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Feb 27, 2008

Evil_Dead_Junkie rated it:

Blast From The Past Year Zero:

Hooboy. I have conflicted feelings about the book, and my feelings about those conflicted feelings are also conflicted. So there's that.

To make a long story short I loved this series when I was kid, I needed to pick up a gift for my nephew who is apparently Mini-Me, so I grabbed him the first couple of books in this series. Figured I'd give him something better to read then the Eragon type crap he's reading now. Of course I couldn't resist More...

3 comments like (17 people liked it)

Dec 27, 2008

Jon rated it:

This was published the same year I was, born that is. How did I miss this delightful tale and only stumble upon it in my mid-40s?

Taran is a precocious bored boy with visions of heroes sword-fighting in his head. He dreams of leaving the small farm where he takes care of a prophetic pig named Hen Wen and lives with Coll and Dallben.

Something frightens the bees, the chickens and the pig so much that they all escape the farm and disappear into the surrounding forest. T More...

4 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2008

Madeline rated it:

Back in the days before Harry Potter, I was too young to get through Tolkien and wasn't interested in The Chronicles of Narnia - fortunately, I had The Chronicles of Prydain.
The series (there are five books in all) takes place in a setting similar to Wales in the Middle Ages. The main character is an assistant pig-keeper named Taran - the reason there's a need for both a pig-keeper and an assistant is because the pig in question can predict the future. The books are full of witches, magic More...

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Nov 10, 2008

Terence rated it:

For some reason, I've had a hankering to reread these books for a few months. A yen I gave in to this weekend when I checked out a Science Fiction Book Club omnibus edition of all 5 novels and a collection of short stories (the latter of which, I haven't read).

Having read The Book of Three, I can see where my moral compass may have begun to form. I first read these books in sixth grade as an extracurricular project, and then made a filmstrip of the final book, The High King (yes, a " More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Apr 26, 2008

Ryen rated it:

I really liked this book but I liked it even more because I got to read it with my dad.

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Sep 19, 2007

Jessica rated it:

This has to be the very best book in the entire series.

The Synopsis:

"The tale of Taran, assistant pig keeper, has been entertaining young readers for generations. Set in the mythical land of Prydain (which bears a more than passing resemblance to Wales), Lloyd Alexander's book draws together the elements of the hero's journey from unformed boy to courageous young man. Taran grumbles with frustration at home in the hamlet Caer Dallben; he yearns to go into battle like More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 07, 2009

Ren the Unclean rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 31, 2007

Abby rated it:

Based on Welsh mythology, this book tells the tale of Taran, the lowly Assistant Pig-Keeper, who gets wrapped up in a quest to stop the Great Horned King from destroying the land of Prydain. Accompanied by a rugged band of compatriots, including a displaced princess, an exagerating unofficial bard, and a wolf man, Taran feels that every decision he makes on the journey is the wrong one... Does the rugged band have what it takes to stop the evil spreading over the land?

LOVED this book More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 27, 2008

Valerie rated it:

Like many good children's books, I missed this one when I was a child. My friend, Amelia, introduced me to this author, and I devoured all of his books while I was in college.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 08, 2008

Tim rated it:

It's refreshing to find young adult fiction that allows the main characters to choose their fate rather than to have fate or prophecy spell out what happens to them. Lloyd Alexander does an excellent job of letting Taran be an immature boy, but through the choices he makes the reader understands what an immature boy needs to do if he wants to be more than an immature man when he grows up. I love how Alexander does not fall into the trap of letting Taran solve all of the problems that the adult More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 28, 2009

Cori rated it:

This was a fun read. The characters are imperfect, quirky, and entertaining. There's abundant humor despite a serious enemy and conflict. I agree with Kimball's review that it did have several striking similarities to Lord-of-the-Rings, but I didn't find that as annoying as he did. It was published about 10 years after LOTR, and perhaps it was influenced by the trilogy. But I think this story also stands on its own - many of the elements so common in this genre crop up time and time again as dif More...

