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osprey_archer) wrote2024-04-22 08:06 am
osprey_archer) wrote2024-04-22 08:06 am
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Book Review: Silver on the Tree
Silver on the Tree is the last book in The Dark Is Rising sequence, and also, perhaps, the least. It’s not nearly as well constructed as the other books in the series, and the person who gets the most character arc is poor John Rowland, who learns that his beloved wife Blodwen is in fact one of the great powers of the Dark, and only married him so she could keep an eye on King Arthur’s time-displaced son Bran. The children in comparison are pretty static. And I found the climactic battle underwhelming, especially in comparison with the similar combat between the Light and Dark at the end of The Dark Is Rising.
For all that, there are still some lovely descriptions here. Will and Bran’s journey through the Lost Land has a wonderful dreamlike quality, as does the sequence where all the Six finally meet up on the magical train that becomes a boat.
A couple of stray thoughts: in the last chapter, the Lady touches Arthur’s arm with “the casual closeness of those who belong to the same family.” Are the Lady and King Arthur related? Does that mean the Lady… is Morgan le Fay? Or okay, maybe this is more metaphorical and the family they both belong to is simply the side of the Light, but I do love the idea that here one of Arthur’s usually evil sisters is in fact on the side of the angels.
Also, when I started this reread, I had the vague memory that the books hinted at Will/Jane. Now that I’ve finished, I can’t understand how I came to that conclusion, as if the books are purposefully hinting at any pairing, it’s Jane/Bran. Overall, however, the strongest pairing is still perhaps Will/Bran, though moreso in The Grey King than in Silver on the Tree, I think. I feel compelled to give this shipping report even though I came out of the books with no strong shipping feels myself.
Generally, however, any discussion of this book is dominated by discussion of the ending, which of course necessitates another
So at the end of Silver on the Tree, all the mortal characters forget their magical adventures. John Rowlands is offered the choice to remember or forget, and asks the Lady to choose for him; she chooses that he will forget. Bran must decide whether to stay with his father King Arthur and remember, or go back to the present time and forget; he chooses the present. And the Drews aren’t offered any choice at all, but are informed that they’ll forget by Merriman, who walks away immediately thereafter so they don’t even have a chance to protest.
When I first read these books, I already knew that the ending gave the internet hives, and therefore felt suitably indignant when I came to it. I wish I’d read it without knowing, though, because I’m curious how I would have felt if I came to it on my own. Would I have minded if I didn’t know that the internet minded very much indeed? Or perhaps I would have minded far more intensely if I had gone into it without forewarning. The poor Drews! No choice the matter at all, when you know they’re the ones who would have chosen to remember!
And so perhaps would Bran, but the choice for him comes with strings attached. Only John Rowlands gets a free choice, and he refuses to make it, because he’s so bent down under the weight of his wife’s betrayal. He says he’s been living a lie, and Merriman insists that no, he hasn’t, because his love for Blodwen was true—and there is something to that, but John Rowlands is more right, I think. He loved her for the woman she pretended to be, but she was never really that person, and she never loved him back.
***
On a different note, long ago I started a fic in which Will and Bran meet again, after Will’s family sends him once more on holiday to Wales because after all he’s such good friends with that lonely boy there… only of course the lonely boy remembers almost nothing of their friendship, except the fact that Will was somehow involved with the death of his dear dog Cafall, and wants nothing to do with him. I never finished the fic, as I realized that it would have to be fairly long to do the idea justice (of course there were going to be more magical adventures, and Will telling Bran about their previous adventures in the end), and I just didn’t want to commit that much time to it. But I still think the idea is fun and angsty, and am therefore releasing it to the world.
For all that, there are still some lovely descriptions here. Will and Bran’s journey through the Lost Land has a wonderful dreamlike quality, as does the sequence where all the Six finally meet up on the magical train that becomes a boat.
A couple of stray thoughts: in the last chapter, the Lady touches Arthur’s arm with “the casual closeness of those who belong to the same family.” Are the Lady and King Arthur related? Does that mean the Lady… is Morgan le Fay? Or okay, maybe this is more metaphorical and the family they both belong to is simply the side of the Light, but I do love the idea that here one of Arthur’s usually evil sisters is in fact on the side of the angels.
Also, when I started this reread, I had the vague memory that the books hinted at Will/Jane. Now that I’ve finished, I can’t understand how I came to that conclusion, as if the books are purposefully hinting at any pairing, it’s Jane/Bran. Overall, however, the strongest pairing is still perhaps Will/Bran, though moreso in The Grey King than in Silver on the Tree, I think. I feel compelled to give this shipping report even though I came out of the books with no strong shipping feels myself.
Generally, however, any discussion of this book is dominated by discussion of the ending, which of course necessitates another
So at the end of Silver on the Tree, all the mortal characters forget their magical adventures. John Rowlands is offered the choice to remember or forget, and asks the Lady to choose for him; she chooses that he will forget. Bran must decide whether to stay with his father King Arthur and remember, or go back to the present time and forget; he chooses the present. And the Drews aren’t offered any choice at all, but are informed that they’ll forget by Merriman, who walks away immediately thereafter so they don’t even have a chance to protest.
When I first read these books, I already knew that the ending gave the internet hives, and therefore felt suitably indignant when I came to it. I wish I’d read it without knowing, though, because I’m curious how I would have felt if I came to it on my own. Would I have minded if I didn’t know that the internet minded very much indeed? Or perhaps I would have minded far more intensely if I had gone into it without forewarning. The poor Drews! No choice the matter at all, when you know they’re the ones who would have chosen to remember!
And so perhaps would Bran, but the choice for him comes with strings attached. Only John Rowlands gets a free choice, and he refuses to make it, because he’s so bent down under the weight of his wife’s betrayal. He says he’s been living a lie, and Merriman insists that no, he hasn’t, because his love for Blodwen was true—and there is something to that, but John Rowlands is more right, I think. He loved her for the woman she pretended to be, but she was never really that person, and she never loved him back.
***
On a different note, long ago I started a fic in which Will and Bran meet again, after Will’s family sends him once more on holiday to Wales because after all he’s such good friends with that lonely boy there… only of course the lonely boy remembers almost nothing of their friendship, except the fact that Will was somehow involved with the death of his dear dog Cafall, and wants nothing to do with him. I never finished the fic, as I realized that it would have to be fairly long to do the idea justice (of course there were going to be more magical adventures, and Will telling Bran about their previous adventures in the end), and I just didn’t want to commit that much time to it. But I still think the idea is fun and angsty, and am therefore releasing it to the world.
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