Chapter Books

The Castle of Llyr

Image.ashxWe’re continuing to enjoy Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain, and we finished the third book, The Castle of Llyr, this morning after a few marathon read-aloud sessions. This tale included the further adventures of Taran and Eilonwy and their band of delightfully ordinary friends. They run up against a befuddled princeling named Rhun, a small-spirited giant named Glew, a giant wild cat named Llyan, and a few familiar heroes and enemies from previous books. Eilonwy is kidnapped and we had a few tense chapters while reading, but we came out on the other end completely satisfied.

I liked three things in particular. One is that this was a good book for girls because it involved consideration of what makes for a good princess. Eilonwy is not merely a fun, verbose, level-headed maiden in this story, but a royal princess with her own important destiny. Will she rise to the occasion?

Another aspect I continue to enjoy is the utter likability of the characters. Taran is impulsive but able to learn. Gurgi grows braver and wiser in every adventure, but he never loses his penchant for picking up twigs and leaves in his fur coat, or for quotable phrases. Fflewddur Fflam seems to embellish the truth (and therefore break harp strings) less and less, but he never loses his basic decency or bravado (or his spiky hair). And Gwydion, the noblest of princes, somehow comes across as real even though he never seems to misstep.

I think what I liked best about this story is that even the wicked sorceress Achren is given a chance at redemption. It’s one example of the depth of characterization that makes these tales more than just action-packed adventure stories. Both daughters took turns reading to give me a break, and now they are insisting on picking up both remaining books in the Chronicles of Prydain from the library — so that we don’t have to waste even an hour before moving from the end of one to the beginning of the next. I’d call that a success!

My reviews of the two previous books are here: The Book of Three; and here: The Black Cauldron.

I’m linking up to Read-Aloud Thursday at Hope Is the Word.

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