Whoever recommended Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series...thank you. Actually if I recall correctly, more than one person has suggested these books as good reads. I finished the first novel, Over Sea, Under Stone this past weekend. The series is actually written for young adults, but I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and already have ordered the next title in the sequence.
Isn't it always convenient in YA books when parents seem to absent themselves so readily from the story? Of course what would be the fun of having too many adults around when you find an ancient map? Thus begins the quest for the grail, which the three Drew siblings embark on after they find it under some floorboards in their vacation house. Somewhere along the coast in Cornwall lays hidden the grail, and the Drews are not the only ones in search of it. There is, of course, the omnipresent feeling of good vs. evil and a race to discover the treasure before all is lost.
I read this as my fantasy book for Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge. I have a feeling that "fantasy" is a label that is quite broad. I'm assuming this is a fantasy book due to the idea of a quest and good vs. evil, but really it reads as a good, plain adventure story as well. There is only the slightest feeling of the supernatural to the story. Otherwise the setting and people are really quite "normal" (not to say that they aren't in fantasy reads...). It will be interesting to see what the other books in the series are like. I believe the next book, The Dark is Rising, is a different story entirely from the first with completely different characters. I think eventually the story will continue on with the Drew siblings, which I look forward to. Without giving anything away, the ending is somewhat tidy, but there are still unanswered questions!
Unfortunately I didn't manage to read all the books I set out to to with this challenge. It wraps up this week. I read books from three of the four categories, but I still haven't gotten to A Midsummer Night's Dream (hopefully this weekend--I do still plan on reading/watching it!). Still I did branch out a bit and read books I normally would not have (Stardust by Neil Gaiman and The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood along with the Cooper book), and that's what I like about challenges.