Although children’s fantasy existed in the United States in the late 19th century—The Wizard of Oz being a case in point—American authors were primarily occupied with realistic fiction for children. The genre truly developed in Cooper’s native England. Cooper was influenced by Tolkien and Lewis, but even before those giants of the genre, there was a flourishing tradition of English children’s fantasy. Major writers included George McDonald, Kenneth Graham, Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, J. M. Barrie, and Edith Nesbitt, whose Phoenix and the Carpet Miss Greythorne reads to the children at Huntercombe Manor.

England’s rich and blended mythological background may partially explain why fantasy flourished there. Though immigrants to America came from a variety of cultural backgrounds, the early Puritan influence probably didn’t encourage the transplantation of other gods. However, Cooper was living in the United States at the time she wrote the Dark Is Rising series, and its publication sparked a surge of American writers—Ursula Le Guin, Lloyd Alexander, Andre Norton, and Madeleine L’Engle, among others—penning fantasy for young readers.

Cooper uses foreshadowing to set up events that will take place later in the novel or in the following books. For example, Merriman remarks that he would like to look more closely at the runes on Will’s mother’s ring: Those markings will be significant in a later book in the series.