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Nov 22, 2008

Chanlee rated it:

I first read this series in law school, even though we had an old set in my house ever since middle school. It was more my younger brother's favorite series and I just never had the chance to read them - they weren't assigned in school or anything. Then one summer when I had to ride the train to and from an internship, I decided to pick up the series - and was enthralled. Now, 4 years later, this first book doesn't impress me as much, I'm not sure why. I found myself reading impatiently and skip More...

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Jul 09, 2008

Erica rated it:

This is another title that would land in the category of Rereading Books From My Youth. And I'm happy to say, it holds up.

Taran, an assistant pigkeeper, finds himself in the unenviable position of having to save his home after letting the oracular pig in his charge run away. Along the way there are many adventures, the accumulation of a motley crew of friends, and multiple feats of derring do.

I loved it when I was young, and still do. Now I can't wait to read the rest of

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 26, 2011

Christopher rated it:

I'm giving this series to one of my nephews for his birthday this week. I can't remember how many times I read Alexander's Prydain Chronicles when I was young. Dozens of times, I think. I re-read them later when I was an adult and found them just as good as I had remembered. While they are definitely written for children, Alexander's writing is superb, clean, concise and certainly good and enjoyable enough for adults. Alexander has a spare, lyrical quality to his stories that is deceptive in how More...

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Sep 04, 2011

Mandii rated it:

Let's just put this out there: I decided to read this book because I watched the movie based on the series, "The Black Cauldron" (its Disney, btw). I recently watched it again after not watching it since I was a child, and let me tell you, wow, it is nothing like I remember it being. Its a pretty damn intense movie! I cannot imagine the little 7 year old inside of me watching it and not freaking out (like, in the nightmares sense). That aside, I am not here to talk about the movie. I o More...

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Aug 16, 2011

Alison rated it:

Taran dreams of a life as a brave warrior, fighting the deathless soldiers of Arawn Death-Lord. But a life like that seems out of reach for a lowly Assistant Pig-Keeper who doesn’t know who his parents are or where he comes from. When his charge, an oracular pig named Hen Wen, flees her pen after a terrible vision, Taran leaves the safety of Caer Dallben and sets out to find her. Along the way, he encounters a half-animal, half-human creature named Gurgi, the beautiful and clever Princess Eilonw More...

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Jul 12, 2011

Gail rated it:

Several years ago, I read the Prydain series of books written by Lloyd Alexander. I remember I really liked them and found them very exciting, but I couldn't remember the stories. As a teacher, I was recommending them, so I thought perhaps I should read them again since it is summer and I have more time to read. Well, even years later, I have found them to be exciting and well written. I enjoy books about the time when there are knights, swords, kings, and battles. I like to read about stre More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 08, 2011

Pikachu rated it:

Oh dear. Having watched and enjoyed The Black Cauldron movie as a kid, I thought I was going to enjoy the series. I thought wrong. One thing that is not revealed in the movie, but that is painfully obvious in the book, is that The Chronicles of Prydain is a blatant LoTR rip-off. Everything from the plot to the names of the characters is so derivative of Tolkien that it might as well be fanfiction.

Not that there is anything wrong with paying homage to your favorite classic. Many write More...

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Feb 15, 2011

James rated it:

I think this was the first chapter-book I read. It's certainly the first one I remember, and as a kid who was already inclined towards fantasy literature, I also remember looking longingly at the cover, on the library stacks, back before I was ready, when I knew I couldn't handle it on my own.

So anyways, having read the full Chronicles of Prydain as soon as I was able, and then graduating to young adult fantasy and eventually to Tolkien, Lieber, and the like, I reread the books the More...

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Jan 19, 2011

Aerin rated it:

I’m going to be picking up the second book in the series because The Book of Three has managed to cast an enchantment on me. ;)

Five books make up The Chronicles of Prydain. One of them was a Newberry Award finalist and another was a Newberry Award winner. The Book of Three is the first title in the series. I don’t know how I missed this childhood classic while I was growing up. It was published in 1964 and I was reading many a children’s book in the 70’s during my elementary school More...

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Jan 02, 2011

Daniel rated it:

I'm baffled by this books 4+ rating. Just to confirm my suspicions I went and checked the rating for Enders Game and, just as I thought…4+. So, unfortunately I am going to have to lump this into the “I read this when I was younger before I knew what good writing was and most importantly before I read the books the author was pathetically attempting to ape”. I read LOTR when I was little after sneaking it off my dad’s bookshelf. My mum was none-too-pleased. If I had read this first perhaps I More...

