Lloyd alexander the castle of llyr7/6/2023 As always, he mixes a moral quest with haunting reality, and creates genuine obstacles for his characters to overcome. It really works, and creates a sense that things are going to build nicely in the final two books. (Sadly, the 'Big Bad' of the series is also sidelined for the most part, which is a shame since she has a great presence.)Īlexander uses the quest for Eilonwy to explore new parts of Prydain, and to add a lot of history and mysticism. Unfortunately, she's sidelined for most of the novel, but thankfully the young lady has so impressed us in previous books that we genuinely fear for her safety. Eilonwy is one of the series' strongest characters, and it's wonderful to discover her backstory - even if most of it was unknown even to the princess herself. For this novel, we do get a reunion of the main characters, but most of the supporting cast take some time off, which creates a sense of difference here. Instead, I longed for a Narnia-esque series in which different aspects of Prydain could be explored. I was worried after The Black Cauldron that each book would just be a straightforward quest story reuniting all the same characters. Yet it's a far different beast from the previous two. The third book of The Chronicles of Prydain is my favourite thus far. In which Eilonwy is given a new opportunity, but all is built on sand.
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