Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper

Over Sea, Under Stone. The very title of Susan Cooper's fictional novel tells you one of the most important things in it.What on earth am I talking about? Let's find out.

     The three main protagonists of this story are Barney, Jane and Simon. These three kids stumble upon an incredible secret while visiting a town called Trewissick. While looking through the attic of the house they are staying in, they find an ancient manuscript so old that the Latin writing is barely legible. On it is a map of Trewissick. When they show it to their mysterious uncle, he deciphers the message and says that they have found a map that will lead them to a grail, which supposedly has the powers to defeat evil. The person who wrote the message also left a clue: the grail was located over sea and under stone. Soon after that, their house is broken into in the middle of the night, but nothing was stolen, and the only things that  even touched are old books. Who could be looking for the manuscript? Why are so many people after it? Is the grail even real, or is it just a myth?

     As you can imagine, this is a darn mysterious book. Everybody acts really friendly towards the children, but they then proceed to ask them if they have found any old books in the house they're staying in. When Jane shows the manuscript to a villager, he seems extremely interested in it, and is reluctant to give it back. The most enigmatic of all, though, is their uncle Merry. He is frequently gone for long periods of time, and keeps saying that the manuscript is extremely important. He also tells the kids that they have to follow the map to the grail by themselves, and that he cannot help them. On top of that, he won't explain anything to them. What is up with this guy? It takes quite a while to find out.

     In this book, Simon, Barney and Jane meet many people who can't be trusted. They lie smoothly to try to cover up their intentions, and they try to hurt the children to achieve their own selfish ambitions. They even manipulate others into doing their dirty work for them. I don't like that the author tried to make people seem so mindless and cruel. While it makes sense when you find out who they really are, the fact that they can make people work for them so easily is a bit insulting. I don't think that someone would so easily be fooled. Even the kids can be pretty dumb. Eventually, Barney is kidnapped, but he doesn't try to run away and even speaks freely to the kidnappers as if they were friends. It actually made me a bit mad.

     A pretty big topic that this book brings up is the supernatural. I don't mean ghosts and phantoms and things like that. I'm talking about powers and forces, such as the Light and the Dark. Each one has people who fight for it, against the other. Anyone who belongs to one of these sides has special powers, such as time travel and the like. The most intriguing part? Nobody else knows that they exist. This opens up a world of possibilities linked to our universe. The author is suggesting that there could be a struggle for light and dark happening right now, without us even knowing it. Heck, it could even mean that someone is controlling our actions when we ourselves don't know it. Don't think about it too much though. We don't want your head to explode.

     This is a very clever book. It twists and turns and is littered with suspensful parts. However, it is very slow at the beginning, and it's heavy on the details and descriptions. Oh, and when I say littered with suspenseful parts, I mean littered. There are lots of them, but they don't last too long and the story gets a bit dull afterwards. Nonetheless, it is worth reading. You can get into some deep conversations with yourself, and, who knows? You might even question the existence of everything. Although the people in this book are viewed as pretty stupid, you'll enjoy this book, and it will certainly make you want to read the next book in the series. Just be warned of the great amount of description in this book. You might even want to skim a couple of paragraphs now and then. In short, this book has a great plot, but is rather slowed down by extensive descriptions and negative opinions of man. Regardless, I believe that this book deserves an A.