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Aug 10, 2010

Connor rated it:

im the type of person that just loooves fantasy. sword fights, horses, castles, evil people, adventure. its all great. so i went to the library and got this book because ive read the iron ring and i heard much praise for this book. i went through the first chapter on the way home because i could not wait to start it. the first chapter was great. i thought it was going to turn into a really good story. but then i hit chapter two when taran first met gwydoin. every time they had a conversation it More...

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May 27, 2010

Cassandra rated it:

I am writing this review for the five Chronicles of Prydain books but will rate each one separately. I found the series fun to read, but it is definitely more simplistic than most of the children's fantasy books I have read. The author borrows quite a lot from Lord of the Rings and other fantasy classics, especially in the first and last books, but I realize that many fantasy writers do.

My biggest problem with the series is that it could have had so much more depth if the timing of More...

1 comment like

May 26, 2010

Margery of Sunnybrooke rated it:

I have to start off by telling ya'll that I am NOT a fantasy person. That said I wasn't sure I even wanted to read this book in the first place. But two of my elder siblings had thoroughly enjoyed it, and highly recommended the series to me, so I gave it a try.

I absolutely loved it. It had me laughing from beginning to end. I could not put it down, so I ended up reading it in one afternoon. The characters are all very distinct, and entertaining. I appreciated the fact that More...

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Apr 04, 2010

Jason rated it:

A natural counterpart to the Lord of the Rings, Lloyd Alexander in his Chronicles of Prydain series creates a simple yet archetypal framework to drive his protagonist's mythic quest to assume the role of hero.

Rather than commenting on the quality of the book, I feel it maintains an integrity that instead serves as a Rorschach test for readers and their comfort level with the typical paradigms of the fantasy genre. As such, I found myself chafing at the repetitive speech patterns of Gur More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 11, 2010

Suna rated it:

Now here's an interesting conundrum: I don't quite know how to rate these.

I was about 14 when I first read this series and even then they weren't life altering to me, as Lord of the Rings had been, for instance.
I remember I enjoyed them, however, so quite recently I got them all out of the library and read them again.

And was disappointed. Everything seems so two-dimensional and stilted, including some of the ludicrous names. The plot bombs more than once and limps f More...

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Jan 07, 2010

Jasmyn9 rated it:

A group of us on the LibraryThing 75 challenge thread are reading the Chronicles Prydain this year. We started in January with the first book, The Book of Three. The first book in the Chronicles of Prydain didn't hold up to the second, The Black Cauldron, which I read many times when I was younger, it was a favorite. Perhaps these many reads of the sequel are what lead to me not quite enjoying it as much as I would have. We are introduced to quite a cast of characters. Our main being Taran, More...

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Nov 20, 2009

Lara rated it:

I am revisiting this series, having read and loved it when I was little. I was a bit leery to reread it, as many of my beloved books have fallen apart under my adult mind's scrutiny (like A Wrinkle in Time), but I was able to enjoy this again. What I loved best about the series when I was a kid were the characters, each having their idiosynchrasies, Eilonwy talks a lot and speaks in similes, Fflewddur exaggerates which snaps the strings on his enchanted harp, and Gurgi talks about himself in the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 10, 2009

Dmroberts rated it:

This book is a classic in my view - it was a book that my mother first read to me as a child, and which I later re-visited myself quite some years later. For me, this is one of those titles that first got me interested in literature.

The author, Lloyd Alexander, was an interesting man, and excellent to his fans. I wrote him when I was little, included a story (it was probably tripe), and my picture. Much to my surprise he wrote me back. He wrote me a brief hand-written message, and than More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 21, 2008

Marfita rated it:

This book seems to owe a lot to Tolkien. It might be a good way to start a kid on the slippery slope to Middle Earth. I've read other books by this author and have thought his stuff rather derivative, but that doesn't make it bad because all of that is fresh and new to a kid.
Alexander also doesn't waste time with description. He goes right to the action and keeps it coming until he gets to the climax. The big battle is mostly described later by the characters - hmmm, interesting idea, if More...

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