Showing posts with label Middle Grade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Middle Grade. Show all posts

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Lives of Christopher Chant (Chrestomanci #4) 5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Lives of Christopher Chant
Series: Chrestomanci #4
Author: Diana Jones
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy
Pages: 241
Words: 88K







Now why can’t DWJ have written the rest of the Chrestomanci books like this one? This was fun, engaging, lively, with just the right amount of drama and even the badguys weren’t unpleasant jerks. They were just bad. Here’s a longer quote from the book that encapsulates the “feel” of the book.

The trouble was, school had also taught him that girls were a Complete Mystery and quite different from boys. He had no idea what books girls liked. He was forced to consult Oneir, who had an older sister.

All sorts of slush,” Oneir said, shrugging. “I can’t remember what.”

Then could you come down to the bookshop with me and see if you can see some of them?” Christopher asked.

I might,” Oneir agreed. “What’s in it for me?”

I’ll do your geometry tonight as well as your algebra,” Christopher said.

On this understanding, Oneir went down to the bookshop with Christopher in the space between lessons and tea. There he almost immediately picked out The Arabian Nights (Unexpurgated). “This one’s good,” he said. He followed it with something called Little Tanya and the Fairies, which Christopher took one look at and put hastily back on the shelf. “I know my sister’s read that one,” Oneir said, rather injured. “Who’s the girl you want it for?”

She’s about the same age as us,” Christopher said and, since Oneir was looking at him for a further explanation and he was fairly sure Oneir was not going to believe in someone called the Goddess, he added, “I’ve got this cousin called Caroline.” This was quite true. Mama had once shown him a studio photo of his cousin, all lace and curls. Oneir was not to know that this had nothing whatsoever to do with the sentence that had gone before.

Wait a sec then,” Oneir said, “and I’ll see if I can spot some of the real slush.” He wandered on along the shelf, leaving Christopher to flip through The Arabian Nights. It did look good, Christopher thought. Unfortunately he could see from the pictures that it was all about somewhere very like the Goddess’s own Anywhere. He suspected the Goddess would call it educational. “Ah, here we are! This is sure-fire slush!” Oneir called, pointing to a whole row of books. “These Millie books. Our house is full of the things.”

Millie Goes to School, Christopher read, Millie of Lowood House, Millie Plays the Game. He picked up one called Millie’s Finest Hour. It had some very brightly colored schoolgirls on the front and in small print: “Another moral and uplifting story about your favorite schoolgirl. You will weep with Millie, rejoice with Millie, and meet all your friends from Lowood House School again . . .”

Does your sister really like these?” he asked incredulously.

Wallows in them,” said Oneir. “She reads them over and over again and cries every time.”

Though this seemed a funny way to enjoy a book, Christopher was sure Oneir knew best. The books were two and sixpence each. Christopher chose out the first five, up to Millie in the Upper Fourth, and bought The Arabian Nights for himself with the rest of the money. After all, it was his gold sovereign.
~page 65

I laughed my head off at that. And rest of the book had that fun tone as well. Yes, there was some really dangerous things going on and Christopher wasn’t in the best of circumstances and he doesn’t always act like a good boy, but the thrust of the novel was all that was good instead of focusing on the unpleasant and nasty, as was done in Witch Week. This is what I want from a middle grade story.

I think it helped that Christopher is going to be the next Chrestomanci and how it turns his world upside down and inside out. Chrestomanci, as a position, is front and center and you can see how the responsibility of it weighs down on both the young and the old. But nonetheless, each bearer takes it up at the proper time and does their duty. Ahhhh, that’s good stuff! Responsibility, putting others above your own self, protecting the weak and helpless, facing down evil, people NEED that in their fiction, especially nowadays. And kids? It’s essential, sigh.

Anyway, this was the best Chrestomanci book so far and it showed just what a splendid writer DWJ could be when she wanted. Highly recommended.

★★★★★


From Wikipedia:


The novel tells the story of Christopher Chant's childhood in a magic filled Victorian style era. Although both of his parents are powerful practitioners of magic, the two are constantly at loggerheads; his father (an enchanter, the strongest type of magic-user) is entirely devoted to his work, to such a degree that the young Christopher is afraid that he would not recognise him should the two meet in public. On the other hand, his mother (a sorceress, the second-strongest type of magic-user) is a social climber, and is apparently only married to his father for his social connections. Christopher finds solace in his uncle Ralph, but due to his travelling job they rarely see each other.

The only escape that Christopher has is through his dreams, in which he is able to escape to other worlds. While he is not the only person with this ability, seemingly no one is able to do it so easily as he. Christopher is able to bring items with him into the real world, and after one of his many nannies discovers his hoard of items and accuses him of stealing, he tells Uncle Ralph of his power. Uncle Ralph is intrigued by this and has Christopher go on a 'test' to see what he can bring back. In the place between worlds, which takes the form of a valley, Christopher meets Tacroy who is supposed to guide him on his uncle's orders, however the two discover that whilst Tacroy is projecting his mind there Christopher is physically going into the other worlds; something which is impossible.

Christopher and Tacroy go on several of these trips, and on one to World 10 they get separated. Christopher meets 'The Living Asheth' a girl his age who is a vessel for Asheth, the Goddess of her world. He makes a deal with her for one of her magic temple cats, Throgmorten, but as she helps him escape he is speared by one of her many guards. After waking up in his bed with Throgmorten, Christopher accidentally causes a curtain rod to fall down and spear him through the heart, although he survives. This experience prompts his parents to send him to a boarding school where Christopher forgets to travel in his dreams because he enjoys it so much. Several ordinary months go by and Christopher decides to become a professional cricketer whilst his parents divorce. His friend accidentally hits him in the head with a cricket back, killing him. He wakes up confused in the morgue, where he then falls asleep in the hospital. The current Chrestomanci named Gabriel De Witt visits him, but disbelieves claims of him being an enchanter. Christopher's father takes Christopher to several witches and discovers that a silver coin Ralph insisted he always carry on him was stopping him from doing magic.

Chrestomanci realises Christopher is a nine-lived enchanter and brings him to his castle to train to be the next Chrestomanci. He absolutely hates living there and disobeys all of the rules even actively going against them. He returns to travelling with Tacroy for his uncle and returns the deal with The Living Asheth; giving her a series of books about a girl named Millie at boarding school. The two become close friends and she insists he call her Millie instead. Christopher dies multiple times during these trips and always wakes up in his own world only to die in freak accidents similar to the prior ones. Millie discovers that when she grows to old for Asheth to use her she is going to be sacrificed to her. Christopher sacrifices one of his lives so that Millie can travel to his own world to hide.

Christopher discovers that Chrestomanci is investigating a smuggler named 'The Wraith' who somehow manages to bring illegal items from other worlds. Chrestomanci reveals to every person in the castle that their close friend Mordecai Roberts was working for the Wraith, and Christopher is shocked to find Mordecai is actually Tacroy. Tacroy pretends not to know Christopher and reveals to him that his uncle is the Wraith. Ralph manages to kill Chrestomanci by taking his lives and scattering them across worlds so nobody could find him. Christopher uses Throgmorten to trap Ralph before Millie is able to subdue him. Millie discovers that Asheth is too vain to actually give a mortal girl magic and she is in reality one of the most powerful enchantresses in existence.

