Greenwitch is the third book of the Dark is Rising Sequence. I have to admit right here that the books involving the Drew children are not my favorite books in the series (you’ll notice I’m not even rereading Over Sea, Under Stone this go around). This is partially because I read The Grey King the first out of any of the books (it was the only one at the library), so I had Will’s story first, and I’m therefore more partial to it. The Drews always seem like interlopers to me.
But anyway, in Greenwitch, the Drew children (Simon, Jane and Barney) go off to Cornwall with their great-uncle Merry after the grail that they found in Over Sea, Under Stone is stolen. Once there, they meet friends of their Uncle Merry, who have brought their nephew, Will Stanton. What the Drews don’t initially realize is that Will’s place there is as important, if not more important than theirs, as he’s an Old One, just as their great uncle is.
They happen in be in the village of Trewissick just at the time of the annual making of the Greenwitch. Jane is invited to the making, which is only witnessed by the woman of the village. At the making, she makes a fateful wish that will help them all find the secret of the Greenwitch, which will ultimately help them fight the battle against the Dark.
The story is extremely quick (this would be one of the two I knocked off in the first morning of no power after the ice storm), and has always felt a bit rushed to me. I like the sections dealing with the Wild Magic the best, and will leave you with a quote from when Merriman and Will go to visit Thetys, the Lady of the deep ocean, and lovely example of Cooper’s writing style:
“Miles away and fathoms deep they sped, on and on, towards the distant deeps. The sea was full of noises, hissing, groaning, clicking, with great fusillades of thumps like cannon-fire as schools of big startled fish sped out of their way. The water grew warmer; jade-green, translucent. Glancing down, Will saw far below him the last signs of an old wreck. Only stumps remained of the masts and raised decks, all eaten away by shipworms. From the mounded sand sifting over the hull an ancient cannon jutted, lumpy with coral, and two white skulls grinned up at Will. Killed by pirates, perhaps, he thought : destroyed, like too many men, neither by Dark nor Light but by their own kind…”