Kirkus Reviews was critical of the book's climax, saying 'to the end the discrepancy between her grand scheme and the particulars of the story is unbridged, giving a morally and intellectually hollow ring to the whole.' Rebecca Fisher of praised Cooper's subtle writing, but criticized the book's pacing choices and lack of suspense. The Children's Literature Review criticized elements of the book's plot, such as the use of time travel, but praised its setting and descriptive writing. Nevertheless, she called it a 'solid ending' for the series. Mari Ness of Tor.com praised it for being 'beautifully and lyrically written', but was critical of its ending and its use of the damsel in distress trope. However, it still received generally positive reviews. The book was compared less favorably to earlier installments in the series, with particular criticism towards its final battle. Significant mythical elements in the book include the bard Taliesin (under his alternate name Gwion), King Gwyddno Garanhir and the Drowned Hundred, the Welsh tradition of the Mari Llwyd, and the Ritual of oak and mistletoe. They ally with Bran, a Welsh descendant of King Arthur, and the three Drew children, to form the Six who are prophesied to triumph over the powers of the Dark.

Will Stanton and his mentor Merriman, two of the last Old Ones, gather allies and magical objects to help defeat the rising Dark. It is the final entry in the five book Dark Is Rising Sequence. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice.Silver on the Tree is a contemporary fantasy novel by Susan Cooper, published by Chatto & Windus in 1977. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice.

Silver on the tree