Learning that Mordecai is enchanted to work for Ralph, Christopher and Millie travel to world 11 which is a mysterious place that only has one timeline. Christopher and Millie are both able to outwit the ruler of World 11 and free Mordecai, who willingly becomes a servant of Chrestomanci. However, Christopher sacrifices another one of his lives. Christopher's parents reveal to him they are getting back together, but this time for love, and Christopher decides to continue living at the castle with the newly revived Chrestomanci and Millie. However, as Christopher attempts to travel he discovers he no longer can, as he only has two lives remaining.




- All of My “Diana Jones” Reviews

Thursday, February 01, 2024

Witch Week (Chrestomanci #3) 2.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission


Title: Witch Week
Series: Chrestomanci #3
Author: Diana Jones
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy
Pages: 185
Words: 73K






I have heard the question “Why isn’t DWJ as famous as JK Rowlings” punted about over the years. It might seem like a legitimate question, but I think this book answers it quite aptly.

Namely, this was a scary book for kids about bullies, meanness and very unlikeable people. None of the beautiful people are nice, none of the adults (except Chrestomanci, when he shows up for the last 10%) are decent and even the main characters are some really nasty pieces of work. Some of this might be VERY true to life and some kids might be able to identify with it all, but that’s not the goal. It’s not enough to just identify with a character, but to have characters that your readers want to emulate to be better people. This is DWJ’s failure in this book.

Until Chrestomanci shows up and begins setting things aright, I was questioning why DWJ even bothered to write this and why I was continuing to read this. While I know intellectually this so called “Chrestomanci Series” really isn’t, I do wish that that DWJ had made more of an effort to weave him into the overall story instead of making him such a small part. It’s as lame as calling Jubilee from the X-Men a real superhero (she can throw sparkles or something from her hands, whooooo).

I guess I will have to change my expectations for the rest of the series but if I come across any more that are as unlikeable as this, I’ll just stop this series and start in on my next middle grade read, the Westmark trilogy by Lloyd Alexander.

★★✬☆☆


From Wikipedia:


Witch Week is set in an alternative modern-day Great Britain, identical to our world except for the presence of witchcraft. Despite witches being common, witchcraft is illegal and punishable by death by burning, policed by a modern-day Inquisition.

At Larwood House, a boarding school where many of the children of executed witches are sent, a note claiming "Someone in this class is a witch" is found by a teacher. This launches an internal investigation of the more unpopular students at the school (Nan Pilgrim and Charles Morgan), who are gradually coming to terms with the fact that they are witches. Mayhem gradually ensues as magic is used to make birds appear in the classroom, to rain shoes, to curse a classmate into having his words always be true, and other pranks. When the magic gets totally out of control, one of the students runs away, leaving notes that blame the witch for controlling him. The headmistress of the school calls in an Inquisitor to find the missing student and locate the source of the trouble.

Four more of the students flee the school and two seek help from an "underground railroad" system that is known to save witches by sending them to a world where they are not persecuted. Instead they are given a spell to summon unknown help and all five students converge where they are able to use it, summoning the enchanter Chrestomanci. He and the children conclude that their world diverged from 12B (ours) by a particular historical accident. They work to outwit the local inquisition and to merge their history, thus their world, with ours. It turns out that most of the schoolchildren are witches and all must lose any such powers by revising history in that way.



- All of My “Diana Jones” Reviews

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Magicians of Caprona (Chrestomanci #2) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Magicians of Caprona
Series: Chrestomanci #2
Author: Diana Jones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy
Pages: 167
Words: 63K







I enjoyed this as much as the first book even though Chrestomanci is not a main character and barely appears at all. Jones tells an engaging story of two rival magical families whose problems are solved by the children in the family. Yet Jones in no way denigrates the adult members of the family. That is an easy “out” for an author to elevate her children characters by tearing down the adults and Jones has no place for that kind of thing in her story, for which I am very thankful.

Most of this story is told through the eyes of Tonino and Paulo, brothers. The issue for me was that Jones would switch viewpoints from paragraph to paragraph and it became very confusing for me to keep track of whose eyes I was looking out of. I felt like it could have been written for easier comprehension, especially as this is aimed at the tween and early teen crowd. Other than that, I don’t have any complaints.

Family, food, magic, love and adventure, with a wicked enchantress making life tough for everyone. What more do you really need in a story?

★★★✬☆


From Wikipedia.org

Caprona is a city-state in the Italy of Chrestomanci's world (World Twelve A), which never united as a nation-state. The houses of Casa Montana and Casa Petrocchi, both renowned for being powerful magician families, have been feuding with each other for generations. The city has begun to lose its "virtue," and the states of Florence, Siena, and Pisa intend to take advantage of this by uniting to conquer Caprona. The only way to save the city is if the true words to the Angel of Caprona, both a hymn and a powerful spell, can be found and read aloud.

The story is told through the eyes of the young Tonino Montana and his brother Paolo. They are both members of Casa Montana, one of two spell-houses in Caprona, the other being Casa Petrocchi. The two spell-houses are deadly rivals; the two families are both convinced that the decline of Caprona is all the fault of the other spell-house, and refuse to work together under any circumstances.

Tonino is, unknown to himself or the rest of Casa Montana, a talented enchanter; however, he is unaware of his ability, and prefers to spend his time reading. Paolo is more outgoing and friendly, and does better at school. When representatives of both houses are called to the Duke of Caprona's palace, they both go. Whilst there, they meet members of the Petrocchi family for the first time, and they also encounter the Duchess, a powerful woman who appears to be the true ruler of Caprona.

During the book, Tonino is kidnapped and finds himself held hostage with Angelica Petrocci and whilst the two houses blame each other, Tonino and Angelica have to put their differences aside to escape. Meanwhile, Paolo teams with Renata Petrocci in order to save their lost siblings.


- All of My “Diana Jones” Reviews

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Charmed Life (Chrestomanci #1) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission


Title: Charmed Life
Series: Chrestomanci #1
Author: Diana Jones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy
Pages: 195
Words: 70K







While I thoroughly enjoyed this, I can see why it didn’t take off like a certain young wizard with a scar on his forehead. Cat doesn’t start off as the main character and even when he’s pushed to the forefront by circumstances, he is a very passive guy and just lets things happen to him. I thought his older sister was going to be the main character, but she turns out to be a main villain and is so bad that she’s willing to sacrifice her brother for her own ends. That’s some bad family dynamics right there.

Chrestomanci is a magician of great power with a wonderful wife and two children Cat’s age and he’s the obligatory powerful good adult in the stories. While The World of Howl books are still middle grade, they are ostensibly about the adults. Here, the children are the main characters. That changes the dynamics of the story. Part of that is that Jones allows her children characters to BE children, to think and act like children, which means they do some really stupid things even when they are trying to do the right thing. At times it was very frustrating for me, as an adult, to watch Cat do exactly the wrong thing but it fit so I just gritted my teeth and held on. And it all turned out ok in the end, as good middlegrade fantasy should.

