Greenwitch

I rarely read a series of books straight off without a break and Susan Cooper's 'Dark is Rising' sequence is a typical example: I've been reading it for about a year now. Greenwitch is book three in the series and I've just read it for Carl's Once Upon a Time challenge. I find challenges like this one perfect for making me get a move on with various series that I'm dragging my feet on!



The grail cup that children, Simon, Jane and Barney found in Cornwall and which they gave to a museum to look after, has been stolen. Great Uncle Merriman visits and suggests they spend the last week of their Easter holidays back in Trewissick to see if they can recover it. He joins them and with him comes Will Stanton from book two, unbeknown to the children, the last of The Old Ones and there to assist Merriman in the quest.

Simon, Jane and Barney don't take to Will at first and make life difficult for him... much to Merriman's annoyance. Then Barney is assaulted by a strange dark haired man while sketching the harbour, and his picture stolen. Why? Jane, being the only girl, is invited to the night-long ceremony of the Greenwitch where an effigy is built and thrown into the sea. It's a very odd night indeed, culminating in her making a wish...

There's a storm coming, literally and figuratively, and the dark haired stranger is at the centre and maybe even the cause of it. That night will be one of the most frightening Jane will ever experience. The children join forces at last to defeat this representative of the dark and, hopefully, recover the grail.

This is the book that brings together the three children from book one and Will Stanton from book two. It was nice to have them back in Cornwall (I've decided that Trewissick is probably Mevagissey) but I didn't find this book to be quite as good as the first two. It seemed to lack the same detail and atmosphere and felt slightly rushed to me. Nevertheless it was still entertaining and full of action and I'm looking forward to their continued adventures, this time in Wales I believe, in book four, The Grey King.

This was book four for Carl's Once Upon a Time challenge. One more book to go... although I will almost certainly read more than the five books required. I'm quite pleased with myself that I'm actually reading the books in my pool for once and thus taking a few books off the tbr mountain. That is until the two new Temeraire books by Naomi Novik arrive, and I've also added The Snow Spider trilogy by Jenny Nimmo. So perhaps I should stop patting myself on the back quite so enthusiastically!

~~~oOo~~~