Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The finale has come!

It's a pretty great example of a "signs and mystical Arthurian legendary artifacts" kind of series, boldly mixing ancient and wild magic in with everyday English characters within a small territory for huge stakes.

That being said, I always preferred reading about Will's adventures and I warmed up to Brom pretty quickly, while the normal children were kinda so-so to me.

While I do APPRECIATE the idea of having so much Arthurian and older English imagery studded through these books, (and the last one in particular), my older self found it slightly ham-fisted and even slightly nonsensical by the end. It always boils down to arbitrary decisions by vastly powerful beings who then choose to give a choice over to the least consequential mortals.

Chosen-one stuff in different clothing, even arbitrarily chosen chosen-one stuff by the very end. And yes, I can see the point that this makes it rise above the expected outcomes, gives it subtlety and a chance for readers to read it all again for more signs and portents, but to me, it reminds me of countless heavy-handed christian fiction. Post-Narnia as this is, perhaps I'm a bit -- sensitive.


THAT being said, I still liked this book and the whole series. Good YA, great atmosphere, and if you're into it, vast numbers of symbolism to consider.

View all my reviews