The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

Now that I am not a child myself, I can see that the Taran of The Book of Three has a lot of growing up to do. While rereading the books for this article, though, my impression was somewhat different. I felt deeply frustrated with the earlier books in the series, because I felt as if Taran was never rewarded or recognized for his efforts until the very end, and his adventures up until the events of The High King were nothing but a series of humiliations and instances in which other characters got the glory and the rewards. Actually, to be more honest, it was only the final book in the series that I loved and went back to over and over. I read The Chronicles as a tween-ager (perhaps 11 or 12, but not much older), and liked them enough to merit several rereads. This story centers on the adventures of the young Taran, assistant pig keeper and would-be hero, and his companions throughout various exploits. Alexander doesn’t retell the traditional stories so much as incorporate the motifs into a story of his own invention.

The settings of The Chronicles books, as well as many of the character names and personas, are taken from the traditions of Welsh mythology, specifically the myths that appear in the Mabinogion. It has stood among the ranks of classic children’s books for more than forty years. (There is an additional volume of tangentially-related short stories set in the same world, which did not make it into this article.) The series is both well-known and highly-decorated- The Black Cauldron was a Newbery Honor book of 1966 and The High King won the Newbury Medal, the most prestigious honor in American children’s literature, in 1969.

The Chronicles of Prydain, a series written by author Lloyd Alexander, is comprised mainly of the five novels The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King. This is the first in a semi-occasional series that examines classic or influential YA and children’s fantasy-the sorts of books that fantasy fans remember as the stories that brought them into the genre-reading world and ones that provide entry points of new readers of every age.

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander