bluestjuice 's review for:

The Grey King by Susan Cooper

4.0

---

This episode in the series was more successful for me than most of the others. It seemed like Cooper gained a sense of the inherent weirdness of having an outrageously powerful protagonist and fabricated reasons to make him weaker or less prescient when convenient for the plot, with the result that Will is much more relatable in this version. It helps that he is back in the role of point-of-view character, for the most part, and that he's paired with another boy who, though not an Old One, is at least equally weighty in terms of plot significance. This novel did a good job of mingling the fantastical and mythological elements of the tale with personal-feeling psychological drama, so that it is a story that feels grounded in the time and place in which it is set, despite having roots that stretch back a lot farther. The story benefits by having Merriman mostly not around for it, although his absence (and in-absentia orchestrating of the events) still seems very controlling and a bit artificial. I have liked throughout the series that Cooper doesn't feel obligated to explain every allusion or suggestion she makes through her writing, but I felt that in this case she did a good job of filling in some of the major hints, in case any of the young readers weren't able to fill in the gaps as readily as I was. There is subtlety, and then there is utter obscurity, and I think she handled it well.

Edited to add: I forgot to comment on the handling of the Arthurian element in this book. I'm reserving judgment for the final book - this is the first book that really begins to get -specific- with the Arthur legend, where the others have drawn mostly on small pieces of regalia or inferred characterizations. I'm not sure how I feel about the surprising reveal, as it's obviously not very faithful to most Arthurian lore... but as I said, I'm withholding judgment. If it leads to something really cool I'll allow it, otherwise I'll be disgruntled.