So, let's first talk about how this book gave the series the name of, "The Dark Is Rising." Once I realized that I wondered if the series title was set before she started writing them, or if it was decided after the second book was completed and deemed much better than the first, or if it means that of the entire series this is the best section. I really pray to God that the later is not correct, as this book was not of a very high quality.
While leaps and bounds better than the first novel, this story still seemed to lack a good story line that teeters between believability and fascination. The main character, Will, is an eleven-year-old boy who finds out he is immortal (though it never specifically states that). Once he comes into his "learning" he is all of a sudden not a boy anymore, but rather a rational being stuck in a child's body. The concept may have made sense, if the character still hadn't of acted like a child and needed so much guidance. The next flaw is that he was supposed to go on a quest to find the six signs of power, or whatver they were, because he was the sign searcher. What doesn't make sense about this is that everyone already knew where to find the signs and almost always lead him to them. I would more aptly call him the sign collector or sign retriever or just the Old One's go-for errand boy. Not only did everyone help him, but it seems so highly unlikely that the signs would be so close by him, even though he traveled through time for a few of them, because if they were so powerful you would think that the Light would have tried to hide them a bit better than all close enough for an eleven-year-old to walk around town and pick up.
Also, the fight scenes were never really fight scenes as tensions would lead up to no real combat which made for let downs and boredom.
So, although it seems I am really bashing this book, as it was entirely predictable and stupid, I still have to say it was an interesting read and parts of it were almost good. A huge improvement from the first makes me optomistic that she will improve her skills and that the third book will be even better. Stay tuned for the next reveiw, but for now, I'd suggest holding off on buying a copy yourself.
Love and Kisses,
KABO
