‘It looked, Jane thought, like a single representative of a fearful unknown species, from another planet, or from some unthinkably distant part of our own past.’
Greenwitch is the third book in Susan Cooper’s award-winning The Dark is Rising Sequence.
As the Easter holidays begin, the Trewissick Grail is stolen. Coincidentally, Will Stanton, and Simon, Jane and Barney Drew go on holiday to Trewissick with their respective uncles (Bill Stanton and Merriman Lyon). Jane soon witnesses the making of the Greenwitch (a creature of Wild Magic), while Simon and Barney discover that a painter of the Dark has stolen the Grail. The Greenwitch finds half of one of the Things of Power and keeps it, calling it ‘my secret’. Will they be able to retrieve the grail? Will they beat the Dark to claiming the other half of the Thing of Power?
The only new main character is Captain Toms, who was briefly mentioned as the owner of the Grey House in the first book. In Over Sea, Under Stone, I pictured a young sailor. However, I now know that Captain Toms is an old man and is probably retired. Along with Will and Merriman, the Captain is an Old One. Will Stanton is an 11-year old boy, but he acts as an adult due to being an Old One. Like the other Old Ones, Merriman is portrayed as being mysterious. He is also portrayed like this in the first book. However, the second book lacks this due to all main characters knowing of the Old Ones. Furthermore, Simon, Jane and Barney refer to him as Great Uncle Merry. Simon, Jane and Barney Drew all appear in the first book of the series (Over Sea, Under Stone). These three are siblings with Barney being portrayed as the youngest. Despite not having the powers or knowledge of the Old Ones, Jane is probably my favourite character because she is selfless, making a wish for the Greenwitch while everyone else present appears to make wishes for themselves. Another example of this is Jane tossing her silver bracelet into the sea so that the Greenwitch could have another secret.
Jane’s selflessness is one of the themes. Despite not yet knowing the Greenwitch was alive, Jane wished it could be happy. This ultimately leads to the Greenwitch giving Jane its secret, while saying, ‘You made a wish that was for me, not for yourself. No-one has ever done that. I give you my secret, in return.’ Just like the previous books in the series, the main theme is good vs evil. In this case, it is the Light vs the Dark. Unlike the previous two books, there are no direct confrontations between the two. Instead, it is a race to get the half of a Thing of Power that is in the Greenwitch’s possession.
Greenwitch shares the setting of Over Sea, Under Stone: the seaside town of Trewissick. It also shares the Grey House as one of the main places. However, there are two more that don’t appear in the initial book. These are the cottages where the group is staying and the farm where the grail was found and the Dark was hiding. Similar to the previous books, it mainly appears to take place in the present.
I prefer this setting to that of The Dark is Rising due to it being a seaside town and more important to the story. The Greenwitch is made for the sea and finds its secret in the sea; The Dark is Rising could have taken place anywhere with barely anything needing to be changed. However, Greenwitch only lands second in terms of plot. I prefer it to Over Sea, Under Stone because, while both are a race against the Dark to get something, this one has a strange creature and the main characters have to steal something back from the Dark. Out of the three, The Dark is Rising probably has the best plot as the main character has to learn how to control the power he needs to use instead of confidently jumping into the quest and has many direct confrontations with the Dark that put people other than themselves at risk. Overall, Greenwitch is an amazing book and my second favourite of the series so far.
Due to the book lacking humor younger readers may crave for and having small details repeated at opposite ends of the story, I would recommend this book to those 11 and older. Furthermore, I would advise reading Over Sea and Under Stone and The Dark is Rising first as Greenwitch follows on from and references them. If you enjoy action-packed books with mysterious characters and creatures, this could be your next read.