I can’t reread The Dark is Rising without also rereading The Grey King. The other books in the series I have to be more in the mood for, but The Grey King to me is totally linked to The Dark is Rising. It’s actually the first book I read in this series (back in the days when you had to track down hard copies of books, and there was no internet to aid your search).
I can’t tell you what it is about this book that I love so much – it might be the atmospheric descriptions of Snowdonia in Wales, or the way that Cooper seamlessly integrates ancient magic into the modern day (and though this was published more than forty years ago, it has a very timeless quality to it – sure, the kids would have cell phones today, but you don’t miss them).
This book was a Newbury Medal winner, and very rightfully so.