When I posted the Currently Reading & Quote post last month, the humor hit me just right. The Howl books were semi-humorous and I enjoyed them, but I wasn’t sure if it would work in another series. While not exactly a laughathon, the humor displayed in the CR&Q post was indicative of what the story contained as a whole and it really worked for me. I didn’t give this the “humor” tag because everything wasn’t funny (like say, the Discworld books were meant to be) but there was humor interwoven so nothing was too drear and dark.

On a final note, the synopsis behind the details code is almost 1600 words. Read at your own risk. I know I wouldn’t!

★★★✬☆



From Dianawynnejones.fandom.com/wiki

While on a summer outing with their parents, Cat and Gwendolen Chant are orphaned when the ferry their family is riding crashes. The two siblings are among the few survivors; Cat believes this is because Gwendolen is a witch, so she can't drown, and Cat himself clung to Gwendolen. The town sets up a trust fund for them, and they are taken in by Mrs. Sharp, a kindly older woman who lived downstairs from them. Mrs. Sharp is an Certified Witch, and she senses Gwendolen's innate talent. They go through the siblings' parents' belongings and find three letters from Chrestomanci, which Mrs. Sharp barters to Mr. Nostrum, the necromancer next door, for magic lessons for Gwendolen.

Gwendolen excels in her studies and becomes the darling of the neighborhood, who dote on her and give her presents. Cat takes violin lessons to balance Gwendolen's magic lessons, but his playing is horrible and Gwendolen turns his violin into a cat the neighborhood adopts and calls Fiddle. A Fortune-Teller reads Gwendolen her fortune and predicts she'll rule the world someday if she goes about it the right way. Miss Larkins, the neighborhood favorite before Gwendolen, tries to predict Cat's fortune out of jealousy. She goes into a trance, and a man's voice tells Cat how glad he is to have found him, but that he must be more careful: four are gone already, and he's in danger from at least two directions. That evening, Gwendolen writes to Chrestomanci.

Soon after, Chrestomanci himself comes in person and expresses a wish to have Gwendolen and Cat come live with him in his castle. Gwendolen is exultant, believing she's off to rule the world; Cat, who loves his home in Wolvercote, is morose. They set off a week later by train in grand style and travel to the far countryside, where they're greeted by a man named Michael Saunders, who introduces himself as their tutor. Michael drives them from the platform to Chrestomanci Castle, where he brings them through a side door and hands them off to the housekeeper, Miss Bessemer. That evening they dine with the Family and meet Chrestomanci's wife, Millie, and their children, Roger and Julia.

Next morning, Cat and Gwendolen begin lessons with Roger and Julia. Gwendolen and Julia get into a small magic duel over breakfast, after which lessons commence. Cat, who is left-handed, does as usual and pretends to be right-handed when Michael isn't looking, and Gwendolen shows she knows next to nothing about anything that isn't magic. Michael loses his temper when he discovers Cat writing with his right hand, and dismisses them both from the schoolroom before lunch so Roger and Julia can have their magic lesson: Chrestomanci, he says, has forbidden them both from learning magic for the time being.

Gwendolen, feeling she's not begin given the attention she deserves, grows steadily more and more furious and determines to make Chrestomanci notice her. On Wednesday, when they get their pocket money and a free afternoon to go down to the village, Gwendolen visits a seedy magic provisions supplier named Mr. Baslam to buy magic ingredients and some illegal dragon's blood. During dinner, she summons ghouls to loom at the windows, but Chrestomanci merely asks the butler to close the curtains.

Gwendolen declares magical war on Chrestomanci and casts one problematic spell after another as the days pass, but still no one acknowledges even that. She receives a letter from Mr. Nostrum, only to find that Chrestomanci already opened and read it, to her further fury. Her feud with Julia turns into a second war when she turns Julia's skirt to snakes during supper. On Sunday, when the go to church, Gwendolen bespells the figures and saints in the stained glass windows to run from pane to pane, causing mischief and raising a disturbance among the congregation. Chrestomanci still pays her no mind, but Millie is furious.

That Wednesday, Gwendolen's dragon's blood arrives in time for Chrestomanci's dinner party. The children eat dinner separately and are told to stay in their rooms. Gwendolen obliges and returns to her room, where she uses her dragon's blood to grow insects to monstrous sizes, summon skeletons, and conjure the same ghouls from before, and send them all to interrupt the party. Chrestomanci and Michael force their way into her room before she finishes; Chrestomanci boxes Cat's ears for not interfering, and Michael spanks Gwendolen and strips her of her magic.

Next morning, Cat wakes up and goes to Gwendolen's room, only to find that Gwendolen has disappeared and left an exact look-alike in her place. This strange girl, Janet, comes from a parallel world that has no magic and is much more modern. Terrified of what Chrestomanci will do or say when he discovers what Gwendolen has done, Cat and Janet agree to keep the switch a secret. Janet relies on Cat as struggles to pretend to be Gwendolen, and they both must deal with the messes Gwendolen has left behind: a spell turning the maid Euphemia into a toad, twenty pounds owed to Mr. Baslam for illegal dragon's blood, an outstanding feud with Julia, and a secret plan of the Nostrums in which Gwendolen and Cat are both involved.

Janet and Cat resolve to run away to Janet's world, where Janet promises Cat he can live with her and her parents as her brother. As they make their plans, Janet discovers a matchbook tucked among Cat and Gwendolen's parents' belongings and deduces the nine matches held inside are Cat's nine lives. Cat, in disbelief, attempts to prove her wrong by striking one of the matches. Before Janet can stop him, Cat erupts into flames, and Janet does the only thing she can think to do: call for Chrestomanci. He arrives immediately and douses the fire, then explains to Cat that he did, in fact, have nine lives, but now he only has three. Cat realizes it was Chrestomanci's voice he heard Miss Larkins speaking with back in Wolvercote.

The next day, Sunday--two weeks after Gwendolen and Cat arrived at the Castle--Cat and Janet stay home while the rest of the Castle Family and staff go to church. They take the opportunity to filch a bit of dragon's blood from Michael Saunders's workshop, then sneak into Chrestomanci's garden, which serves as a gateway to other worlds. At the center there is an arch, and when they sprinkle a bit of dragon's blood before it, its middle become window-like, displaying an image of Gwendolen as queen in another world. She notices them, but before Cat and Janet can escape to Janet's world, the Nostrums appear in the garden using Cat's signature from one of his school essays to teleport to his exact location. They are followed by more witches and warlocks, many of whom Cat recognizes from Wolvercote, and once they're all arrived, the Nostrums summon Chrestomanci.

Chrestomanci appears instantly, and immediately the Nostrums seize upon him and bind him with silver, his weakness, preventing him from using magic. They immobilize Cat and tie him to the stone before the arch, revealing that their plan with Gwendolen is to kill an innocent child--Cat--before the arch, breaking Chrestomanci's magic and opening the way to other worlds. But before they can kill Cat, Janet vanishes, and Gwendolen appears in her place. Gwendolen reveals to the Nostrums that Cat has nine lives and recounts what she did with some of them, explaining that they'll have to kill him several times; this infuriates the Nostrums, because it means Cat is a powerful enchanter in his own right, and to kill him they'll first need to discover his weakness. Before Gwendolen offers to leave so they can use her double, Chrestomanci tells them the cat, Fiddle, which Gwendolen had turned from a violin using one of Cat's lives, is in the garden. All the witches and warlocks set off through the maze-like garden to search for the cat, leaving Chrestomanci and Cat alone at the center.

