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)

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.

Typical of the other book in the series

All the main characters from the series come together to finish them off and very much reads like the other books.
It took me three tries to get into it enough to finish reading. I wasn't expecting much from this book and didn't get much out of it. Characters continue to lack depth and follow stereotypes. Problems are solved either by coincidence or mysterious magic.This books shows just how rich a world the series takes place in but each section is only briefly touched on.
If you read the others books it worth reading to finish the story.

Excellent

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

great ending if the series

I read this series 20 years ago. I remembered liking it. I over it as an audiibook!

every year

We reread this series every year. Audio version is captivating, Welsh accents add so much!

Delicious

Narrator was stupendous! Really made the listening experience. This series is a keeper. Good story. Excellent enactment.

Nothing short of Epic

The dictionary defines “epic” as “heroic; majestic; impressively great.” Those are all words I use to describe this book. It was beautifully written. I don’t yet have kids, but I highly recommend it to anyone who does. And, of course, it’s wonderful for adults as well. The whole series was fantastic, and I was never disappointed.

Unique Arthurian twist within a great story

Have loved this series since I read it as a child but don't let that keep you from it. It is an incredible story, believable characters and lots of twists. And oh, so very glad to listen to it this time and glean wonderful tidbits. So so good
( oh, and the movie is nothing like the books)

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

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!

Final part of one of my favourite sequences

Love this but please can't you get 'Over sea, under stone' and 'The dark is rising'?

children's fantasy and magic

The fifth and final ageless classic of "The Dark is Rising' series by Susan Cooper. It is rather surprising that her work is not as widely known as the Harry Potter books.She establishes a great sense of atmosphere in her books which draw heavily on Arthurian legends. Alex Jennings brings her work to life incredibly well.

Great story, terrible performance

I loved these Susan Cooper books as a child, so I was glad to see that they’re on Audible now.

Sadly my enjoyment of the story was ruined by the fact the narrator could not be bothered to learn even the basics of Welsh pronunciation. Aberdyfi is pronounced ‘Aberdovey’, as in the usual English name given to it, not ‘Aberdiffy’. Almost no other Welsh word or name was pronounced correctly, which is a problem when most of the book is set in North Wales. As for the Welsh prophecies in the story, they came out as gibberish to a Welsh speaker.

Further, Bran is a Welsh-speaking boy from a sheep farm in North Wales, but the accent the narrator gave him made him sound like a miner from Merthyr Tydfil at best.

Maybe this wouldn’t matter so much if you aren’t Welsh, but I am and one reason I love the books is that I know and love the area they’re set in, and the lack of even a basic attempt to get the Welsh right ruined the performance for me.

Terrible Accents!

Alex Jennings is a great actor, but he really shouldn’t have read this book. His Welsh accent and pronunciation are dreadful. “Dyfi” as “diffy”, for example. Was there nobody to advise him?
There was a different narrator for The Grey King, whose accents and pronunciation were perfect. He should have done this one too.
Jennings’ voicing of the English characters was good, and the story is good, but the Welsh ones were terrible, and very off-putting.

The end to a great sequence spoiled

I have loved revisiting these wonderful stories. Despite the dodgy Cornish accents I enjoyed Alex Jennings narration of the first three books. Richard Mitchley’s reading of The Grey King was wonderful, the Welshness really special. So why on earth go back to Alex Jennings for another book set mostly in Wales? The accents were at least as poor as the Cornish ones, which I could have put up with. But to mispronounce the name of the very place where it is located is inexcusable. I cringed at every single “Aberdiffy”.

Very bad use Welsh

I have been fond of Susan Cooper’s books for a long time. I just had fun listening to the dark is rising but when I heard the Silver on the tree I could not under the crass stupidity in having a narrator whose grasp of Welsh was simply appalling. I don’t know if he realised that Wales is a country of many dialects, both English and Welsh. The narrator of the Grey King was brilliant and understood to the subtlety of colloquial welsh. I think you need to re-,record the book as soon as possible.

Revisited Childhood fav after more than 30 yrs.

Hats off to Audible, they have a great policy where when a Book is exchanged, the unwanted remains in the Customer's Library....that is what happened...The Dark is Rising sat in my Library, unwanted and unlistened to because I wasn't willing to give the voice of Alex Jennings a go... but did, under protest and glad I did. Four purchases later (quids-in Audible) I came to Silver on the Tree the last part of the Dark is Rising Series. What an utter entertainment it has been and Jennings is a real find, if you stick with him. Over 30 years ago I read this as a Kid and much like Rowlings' Potter Books, I think Cooper's talent is able to transcend Childrens' Literature and encompass the grown-up World.

wonderful except so called Welsh ..

fantastic and wonderfully written story , great to revisit it as an audiobook , except for the pronunciation of the welsh , which was very disappointing , especially in this epic tale where the essence of Wales and welshness is an inextricable part of the whole story. An unexpected shortfall in an otherwise excellent audio experience.

Almost excellent

I love all these books and this is almost an excellent rendition...it's such a shame that the little research it would have taken to get the Welsh pronunciation correct was not done. The, otherwise, engaging performance is however marred by the garbled approximation of the Welsh.

great ending to the sequence

I love these stories and they have been beautifully narrated - the only criticism I can make of Silver on the Tree is the appalling Welsh pronunciation throughout.