I decided to revisit this book, the perfect book for Christmas. There are few that can match it for sheer atmosphere, whether it's the warmth of Will's big, boisterous family, or the strange, timeless, slightly formal ceremonies and rites of the Old Ones, resonant with history and folklore and the odd sadness that comes with Will gaining ancient knowledge and power but in some sense losing his childhood. Then there's the awesome chill of the Dark, the heavy falls of snow, the sinister Rider and the tragic Walker and the sly witch-girl, the siege in the manor house as the cold closes in, and, of course, the final ride and chase and wild hunt through the forests of Windsor and the skies of Twelfth Night as the rain dissolves the heaped banks of snow and the floods course over the frozen ground.

Perhaps Will is led through the plot to find the various Signs a bit too much by the hand or the nose. Perhaps he's a bit too passive and accepting, but there's something to be said for that, for a younger reader. Sometimes you want to be guided, shown the right way to pierce the mysteries and find the objects and become something more. It's a kind of comfort, and not one to be sneezed at at Christmas.