Cat is shocked and heartbroken by his sister's betrayal and at how very little she cares for him. Chrestomanci galvanizes him to action, telling Cat how to use his magic to break them both free of their restraints. Cat manages to free Chrestomanci just as they're discovered, and Chrestomanci holds the returning witches and warlocks off and begins to summon the Family and Castle staff. Cat realizes Gwendolen is using his magic against them, preventing Chrestomanci from summoning Millie. He takes his magic back and joins in the battle as Millie arrives.

The Family round up the members of the conspiracy, but Gwendolen escapes and seals herself off from the rest of the world, dragging Janet back into the garden in her place. The Family holds an impromptu picnic in the garden. Chrestomanci explains that they brought Cat there to train him as the next Chrestomanci, but they didn't know if Cat knew of his magic or not, or whether he was just as amoral as his sister, which was why they'd kept him out of the loop. He offers to find a way to send Janet back to her world, but Janet says the double who replaced her was happier there than in her own world, and Chrestomanci admits that the rest are just as better off in their new worlds. He and Millie offer to adopt Janet and let her remain at Chrestomanci Castle as their legal ward.



- All of My “Diana Jones” Reviews

Saturday, September 02, 2023

The High King (The Prydain Chronicles #5) 5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The High King
Series: The Prydain Chronicles #5
Author: Lloyd Alexander
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 152
Words: 56K




Ahhhhh, a great ending to the series. Arawn Deathlord is defeated, the Sons of Don leave the land for the Summer Land and Prydain is now fully in the hands of regular humans. This was quite the logical conclusion to what we read in Taran, Wanderer.

Since I have read this before, and since the series is predictably middle grade, there was no surprise about Taran. That’s no slight on the book or the writing. It is just something for any adult reader to take into consideration if they were going to read this for the first time.

I don’t have a lot of words right now. I enjoyed this just like I’ve enjoyed all the previous books.

The End.

★★★★★


From Wikipedia.org

The story begins only days after the conclusion of Taran Wanderer. With winter approaching, Taran and his companion Gurgi return from their wanderings to Caer Dallben after getting news from Kaw the crow that Princess Eilonwy has returned from the Isle of Mona. Indeed, they find her at home, along with her escort King Rhun of Mona and the former giant Glew, who had been magically restored to human size by a potion from Dallben.

Before Taran can propose to Eilonwy, the bard-king Fflewddur Fflam and his mount Llyan arrive with a gravely injured Gwydion, Prince of Don. Servants of Arawn had assaulted them and seized the magical black sword Dyrnwyn. Fflewddur also states that Taran was involved in the ambush, baffling everyone. With Achren's help, the truth is determined: Arawn himself has come from Annuvin to the verge of Caer Dallben in the guise of Taran, in order to lure Gwydion into the ambush.

Because Dyrnwyn may be pivotal as a threat to Arawn, Dallben consults the oracular pig Hen Wen to determine how it may be regained. During the reading, the ash rods used to communicate shatter and the two thirds of Hen Wen's answer are discouraging and vague. When Gwydion heals sufficiently, he sets out with Taran and others to meet with King Smoit. Gwydion insists that he alone should enter Annuvin to seek the sword, but Smoit's Cantrev Cadiffor is on the way. The small party divides, as Rhun and Eilonwy intend to visit the ships of Mona en route.

When Gwydion, Taran, and others reach Caer Cadarn, they are imprisoned by Magg, the treacherous former Chief Steward of Mona, who has entered service with Arawn and taken over the fortress. When Eilonwy approaches with the other party, she detects something amiss and they cautiously send Fflewddur Fflam to the fortress as a bard. After entertaining the soldiers for a night, he returns with the bad news. Then the companions encounter Gwystyl of the Fair Folk outside the stronghold, en route home after closing the waypost near Annuvin, personally bearing final observations to King Eiddileg about preparations for war by Arawn's forces. With Gwystyl's assistance and store of magical smokes, fires, and concealments, the companions break in and free the prisoners. The plan goes awry, however; King Smoit and his men are finally able to regain control only by Rhun's intervention, which costs his life.

Learning from Gwystyl of the activities in Annuvin, Gwydion turns from the quest for Dyrnwyn to planning for battle at Caer Dathyl. Gwystyl, Fflewddur, and Taran leave to gather support, respectively from the Fair Folk, the northern realms, and the Free Commots. Kaw, sent out by Taran to reconnoiter the enemy, is attacked by Gwythaints while spying near Annuvin, but manages to reach Medwyn, who asks all the creatures of air and land to oppose the forces of Arawn. Taran, Coll, Eilonwy, and Gurgi muster the Commots, who rally to their friendship with Taran, and sends them marching in groups to Caer Dathyl while the smiths and weavers rallied by Hevydd and Dwyvach work day and night to equip them.

Soon after Taran and the last Commots reach Caer Dathyl, King Pryderi arrives from the western realms. In council he announces his new allegiance to Arawn, for the good of all, because "Arawn will do what the Sons of Don have failed to do: Make an end of endless wars among the cantrevs, and bring peace where there was none before." He is rejected utterly but permitted to return unharmed to his army, and at the next day the battle begins. Although the Sons of Don and allies initially have the best of it, the Cauldron-Born arrive en masse before evening, overwhelming the allies and razing Caer Dathyl to the ground.

With High King Math killed, Gwydion is proclaimed the new High King. With the bulk of the Cauldron-Born deployed outside of Annuvin, Gwydion determines that the best chance is to attack while it is guarded by mortal men alone. He will lead the Sons of Don to waiting ships on the north coast and attack by sea, while Taran leads the Commots to delay the Cauldron-Born's return march, as their power wanes with time and distance from Annuvin.

Taran and his army are able to hold the tired Cauldron-Born warriors beyond arm's length by brute force, and turn the march from a straight and easy route into the rugged hills, although Coll dies in battle. Thanks to a company of Fair Folk, and to the animals sent by Medwyn, they destroy most of the Huntsmen who accompany and lead the undead. At last the Cauldron-Born break free of the hills and return to the lowland route. Regaining strength as they near Annuvin, it would be futile for the exhausted allies to meet them head-on again, so inevitably they take the long, easy route to Arawn's stronghold.

Taran and the remainder of his army finally reach Annuvin by a combination of the direct route, a mountain path of Doli's, and a secret pass over Mount Dragon shown to them by Achren. Taran sees that victory is nearly in Gwydion's hands, but also that the Cauldron-Born are about to reach Annuvin. In his alarm, Taran nearly falls off Mount Dragon, but is saved by the now-grown Gwythaint he had rescued so many years ago (The Book of Three). In a desperate attempt to fight off a group of Cauldron-Born who have discovered him on the mountain, he rolls a rock at them, and discovers Dyrnwyn in the hollow the stone occupied. Wielding Dyrnwyn, Taran slays the undead warrior who approaches to slay him, and at that instant all of the Cauldron-Born die as one.

