing time and controlling the elements, they serve the Light in the war against the Dark.

In Silver on the Tree, Will travels with Bran to the Lost Land to recover the crystal sword Eirias, and helps to vanquish the Dark.

Gentle, wise and enigmatic, she is a pivotal figure throughout the series, appearing usually at important moments to turn the tide in the Light's favour.

At a later high ceremony of Old Ones, the Lady is missing and Merriman tells Will that her depleted power prevents her arrival, and she is beyond their magic to rescue but will return.

She acts kind and caring, to keep an eye on Bran while developing emotional bonds, while controlling events around Cader Idris, which means "chair of Arthur", and the Sleepers.

The Walker: A human who betrayed the Light and was cursed to carry the Sign of Bronze, one of six Things of Power that repel the Dark, through the centuries until the last Old One claimed it from him.

In The Grey King, they are awakened from a mystic slumber by the Harp of the Light, to ride against the Dark during the final battle in Silver on the Tree.

It is also his son in this series, Bran Davies, who is predestined to wield the Crystal Sword of Light that is vital to the final conflict with the Dark.

Bran is an albino, meaning he has very pale skin and white hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes, but his eyes are an unusual tawny colour.

The person who obtains the silver flower gains control of the High Magic, to put out of Time the Dark or the Light forever.

Bran Davies, the Pendragon and heir of King Arthur, wields the Crystal Sword to cut the fully blossomed silver flower on the Midsummer's Tree, which is caught by Merriman, making the Light victorious.

In this tale, Susan Cooper introduces the audience to Merriman, a pivotal character for the forces of the Light and also ties him with Simon, Jane and Barney Drew, three young mortal children, in a quest by the sea which will lead them over sea and under stone to find a grail of legend to help the Light in its struggle against the Dark.

The book features elements of English folklore that are especially associated with the Thames Valley, with Herne the Hunter and Wayland the Smith making an appearance.

[10] In 2012 it was ranked number 22 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S.

Over Sea, Under Stone and Greenwitch are set in Trewissick, which is based on a village in southern Cornwall called Mevagissey which Susan Cooper used to visit as a child.

The Welsh setting in The Grey King and Silver on the Tree is the area around Aberdyfi, the village where Cooper's grandmother was born and where her parents lived.

[12] John Clute wrote in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy "The overall tale evolves – not without occasional narrative confusion when time paradoxes and puzzles must be confronted – towards a guardedly affirmative climax in which it seems that the various young protagonists plus Bran Davies (King Arthur's son) may succeed in staving off entropy and totalitarianism.

"[13] Karen Patricia Smith wrote "Susan Cooper has come to be recognized as a major author of books for children and young adults.

Rather than succumbing to artistic flaw, Cooper goes beyond the conventional expectations of her readers by inviting them to glimpse the complex, the unexplainable, and often the threatening aspects of mankind's nature.

"[14] Mary Corran has written "Cooper's scholarly knowledge of legend, and skill in drawing together all the complexities of the five books into a triumphant finale, produce an epic of great power.

There are differences in quality in the novels--Greenwitch...is perhaps the weakest, and The Dark Is Rising and The Grey King the strongest; Silver on the Tree, while suitably life-affirming in its conclusion, is slightly preachy, but that is a natural hazard of the subject matter.

Cooper deals with the innate antagonism between mortals and immortals impressively, and in The Grey King reaches great heights as she mingles the worlds and peoples of legend and the present day.

The sequence is a remarkable achievement, and Cooper's gifts for description and characterization provide additional pleasure to novels already replete with intellectual enjoyment.

Her work, although commercially designated for a younger audience, exemplifies sophisticated mythopoeic writing not limited to that age group and is one of the major contributions to Arthurian fantasy of the 1970s.

The writing is robust, but noticeably better out of human time than at the Stanton hearth: as if the author's style, too, had experienced a salutary, magical translation...

Her book seems to have been prepared for a special small age group: those who can read with fluency and attention, but who haven't yet been afflicted by adolescent cynicism.

"[18] Following the successful film adaptations of other fantasy classics, it was announced in 2005 that the novel The Dark Is Rising was being developed as a major motion picture.