Greenwitch always had a special place in my heart, perhaps not quite my favourite book in the Dark is Rising Sequence, but it has something the others don't. Jane, Simon and Barney meet Will Stanton for the first time. Will's an Old One of the Light, the others aren't. Will's one of the in-crowd, full of secret knowledge and magic and authority. The kids generally go along with this a bit too meekly for my liking, but in Greenwitch there's a spiky bit of resentment and irritation.

The grail recovered by the kids in Over Sea Under Stone has been stolen, and Merry brings the kids and, through some Old One machinations, Will Stanton, to Cornwall on the eve of the ancient ceremony of the Greenwitch. Only Jane can attend the actual ceremony of the making of the Greenwitch, and it's her wish that makes all the difference - the Dark is after something, and it needs the Grail, and it needs Barney, and it needs the Greenwitch, but the Greenwitch is Wild Magic and not to be ordered about by Light or Dark, resulting in unpredictable and dangerous forces unleashed in a small seaside town.

Fantastic writing creates a wonderful atmosphere, and it's a terrific story full of folklore and a sense of deep dark magics, even if the Old Ones are an awfully smug lot. Jane is really at the heart of the book, for all that they keep trying to sideline her for the stranger bits, and she's much more interesting and engaging.