Taran's group enters the fray, and the battle continues through the halls of Annuvin. Taran is almost deceived by Arawn - who has taken the guise of Gwydion - into giving up the sword. After the chaotic defeat of Arawn's forces, the companions gather before the Great Hall. Achren identifies Arawn in the form of a nearby serpent preparing to strike Taran and grabs him. He strikes her fatally, but Taran kills him with Dyrnwyn. With the death of Arawn, the stronghold of Annuvin bursts in flame and falls in ruins, destroying all of the magical implements inside; only Gurgi manages to save several scrolls containing knowledge of farming, smithing, and other crafts. The sword Dyrnwyn begins to fade, losing its magic.

The allies travel to Caer Dallben, where Gwydion tells them that in victory the Sons of Don, with all kinsmen and kinswomen, must return to the Summer Country. Indeed, all those who still have magic will depart, and the Fair Folk and Medwyn have closed their realms to outsiders. Dallben and Eilonwy must also go, and others who have served well, Taran among them, are given the chance to accompany them. Taran proposes to Eilonwy at last, and she accepts.

The Sons of Don plan to leave the next day. However, Taran becomes uncomfortable about his decision overnight. The witches Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch appear before him and reveal that they too are departing, and leave him with an unfinished tapestry depicting his life. He realizes there is much work to be done to rebuild Prydain, and he has made many promises; so he determines to remain behind. Eilonwy is able to willingly give up her magical nature in order to remain with him, and the two are married.

Dallben reveals that with this last quest, Taran has completed a path prophesied in the Book of Three whereby an orphan of "no station in life" would succeed the Sons of Don as High King. Dallben had traveled to seek such a one and try to hasten the day of Arawn's defeat; on this journey, he found a baby, hidden in the trees beside a battlefield and without any token of parentage, and took it in under the name Taran. Taran receives many gifts, including The Book of Three itself, although its powers, like all magic in Prydain, have also faded away with Arawn's demise, leaving it only as a mere chronicle of Taran's life. With Eilonwy by his side, Taran accepts his new responsibility and is hailed by his friends and battle companions as the new High King.



Saturday, August 05, 2023

Taran Wanderer (The Prydain Chronicles #4) 5Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Taran Wanderer
Series: The Prydain Chronicles #4
Author: Lloyd Alexander
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 130
Words: 57K




This was a coming of age story in the fullest sense of that idea. Taran wanders Prydain trying to find out who his parents were because he wants to marry Eilonwy and thinks he has to have royal blood to marry her. So he sets out and has many adventures and sees the variety of the people of Prydain, the good, the bad and the just plain stupid. He settles disputes, learns a lot of skills and by the end realizes that he is simply Taran and that is good enough.

This is the kind of story that I think every tween and teen boy should read. Unless they are a sports jock type of guy, in which case they won’t be reading anyway, so it doesn’t matter in their case. But even then, they should be forced to read this. Boys need examples of what a man is. A boy does not grow up and mature into a man all by himself. Without the guidance of a man, he will probably grow up to be a big boy. Seeing another boy having adventures and becoming a man is one of the best ways for a boy to realize that he can be something more than just a boy. But it is a choice on his part. Taran is put in circumstances beyond his control for almost all of the story but in each episode he chooses how to react and what to do. He’s a great example and I think that is wonderful.

Part of my enjoyment of the story was just seeing that idea written out. Part of my enjoyment was the nostalgia of re-reading a favorite story from my own teen years. And part of my enjoyment was simply the fact that I was enjoying this re-read so much.

I chose this cover because it is the one I remember getting from our public library in ‘90 or ‘91. It has that scary yet not “too” scary vibe. Perfecto!

★★★★★



From Wikipedia.org


Taran and Gurgi have returned to Caer Dallben after leaving Princess Eilonwy at the royal court of Dinas Rhydnant for education in the ways of a princess. Taran has come to realize that he loves Eilonwy; but although he has proven his worth as a man, he is restless and determined to know his parentage, partly in hopes that noble birth will support a marriage proposal. Dallben the enchanter tells him nothing about his heritage, but gives his approval for Taran and Gurgi to travel on their own in search of an answer. Taran and Gurgi travel first to the Marshes of Morva to ask the witches Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch. Taran has nothing of great value to give in exchange, so Orddu merely tells him of an alternative: that the Mirror of Llunet in the far east Llawgadarn Mountains will show him who he is.


Taran sets out to Cantrev Cadiffor to be outfitted by King Smoit. After a border patrol of Smoit's vassal, Lord Goryon, steals his horse Melynlas and Gurgi's pony, they spend the night with the farm couple Aeddan and Alarca who have lost their son and livestock. Taran is welcomed to remain, but he gently declines and leaves with new respect for common farmers. Taran and Gurgi recover their steeds at Goryon's fortress because Melynlas will have no other rider, and Goryon is relieved to escape the burden of mastering him. At the neighboring stronghold of Lord Gast, they meet their old friend Fflewddur Fflam, who has returned to wandering as a bard, and together they go on to Caer Cadarn, where Smoit welcomes them.


Goryon and Gast have been feuding over their cattle stock for years, especially over Cornillo, an exceptional cow. When their dispute breaks out again the next day, Cornillo and the combined cattle herds of the two lords run off. After they recover the herd, Taran persuades King Smoit to resort to a wiser judgment to settle the continual dispute: The rival cantrev lords shall resow the fields of Aeddan, which have been ruined by their feud, and Cornillo is given to Aeddan as further compensation, although the lords shall have her next calves. The childless widower Smoit later offers to adopt Taran as his son and future King of Cadiffor. Taran declines, but says he will gladly accept if he discovers noble birth.


Continuing eastward, they cross the river Ystrad. Taran's pet crow Kaw reveals the hiding place of a polished bone the size of a toothpick, which has been stashed high in a tree. Fflewddur's mount Llyan, a giant cat, brings a green and yellow frog, who is really their old friend Doli the dwarf. Doli has been transformed during his investigation of a deadly threat to the Fair Folk: A human wizard named Morda has attained the power to enchant them, and to raid their underground realms. Taran, Gurgi and Fflewddur investigate Morda's abode, but are all captured. Morda begins to boast to his captives, explaining that during a winter many years ago, he was sought out by the enchantress Angharad, who was searching for her kidnapped daughter Eilonwy, but left her to die from exhaustion. Among her possessions, Morda found an amulet, a gift to her from the Fair Folk which became the primary source of his power, and an empty book, which he gave to Glew when the latter begged him to make him a sorcerer.


Morda turns Fflewddur and Gurgi into a hare and a mouse, respectively, but fails to transform Taran. Taran deduces that the bone splinter Kaw found is Morda's little finger, in which he has stored his own life force to attain immortality and then cut off of his hand to keep it safe, and that Morda is unable to harm Taran so long as he possesses it. As Taran and Morda struggle over the bone, Morda inadvertently snaps it, causing his own death and ending the spell which transformed the companions. After recovering Angharad's amulet, Taran reflects that it could make him powerful, but decides to return it to Doli's people, the Fair Folk, who made it. Just before they part ways, Doli identifies the ceremonial horn Eilonwy recovered from the ruins of Caer Colur, which Taran still carries with him, as a magical item with which Taran can issue one single call for aid from the Fair Folk.


Taran, Gurgi, and Fflewddur camp next with the ruffian Dorath and his band. Their hosts suspect a quest for treasure and offer guidance to Llunet, in exchange for a share. The guests try to slip away early next morning, but Dorath prevents it and extracts a wager on hand-to-hand combat with Taran. He cheats and takes Taran's sword, then departs.


