Silver on the Tree

Book 5 of The Dark Is Rising Sequence

By: Susan Cooper

Narrated by: Alex Jennings

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

The Dark is rising in its last and greatest bid to control the world. And Will Stanton, last-born of the immortal Old Ones, dedicated to keeping the world free, must join forces with his ageless master Merriman and Bran, the Welsh boy whose destiny ties him to the Light. Drawn in with them are the three Drew children, who are mortal, but have their own vital part in the story. These six fight fear and death in the darkly brooding Welsh hills, in a quest through time and space that touches the most ancient myths of the British Isles and that brings Susan Cooper's masterful sequence of novels, The Dark Is Rising, to a satisfying close.

Listen to more in the Dark Is Rising Sequence.

©1977 Susan Cooper (P)2002 Random House, Inc., Listening Library, an Imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"[Alex Jennings] is a master of dialogue, slipping effortlessly into the cadences of children's voices and characterizing accents from around the British Isles and beyond. This is a satisfying conclusion to the series." (AudioFile)

Great story. We'll done.

We want to get the books from the library to read. It will be interesting to check spellings of the Welsh words and see the names of the characters. Susan Cooper has a wonderful imagination, but also she has got a grasp on Welsh language and culture, and even more, a good point of view about what is important to mankind.

As good as it gets!

Elegant, charming, and I've read them all. The narrator is top drawer. The story is magical and mythical drawing on deep and hidden archetypes and lore.
Extremely well done.

great finale !

wrapped everything up nicely even tho the end made me tear up ! great narration, story was nice + long … very enjoyable, but greenwitch is still my fav in the series (:

The last battle.

This is a worthy conclusion to the series. It begins with the Stanton family, all of wom are home for the summer holidays. When Will's elder brother Steven intervenes in the matter of an Indian boy being teased by a group of local villagers, the family finds themselves pitted against the hateful father of one of the bullies, an encounter that reminds Will of the absolute power the forces of the Dark will wield if the Circle of Light is unable to push them back. The next stage of the quest begins that night when Meriman Lyon appears to Will and tells him that the time has come for the six signs of light, gathered during the events of The Dark is Rising, to be recovered from the place where they were hidden following their joining. The time for the final battle between the Light and the Dark is drawing near, and the forces of Light must be ready for that critical moment. Recovering the signs is the easyy part. But Will and his friends must also recover an ancient sword, the one weapon that, combined with the six signs, can bring a final end to the threat of the Dark. This sword, however, lies in the Lost Land, in the keeping of its despairing maker. Only Will and Bran Davies, the latter being the lately revealed son of the legendary King Arthur, have any hope of reaching the Lost Land, and even then they must still reach the tower where the king of that realm has hidden himself in his despair. And once there they must find some way to rouse the king from his despair and persuade him to part with the sword. Will their efforts be enough to turn back the forces of the Dark in their greatest rising?
All in all this is a worthy conclusion to the series. Alex Jennings returns for this final installment and as usual he does an excellent job of narrating it.

Awesome!

Just as good as 40 years ago, Thank you Susan Cooper! You are a gifted writer.

Excellent

A wonderful story with a wonderful performance. I don't get tired of listening to this series.

Wonderful!

She is a wonderful writer! I read this series as a child and loved them then. I have such admiration for the series now after listening to it on Audible as an adult with fresh understanding of lore, legends, and the truth of light and dark forces at work in the world. The richness of language and descriptive details is so beautiful! The deep abstract ongoing battle of light and dark is well told in a way that begs the listener to expand their mind. Thank you Susan for a such a beautiful tale!

I have no words

I have no words to describe the emotions I feel right now, this is a truly amazing story. I never thought I would feel so strongly about a story after reading HP and Were The Crawdads Sing all of which are amazing, the first book is rather slow but once you get past that you won’t be disappointed. 10/10 stars

fascinating

this series of books opened up fascinating and interesting concepts of the world in general that's good and bad and of magic and memory and always be the best person you can

perfect tie

What made the experience of listening to Silver on the Tree the most enjoyable?

the actors and the story. everything was done verry well

What did you like best about this story?

how big it felt.

What does Alex Jennings bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

his reading brings a certain gravitas into the tone of the book

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

dark times

Any additional comments?

not to spoil but the ending's a tear jerker