Silver by the Tree by Susan Cooper

The final installment of Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising sequence, brings all the major characters together for a satisfying final battle against the dark. Will Stanton returns to Wales and connects with Bran Davis, the out-of-time boy from The Grey King. There he also meets up with the Drew Children, who were featured in Over Sea, Under Stone and The Greenwitch. Once again Alex Jennings narrates flawlessly, easily slipping into Welch dialect and pronouncing the Welch words that I stumbled on while reading the Grey King. In this book, Will and Bran have to seek out a crystal sword made to fight the dark in the "Lost Land," an area of Wales that was reclaimed by the sea hundreds of years ago. Then meeting up with Will's mentor, Merriman, they all take the final journey to stop the dark from rising. Full of wonderful symbolism, great mythological references, and historical figures, Silver by the Tree is a satisfying conclusion to the series. Silver by the Tree by Susan Cooper. Random House/Listening Library, 2007.