An old shepherd with decrepit holdings, Craddoc, welcomes the companions next. From Taran's account of the mission, Craddoc reveals that Taran is, in fact, his son. Fflewddur departs, but Taran and Gurgi remain and labor beside Craddoc. Taran and Craddoc develop a bond, but Taran also resents the end of his dream of noble birth. During the next winter, however, Craddoc suffers a bad fall down a mountain gorge and Taran is unable to rescue him. Near death, Craddoc reveals that he merely posed as Taran's father to gain himself a son. The gorge and the weather threaten Taran as well, and he finally summons the Fair Folk, who are able to save only Taran and Gurgi.


After burying Craddoc, Taran and Gurgi continue eastward, across Little Avren to the Free Commots, and stay for a while with lucky Llonio and his family on the banks of the river. Next, Taran assists and learns the trades of three great craftmasters: Hevydd the smith, Dwyvach the weaver, and Annlaw the potter. He learns enough that he would be welcome to remain as an assistant, and gains a new sword, a new cloak, and a new bowl, but still cannot find fulfillment. While ferrying the wares of Annlaw to Commot Isav, he leads the poor farming village in resistance of a raid by Dorath, killing half the band at no loss of life on the farmers' side.

Upon Taran's return, Annlaw tells him the way to the Mirror of Llunet, which he knows about, but has never visited. After a short journey, Taran and Gurgi find the Mirror: a pool of water at the mouth of a cave beyond the Lake of Llunet. Taran gazes into it, but Dorath interrupts and defiles the pool. He and Taran meet in a swordfight, in which Taran's old sword shatters on his new one and Dorath flees. Taran does not pursue but returns to Annlaw, whom he tells that the Mirror showed his own reflection and nothing more. He does not feel cheated by Orddu, for he has seen what he has become by his own labor and all he has learned on the way. With new confidence in himself, he and Gurgi depart back to Caer Dallben.




Sunday, June 25, 2023

The Castle of Llyr (The Prydain Chronicles #3) 5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Castle of Llyr
Series: The Prydain Chronicles #3
Author: Lloyd Alexander
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 102
Words: 43K



From Wikipedia.org

Eighteen months after the destruction of the Black Cauldron, Dallben the enchanter has decided that Eilonwy, as a princess and last of the line of the House of Llyr, needs a proper royal lady's education that he cannot provide. He sends her to reside at Dinas Rhydnant, a royal court on the Isle of Mona, in the west of Prydain. Taran and Gurgi escort her to Mona on a ship belonging to Prince Rhun, a cheerful but incompetent youth. Taran is finally aware of his feelings for Eilonwy, but is saddened that he is a commoner and she a princess and envies Rhun's noble birth.

While Eilonwy is introduced to the tedium of life at court, Taran encounters his old companion Fflewddur Fflam—a minor king who lives as a wandering bard—and a shoemaker who turns out to be Prince Gwydion, traveling incognito. Gwydion tells Taran that Eilonwy is in grave danger, very likely from the evil sorceress Achren, from whom Taran and Eilonwy escaped in The Book of Three. Taran and Gwydion witness Chief Steward Magg leave the castle at night to signal a ship at sea. The next morning, Magg and Eilonwy do not show for breakfast and it is concluded that Magg has kidnapped the princess. King Rhuddlum organizes search parties, with Prince Rhun in charge of one. The king assigns Taran to the same group and personally asks him to protect his son Rhun during the search, confiding to Taran that he and Queen Teleria hope to betroth their son to Eilonwy. Although resentful and envious, Taran vows to ensure Rhun's safety.

Shortly before dusk, Rhun separates from the group. Taran, Fflewddur, and Gurgi pursue, and the next morning they find Rhun at an abandoned hut in the woods. Inside, they find a small book of blank pages that Rhun keeps for himself, along with a sheaf of notes belonging to the former resident, Glew, a man who experimented with size-enhancement potions. As the companions prepare to leave, they come face to face with Llyan, a mountain cat that Glew made larger than a horse, seemingly intending to eat them. Fflewddur entrances the cat with his harp playing, allowing the companions to escape.

Taran's pet crow Kaw spots Magg and Eilonwy heading for the river Alaw on horseback. Reaching the river, Rhun finds Eilonwy's bauble and tracks indicating Magg and Eilonwy continued their journey by boat. The companions hastily construct a raft to follow downstream, but it disintegrates before reaching the mouth of the river. While repairing the raft, Rhun tumbles into a deep pit and causes a landslide that traps the group. Exploring nearby caverns, the companions eventually find Glew, who is now a giant trapped in the caverns by his enhanced size. The companions promise him Dallben's aid in creating an antidote to his potion, while Glew promises to lead them out of the caverns. Instead, Glew takes the companions to a dead-end and traps them. Glew explains he already knows how to make an antidote that will decrease his size, but he must kill one of the companions for a final ingredient. Glew leaves, promising to free the others if one of them agrees to be a sacrifice for his antidote. Rhun surprises everyone by volunteering to sacrifice himself, believing he is burden to all and incompetent to rule.

Before Glew returns, the companions notice an exit above their heads and convince Rhun to let them help him reach it. As he escapes, Rhun promises to return to the city and bring help. When Glew returns, Taran, Fflewddur, and Gurgi break out and attack him. Rhun does not leave the area but instead doubles back, guided by the light of Eilonwy's bauble. Having grown accustomed to the darkness of the caverns, Glew is overwhelmed by the bauble's light, allowing the companions to escape. Taran discovers that under the light of the bauble, Rhun's book of blank pages is revealed to be filled with writing, though none of them can read the language.

Reaching the mouth of Alaw on the reconstructed raft, the companions reunite with Gwydion, who reveals that he has visited the northeast offshore ruin of Caer Colur, the ancestral home of the House of Llyr, where Eilonwy's grandmother Queen Regat was the last in the line of women to reign. Against Regat's wishes, Eilonwy's mother, Angharad, married the common man Geraint and left Caer Colur, taking a book of the House of Llyr's most powerful enchantments, as well as the Golden Pelydryn necessary to read them. Gwydion tells Taran and the companions that Eilonwy's bauble is, in fact, the long-lost Golden Pelydryn, and that the book of seemingly blank pages found in Glew's house is actually Angharad's book of spells. Gwydion explains that Eilonwy had not been sent to live with Achren to study magic as a child, as Eilonwy had believed; rather, Achren had kidnapped the princess and taken her to Spiral Castle with the intention of harnessing the House of Llyr's magic for her own ends.

Gwydion explains he has seen Achren, Magg, and Eilonwy arrive at Caer Colur with several mercenary guards. Achren hopes to rule Prydain by controlling Eilonwy's mind while also awakening her full ancestral magical power. That night, Gwydion rows their raft to a point of land below the seaward walls that protect the ruins of Caer Colur from the being flooded by the ocean, hiding the book and bauble before they begin their search for the princess. Taran climbs to the tower room where Eilonwy resides, only to find that she does not recognize him or the names of her former companions. She flees from her room and Taran follows, but he is arrested by Magg. Gwydion, Fflewddur, and Gurgi then struggle with Magg and several guards, until Eilonwy and Achren appear, the princess now fully under the witch's control. Achren needs the spell book to master her control of the House of Llyr's magic, and Rhun stupidly reveals that he and the companions know its location. Achren turns to Taran and offers a bargain: she will restore Eilonwy's memories of him and allow them to wed if the young man helps her acquire the book and bauble. Rather than force Taran to decide or be punished for refusing, Gwydion reveals the location of the items.

