And at last, we come to the end of the Dark is Rising sequence. It’s pretty interesting to look back at the first book and see how Cooper infused the whole series with Arthurian and Welsh mythology, as well as to see the change in tone as the book matures and develops.

The first few books in the series focused on key aspects of the battle between Light and Dark – Will coming into his power as an Old One, the quest for the Grail by the Drew siblings, and waking the sleepers by Bran and Will (as well as the discovery of Bran’s identity). Silver on the Tree is the culmination of all their efforts, as the six protagonists (five children and Merriman) come together with their allies for one final battle against the Dark.

I wish I could say that this was a glorious, exciting book but while Silver on the Tree is still suffused with mythology and has exciting battles, it’s not the perfect ending. For one, it’s very hard to have six protagonists and Cooper has to leave some of them out at least part of the time! Depending on who your favourite character is, you may or may not wish for them to play a bigger part. I personally like Will the best, but I did notice that the Drew siblings played a smaller role (despite me wondering if Simon’s new grown-up personality was going to make a difference to the book).

Another issue I saw was that not all threads were tied together. There is an ugly incident of racism at the start of the book and it was linked to the Dark, but that strand is never picked up again in the final battle. So why put it in? I was also surprised at the character of Blodwen Rowlands, John Rowland’s wife. John played a rather big role in The Grey King, but I didn’t recall his wife being part of the story, so her role because rather strange. I would have preferred that she was much more memorable in The Grey King (if she had appeared at all!) so that this subplot could be developed between books.

Those two issues aside, Silver on the Tree is still an exciting conclusion to the Dark is Rising series. It’s keeping in tone with The Grey King and I think Greenwitch as well, which means that after a rather light start in Over Sea, Under Stone, Cooper keeps her series suitably dark for fantasy but not too dark for children. I see why these five books are so popular and I think fans of fantasy, especially quest-based fantasies, will enjoy the series as a whole.