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

by Lloyd Alexander

The first book in The Chronicles of Prydain, a classic epic full of breathtaking action, humour, valour and excitement.

Taran is desperate for adventure. Being a lowly Assistant Pig-Keeper just isn't exciting. That is, until the magical pig, Hen Wen, disappears and Taran embarks on a death-defying quest to save her from the evil Horned King.

His perilous adventures bring Taran many new friends: an irritable dwarf, an impulsive bard, a strange hairy beast and the hot-headed Princess Eilonwy. Together, they must face the deathless Cauldron-Born warriors, dragons, witches and the terrifying Horned King himself. Taran learns much about his identity, but the mysterious Book of Three is yet to reveal his true identity.

• ISBN10: 1474943446
• ISBN13: 9781474943444
• Publish Date: 9 August 2018 (first published January 1973)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 16 August 2023
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Usborne Publishing Ltd
• Edition: New edition
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[mitabird]

2.5 stars

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

If you want to introduce your children to epic fantasy, I honestly believe The Chronicles of Prydain is the way to go. It's a stepping stone series - I saw another reviewer call it "Lord of the Rings for children" and that's a really fair assessment. There's adventure, humans and magical creatures, a main character with humble beginnings... and all of it is steeped in Welsh mythology. I really did appreciate it for what it was.

That said, if you're an experienced traverser in the genre, a little older, and don't have a nostalgic connection to it... The Book of Three may be a little boring. It moves so quickly and there's a he unbalance between action and dialogue. The characters have interesting backstories as they're spoken, but the writing still feels a bit shallow? If this had been written today with all the options available, I would expect much more. But this book is a little over 60 years old, and things that are tired to us were fantastic at publication.

I want to say that this three star review is based very much on me and where I am at in my reading journey *now*. I'm a seasoned reader of epic fantasy - it's my favorite genre - and as such, I'm accustomed to more complicated plots and a bit more depth to my characters. For what it is, when it was written, and the audience it was trying to reach - The Book of Three is pretty good! It was just too simple and trope-filled to get a higher star-rating from me.

[ladygrey]

At nearly 200 pages I figured I could read this in no time. But I didn't take into account that it was written in 1964 so the style was very different than what I'm used to. I might be slightly bitter I couldn't finish it in two hours and I probably wouldn't be bitter if I'd liked it better.

Which is not to say that I disliked it. I generally I enjoy that older, familiar style. [a:Lloyd Alexander|8924|Lloyd Alexander|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1353430382p2/8924.jpg] uses an economy of words that reminds me of [b:The Last Unicorn|29127|The Last Unicorn|Peter S. Beagle|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358147318s/29127.jpg|902304]. And a lot happens very quickly. Which allows a lot of story to fit in barely 200 pages. But also doesn't leave room for a lot of emotion. And a lot of the plot had very similar elements to Lord of the Rings. The characters are all very well drawn and interesting. But I have to think I would have liked the whole thing better if I had liked Taran at all. He had moments of strength and courage and of being interesting and admirable. But mostly he overreacted and was petulant. Maybe he gets better in later books. I did like his bit at the end with Dellborn who pointed out his flaws, presumably for him to grow as a character. As I write this it reminds me of Dumbledore's talk with Harry at the end of almost each book.

I can see where I probably would have enjoyed this if I'd read it for the first time as a kid. But now I can't say I loved it.

[ibeforem]

I thought this was a great story that actually made me quite nostalgic. One of the first computer games I played extensively was Sierra’s The Black Cauldron, which actually uses some of the events from this book as well as the later books in the series. Reading about Taran and Hen Wen was like reuniting with old friends. This is your classic quest story with a struggle between good and evil and a fair amount of comic relief, between Fflewddur Fflam’s lie detecting harp and Eilonwy’s penchant for similies. It was a very pleasant read, and I look forward to more adventures of Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper.