Over Sea, Under Stone, which introduces The Dark Is Rising series, is primarily a fantasy based on the legends of King Arthur. The writing is impeccable, from words and sentences to the general structure of the book. Cooper's prose is specific, detailed, clear, and exact. It is simple, but never condescending. For her, "the rain fell with grey insistence," Great-Uncle Merry returns to "the dusty peace of the university where he taught," and after the children explore the attic, little could be done "about Barney's hair, now khaki." One of her favorite stylistic patterns is to combine an adjective with an abstract noun, as in "grey insistence." Cooper relies most frequently on sight in her novel, but she at times uses other senses. Her ear for dialect is good, as when Bill Hoover speaks, and she relies on hearing and touch when Barney is kidnapped: "The...