Eilonwy is given the two heirlooms and begins to examine the book in the light of the bauble. While doing so, she begins to resist Achren's spell. Calling upon the full power of the Pelydryn, she incinerates the book in a column of crimson flame rather than let it be abused. Achren aims her fury at Magg, who responds by opening the gates that protect the castle from the sea. He then escapes on the only ship with his surviving guards. As the castle floods, Taran loses consciousness.

Taran awakes to discover the companions have reached the shallows alive, thanks to the still-enchanted Llyan pulling them up the beach. Eilonwy explains how she was kidnapped by Magg and lost her bauble en route to Caer Colur. Before leaving the sea, she finds a ceremonial horn that has washed ashore, remarking that this artifact is "all that's left of Caer Colur." She gives the horn to Taran as token of her pledge that she will not forget him during her tenure at Dinas Rhydnant. Having no gift of his own to give to her, Taran can pledge only his word in return, but notes that the word of an Assistant Pig-Keeper "shall do very well indeed." Taran then mentions the hope of Prince Rhun's parents that he and Eilonwy will be engaged. Eilonwy scolds him for taking such a hope seriously.



I am absolutely loving this re-read. Every book so far has lived beyond my expectations from my 2006 read. Simple but solid literary fare, lacking the seasoning of a Sanderson that book gluttons have come to expect now, but giving a reader everything they actually need without all the extraneous literary fat that eventually kills. We are a world of ultra-obese readers, enabling authors to shove literary fat directly down our throats. We are the enablers of our own destruction. Well, you all are the enablers. I’m a lone voice in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey telling you fatsos to kick the habit. I don’t expect you to listen to me though.

Ok, enough of that! (for this review anyway)

This introduced the romance element in an age appropriate manner. Both Taran and Eilonwy are growing up and to ignore this part of life would be an oversight on the author’s part. He is showing both these characters becoming adults and I think he handles it quite well. Besides the series long growth arc of both Taran and Eilonwy, we also got a mini-arc of Prince Rhun. He’s a bumbling doofus, not because he’s stupid, but just because he’s one of those people who don’t quite go as smoothly through life as the rest of us. But by the end you could see he was beginning to find his footing. That was really good to see.

While I suspect I would not be giving these books 5stars if I was reading them for the first time now, the fact that I am re-reading them, enjoying them and finding a much needed respite from bloated series, bloated stories and even, “world building” (gasp! Say it ain’t so!), means I having the time of my life with these.

On a side note, I am going to start using a regular star rating in the title of my posts. Google Search Console is choking its guts out over my use of “★” in the title because Wordpress will redirect any search queries to a version of the page without them as it comes out as a long-ass string of text. I just have to go and complicate things, don’t I? Well, c’est la vie...

★★★★★


Monday, May 15, 2023

The Black Cauldron (The Prydain Chronicles #2) ★★★★★

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Black Cauldron
Series: The Prydain Chronicles #2
Author: Lloyd Alexander
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 108
Words: 47K




From Wikipedia.org

More than a year after the defeat of Arawn Death-Lord's army and death of his warlord the Horned King,[5] Prince Gwydion calls allies to a council hosted by Dallben, one of Taran's guardians. Men are disappearing throughout Prydain, while an increasing number of the undead Cauldron-Born have joined Arawn's forces. At the council, Gwydion reveals an elaborate plan to steal the Black Cauldron, the magical artifact used to create the Cauldron-Born, from Arawn. King Morgant will lead the main force in an attack on Arawn's stronghold of Annuvin, while a smaller raiding party led by Gwydion breaks off to enter by a mountain pass known only to Coll that will allow them to steal the cauldron undetected. Three men have been designated to remain behind with pack animals to serve as a rearguard and secure the retreat: Adaon, the warrior son of chief bard Taliesin; Taran; and Ellidyr, Prince of Pen-Llarcau, who is arrogant, wiry, strong, and threadbare. Ellidyr disdains Taran for his place on the farm and his unknown parentage. Taran envies Ellidyr for his noble birth, despite Dallben's counsel that that youngest son of a minor king has only "his name and his sword".[6] Both are dismayed to share a role with no chance for glory.

In spite of the growing feud between Taran and Ellidyr, all goes smoothly until Gwydion's raiders find that the cauldron has disappeared. The company rejoins the rearguard in haste to escape the newly-deployed Huntsmen of Annuvin. Meanwhile, the uninvited Princess Eilonwy and man/beast Gurgi have caught up with the quest from behind. Gwydion and Coll are split off from the party but, thanks to Doli of the Fair Folk, all others find refuge underground in a Fair Folk waypost maintained by Gwystyl. From Gwystyl and his pet crow, Kaw, the companions learn that the cauldron has been stolen by the three witches Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch, who reside in the bleak Marshes of Morva.[a] When they depart the waypost, Ellidyr rides southward,[a] determined to retrieve the cauldron single-handedly. With the Huntsmen abroad, Adaon leads Taran, Eilonwy, Gurgi, Doli, and the wandering bard Fflewddur Fflam in pursuit of Ellidyr. When they are attacked and scattered, Adaon is mortally wounded and Taran inherits his brooch, whose gift and burden is prophetic dreams and visions. With its guidance, he gathers and leads all but Doli toward the Marshes. From the fringe, Taran guides his small party through the Marshes to temporary safety and leads a pursuing band of Huntsmen to their deaths.

Orddu and her sisters refuse to give up the cauldron unless Taran and his companions offer something of, in their judgment, equivalent value. After the sisters reject the magical artifacts offered by his companions, Taran is compelled to barter Adaon's brooch. The companions then try to destroy the cauldron, but learn from the witches that it can only be destroyed by a living person who knowingly and willingly climbs in to die. Horrified, the companions resolve to take the cauldron to Dallben to seek an alternative solution.

At the ford of the river Tevyn, the heavy and cumbersome cauldron sinks into the riverbed. Ellidyr arrives and offers to help extricate the cauldron if the others will credit him for the whole enterprise. Taran agrees, but Ellidyr reneges on their bargain and rides off with the cauldron alone when they have freed it. The companions then encounter Morgant and his army. In Morgant's camp they see Ellidyr beaten and bound and realize Morgant has betrayed them, seeking to claim the cauldron for his own and generate his own army of Cauldron-Born to conquer Prydain. Morgant offers to spare the companions' lives if Taran will enter his personal service. Doli arrives invisibly and cuts the companions' bonds. Mortally wounded, Ellidyr rushes the cauldron while Taran and the others engage Morgant and forces himself inside, destroying the cauldron. Gwydion, King Smoit, and his army arrive and defeat Morgant in battle. As Taran, Eilonwy, and Gurgi take leave of Gwydion at the verge of Caer Dallben, Gwydion observes that Ellidyr has, in death, found the honor he so dearly sought in life.




