The Grey King
Front cover of the first UK edition
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| Author | Susan Cooper |
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| Cover artist | Michael Heslop (UK, US) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Dark is Rising |
| Genre | Children's fantasy and horror novel |
| Publisher | Chatto & Windus (UK)Atheneum (US) |
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Publication date
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October 1975 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 208 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 1974496 |
| LC Class | PZ7.C7878 Gt3 |
| Preceded by | Greenwitch |
| Followed by | Silver on the Tree |
The Grey King is a contemporary fantasy novel by Susan Cooper, published almost simultaneously by Chatto & Windus and Atheneum in 1975. It is the fourth of five books in her Arthurian fantasy series The Dark is Rising.
The Grey King won the inaugural Tir na n-Og Award from the Welsh Books Council as the year's best English-language children's book with an "authentic ". It is set in Wales and incorporates Welsh folklore as well as Arthurian material. It also won the annual Newbery Medal recognising the year's "most distinguished contribution to American children's literature".
The geography described in the book is based very closely on the real geography in and around the Dysynni Valley in Gwynedd in north-west Wales. References include the town of Tywyn, Cader Idris and Bird Rock (Craig yr Aderyn).
Karen Patricia Smith has written, "Will is assisted in his quest for a golden harp by several people, including Bran, son of King Arthur, brought forward in time. Cooper continues her exploration of the many guises of evil and reiterates the theme that the Dark is a wily foe, capable of taking many forms."
Mary Corran said that "in The Grey King, it is human emotions which are the danger—jealousy, anger and hate, which open mortal minds to the invasion of the Dark. The fourth book is strongly Arthurian in content ... Cooper deals with the innate antagonism between mortals and immortals impressively, and in The Grey King reaches great heights as she mingles the worlds and peoples of legend and the present day."
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Wikipedia