Cooper, Louise (1952– )
Louise Cooper’s first fantasy novel, The Book of
Paradox(1973), is set in a world based on the Tarot
and contains several interesting elements, but her
second effort, Lord of No Time(1977) is disap-
pointing. Her other early work consists of some not
particularly memorable supernatural fiction and a
minor fantasy for younger readers. It was not until
the middle of the 1980s that she began to write su-
perior fiction, starting with the Time Master tril-
ogy, which takes the central story from Lord of No
Timeand expands it quite effectively into three ti-
tles, The Initiate(1985), The Outcast(1986), and
The Master(1987). The opening volume sets up
the dichotomy between Order and Chaos, two
magical forces battling for control of the universe.
The central character is destined to bring balance,
but some of his allies consider him a demonic force
and drive him off in the middle volume. Only the
woman he loves stands by him for the final battle.
Cooper’s portrayal of the roles of both Order and
Chaos in human society is clever and rather so-
phisticated for a straightforward adventure story.
Obviously pleased with the results of this re-
vised work, Cooper went on to add two more trilo-
gies to the series. The Deceiver (1991), The
Pretender (1991), and The Avenger (1992) take
place after the events in the original series and
concentrate on a daughter of Chaos who wants to
seize control of the world using an army of the
risen dead pledged to her service. Star Ascendant
(1994), Eclipse(1994), and Moonset(1995) take
place much earlier and are the weakest in the se-
ries, reprising many elements from the earlier nov-
els with only very slight new twists. Cooper started
an entirely separate sequence with Nemesis(1988),
the first of the Indigo books, in which a woman in-
advertently releases seven demons into the world
and sets out to track down and neutralize each of
them in turn. There are eight volumes in the se-
ries, ending with The Aisling(1993), all of which
are superior sword and sorcery adventures, avoid-
ing most of the clichés and featuring an unusually
well-drawn female protagonist.
Cooper also wrote occasional stand alone nov-
els, including Mirage(1987), a fairly conventional
fantasy adventure, and The Sleep of Stone(1991),
an elaborate fairy tale about a shape changer who
impersonates a human in order to marry the man
she loves. The latter is Cooper’s best novel. Most
of her recent work has consisted of young adult
fantasies and horror stories, including the Daugh-
ter of Storms and Seahorses trilogies.Cooper, Susan(1935– )
Susan Cooper’s first novel, Mandrake(1964), is
generally considered science fiction, although the
existence of a world-spanning intelligence that
pervades all living things might better have been
explained magically. She achieved acclaim, how-
ever, with the first title in a five-volume young
adult fantasy series based on the premise that some
of the figures from the time of Camelot were actu-
ally magically endowed and are still around to help
in the battle between the forces of good and evil.
Over Sea, Under Stone(1965) introduces the main
characters and the background as they discover a
map that promises to reveal the location of the
Holy Grail and revive the magic that has been dor-
mant since King Arthur’s time. Never a prolific
writer, Cooper allowed eight years to elapse before
providing the sequel, The Dark Is Rising(1973), in
which the young Will Stanton discovers that ani-
mals and even people have begun avoiding his
presence, apparently reacting to some magical spell
of which he is unaware.
The remaining three volumes appeared much
more quickly. With the assistance of a benevolent
witch, the children retrieve a magic grail from an-
other world dominated by an evil force in Green-
witch(1974), but in The Grey King(1975) Will
discovers that he is not safely back in the familiar
world and that his old adversary is pursuing him.
The story is finally brought to an end in Silver on
the Tree(1977) with the discovery of a magic sword
and the final battle. Although written for younger
readers, this is one of a handful of such fantasies
that has found a large and loyal audience among
adults.
Cooper’s subsequent novels have been infre-
quent and less impressive but are invariably enter-
taining. Seaward (1983) is set in an alternate
reality where the forces of life and death are per-
sonified. The Boggart(1993) is an amusing story in
which a variety of Irish gremlin is involuntarilyCooper, Susan 67