I thoroughly enjoyed this. I remembered the uppity prince and his sacrifice but the whole thing with the three witches and the swamp? Didn’t remember that at all. It was rather delightful.

This had a lot of growing for Taran as he is now the one in charge, at least nominally, partway through the story. He begins to realize that being a leader isn’t all swinging swords and glory. It is hard work, it is unrewarding work and it is work that HAS to be done.

I thought the author handled the tension with the forces of Arawn just right. The wolf warriors who grew stronger with each one that was killed were awesome. Sadly, their interaction with Taran and Co wasn’t as fully explored as I could have hoped for. But for a book that is only 108 pages, I can’t really complain. They were scary, they were powerful and Taran managed to outwit or outrun them.

Eilonwy continues to be a really funny character to read. She’s not meant to be funny and it’s not a comic kind of funny, but her absolute conviction that she is right and her I told you so’s just amuse me. She’s the quintessential teenager but without being completely in rebellion to authority. It’s a breath of fresh air to have a heroine who is feisty but can’t lift a sword like Taran. She’s a real female, not a female while actually being a man. She’s certainly not helpless, she just has to approach things differently.

I would say this re-read is going smashingly. Both books so far are 5stars. That’s a really good track record.

★★★★★



Thursday, March 30, 2023

The Book of Three (The Prydain Chronicles #1) ★★★★★

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Book of Three
Series: The Prydain Chronicles #1
Author: Lloyd Alexander
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 110
Words: 47K



From Wikipedia.com

The youth Taran lives at Caer Dallben with his guardians, the ancient enchanter Dallben and the farmer and retired soldier Coll. Taran is dissatisfied with his life, and longs to become a great hero like the High Prince Gwydion. Due to the threat posed by a warlord known as the Horned King, servant of the evil Arawn Death-Lord of Annuvin, Taran is forbidden from leaving the farm and charged with the care of Hen Wen, the oracular white pig. When Hen Wen inexplicably panics and escapes, Taran follows her into the Forbidden Forest. After a long, fruitless chase, he is attacked by a host of horsemen galloping toward Caer Dallben, led by the Horned King himself. Taran manages to escape, but drops to the ground, wounded. He awakes to find his wound treated by Gwydion, the crown prince in Prydain's ruling House of Don, who has been travelling to Caer Dallben to consult Hen Wen. Gwydion, determined to find the pig, takes Taran along with him. Guided by Gurgi, a hairy humanoid living in the forest, they reach the Horned King's camp, and learn that his target will be Caer Dathyl, the home castle of the House of Don. Gwydion determines to warn the royal court, but the group is attacked by Arawn's undead Cauldron-Born soldiers, who capture Gwydion and Taran, and take them to Queen Achren in Spiral Castle.

The sorceress asks Gwydion to help her to overthrow Arawn—her former apprentice and consort who usurped her throne and claimed the Iron Crown of Annuvin for his own—and to join her in ruling Prydain together. When Gwydion refuses, he is imprisoned, but not in the same place as Taran. Princess Eilonwy, who was sent by her kinsmen as a young girl to learn enchantment from Achren, visits Taran's dungeon cell, and agrees to free first his companion, and then him. While travelling through a labyrinth of tunnels to join Gwydion and his horse Melyngar outside the castle, Taran and Eilonwy steal weapons from a tomb. As they emerge into the woods, Spiral Castle collapses; they later learn that this is because the weapon Eilonwy has taken is the legendary sword Dyrnwyn. Eilonwy has misunderstood Taran's request to free his companion, for the man waiting outside is not Gwydion, but another former prisoner of the castle: Fflewddur Fflam, a king by birth but a wandering bard by choice. The three search the ruins, then mourn Gwydion's presumed death, and decide to take up his task to warn Caer Dathyl.

Rejoined by Gurgi, but pursued by the Cauldron-Born, the group is driven far east of their northward course, and ends up in the underground realm of the Fair Folk, who have rescued Hen Wen. The Fair Folk's King Eiddileg grudgingly agrees to let Taran have her back, re-equip their party, and provide a guide, a dwarf called Doli. On their journey to Caer Dathyl, against Fflewddur and Doli's advice, Taran rescues an injured fledgling gwythaint, one of the great birds of prey that Arawn has enslaved. The gwythaint recovers quickly and escapes overnight, shortly followed by Hen Wen, who flees just before the Horned King's army spots them all. Fflewddur, Doli, and Gurgi stand to fight, while Taran and Eilonwy go ahead on Melyngar, with the Horned King in pursuit. On the top of a hill, the Horned King attacks them, and breaks Taran's sword on the first blow. Taran seizes Dyrnwyn from Eilonwy, but lacks the "noble birth" needed to draw it. White flame burns his arm, and throws him to the ground. Just before losing consciousness, Taran sees another man in the trees and hears an unintelligible word. The Horned King's mask melts and he bursts into flame.

When Taran awakens, he learns that the man who destroyed the Horned King was Gwydion, who had been with Achren at another stronghold when Spiral Castle fell. After withstanding Achren's torture, he learned to understand the hearts of all creatures, and was able to communicate first with the gwythaint, and then with Hen Wen after finding them in the forest. From the oracular pig he learned how to destroy the Horned King, by saying his secret name. Recognizing his nobility, Eilonwy gives Dyrnwyn to him, while Taran and his companions are to receive treasures from Caer Dathyl in recognition of service to the House of Don. Eilonwy receives a ring made by the Fair Folk, Gurgi a wallet of food that cannot be depleted, Fflewddur a golden harp string that can never break, Doli the ability to turn invisible (which he unusually lacks). Taran—who in the course of his adventures has realized that Caer Dallben is where he most wants to be—asks only to return home. Gwydion accompanies him back to Caer Dallben, along with Eilonwy, Hen Wen, and Gurgi, who take up residence there as well.


SEPARATOR

I read this multiple times in middle and highschool (grades 6-12 for you non-Americans) and then once again in 2006. But as was my wont back in those days, I don’t really give a synopsis and I didn’t review each book individually. So I wanted to go into this and read all 5 books on their own and see what I thought of them now.

I am still very pleased with how much I enjoyed this. What struck me the most though on this read was just how derivative of Tolkien this was. Part of that may be because Alexander was using a lot of the same base material as Tolkien, but I really think he modeled a lot of his writing on Tolkien. And for this series, I am perfectly ok with that. I’ll explain why in the next paragraph (just in case you decided to stop reading and go off in a huff, which is something I’ve been known to do once in a while, hahahahaha).

This is a strictly middle grade series. It is meant for tweens and middle teens. By the time someone hits their late teens, I think it might be too late to “introduce” this to them. It was also written for that age group. While it doesn’t pander and is still well written, it takes into account the mental and physiological differences between a child and an adult. Kids need books written FOR them and Taran and Eilonwy represent children in the purest sense. I would give this to a tween long before I’d give them the Lord of the Rings. LotR is meant for adults and while children can read it, they simply aren’t quite ready for it. So give them Prydain and let them become familiar with the old legends and mythologies.

The cover I have used here is not the cover I grew up with. That’s fine but I like the original better. I think I will showcase all the older covers on the final book review, so I can talk about it as a whole separate issue instead of cluttering up each review with essentially the same paragraph of blather :-D

★★★★★