Lloyd Chudley Alexander was stationed in Wales during the Second World War. He was inspired by the country’s scenery and castles, as well as the Welsh mythology of the Mabinogion. He took names and ideas from Welsh mythology, mixing them with a more contemporary American perspective. He was already established as an author with books like Time Cat, but he’s perhaps best-known for the land of Prydain, and the adventures of Taran, Gurgi, Eilonwy, and the exaggerating bard Fflewddur Fflam.
I’ve recently read these stories to my 11-year-old daughter. She needed some persuading to tackle them together, and reluctant until a female character showed up. But by the end of the series she was hooked. Here are the five chronicles, ranked.
#5 The Castle of Llyr
1966
The third book in the Prydain Chronicles is the most inconsequential – it introduces a handful of minor characters, but otherwise there’s little development of the overall story arc. The plot is largely centred around Eilonwy, but she’s barely in the story. It has less of an epic sweep than the other books in the series – most of the action takes place over a few days on the Isle of Mona. As a result, much of the book is given to a series of low-stakes escapades.
#4 The Book of Three
1964
The weaknesses of the opening book of the series are basically that…it’s the opening book of the series. The books in the series are relatively short, and much of The Book of Three introducing places, characters, and concepts like Huntsmen and Cauldron-Born. As a result, there’s not as much room for plot as usual, even though Taran’s at his most flawed and, therefore, more interesting here, rash and impetuous. The book is named for the mystical tome owned by Taran’s guardian Dallben, which deals with the past, the present, and the future.
#3 The Black Cauldron
1965
The second book of the series ups the stakes considerably – several of Taran’s allies don’t survive the quest, and it’s generally darker in tone. The three enchantresses – Orddu, Orwen, and Orgoch – are among the most fascinating of Alexander’s creations, existing outside of time or morals. The book provided the title for a spectacularly unsuccessful Disney adaptation of the first two novels – Alexander later stated “I have to say, there is no resemblance between the movie and the book.”
#2 Taran Wanderer
1967
Taran Wanderer is the most unconventional book in the Prydain Chronicles. There’s no evil plot to overcome – instead Taran journeys around Prydain, finding his identity. The book wasn’t originally conceived as part of the series – it was created when Alexander’s editor suggested that there was something missing. Taran’s time in the Free Commots, where he apprentices as a swordsmith, a weaver, and potter, are particularly memorable. I didn’t realise until I was writing this article that Taran’s experiences somewhat mirrored Alexander’s own – according to Wikipedia “desperate for a job, he worked as a potter’s apprentice for his sister….he lost his job after three months, requiring his wife to take up employment in a textile mill to make ends meet.”
#1 The High King
1968
The final book in the series is an impressive feat – not least for the way in which it manages to include almost every significant character into the storyline without feeling contrived. Along with The Black Cauldron, it’s the darkest entry in the series, and the body count is much higher, with Alexander killing off more beloved characters than you’d expect. The High King was awarded the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children’s literature in 1969.
Did I underrate your favourite chronicle of Prydain?
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Haven’t read them, but I see my library system has them. Will add them to the TBR list 🙂
Enjoy!
Oh, wow! Haven’t thought of these in yonks . . . I LOVED them when I was kid. And then not too long after, I delved in Evangeline Walton’s Mabinogion Tetralogy, which I LOVED even more . . . https://jericsmith.com/2015/04/20/five-by-five-books-7-the-mabinogion/
Cool – I was reading the links at the bottom and there’s clearly a link between the literature you read and the music you enjoy – Judd and Finn were really into Mervyn Peake, and Mike Rutherford released an album titled Smallcreep’s Day. I should check that Tetralogy out.
Definitely connections between sound and word in my collections, no doubt about that. I think back in days of large-format physical albums with copious liner notes and lyric sheets, some of those connections were easier and more obvious to make. Plus my age at the time(s) probably made me more eager to make them!
More spare time to think through stuff like that when you have less responsibilities.
You and your family are clearly seeking Welsh citizenship prior to the rugby world cup. Who can blame you?
The All Blacks aren’t looking too bad actually – we’ve solved our problem areas (props and 2nd five). France and Ireland look tough though.
We’re looking terrible, ah well there’s another one along in 4 years.
1987 was the only year you really went in as serious contenders, if I remember correctly?
I heard of the movie The Black Cauldron but I never heard of these books before, but I’m surprised that I never have cuz you said it won the Newbery Medal and when I was little and went to the children’s department of the library I would look for books that had these little gold stickers on the cover that said Newbery Medal Winner, and then I would take that book out and read it. Ha ha. I must have read a Newbery winner that I really liked and decided to read them all. Lol. Probably Charlotte’s Web or something like that.
Man, I looked at Newbery Medal winners and I’ve barely read any – apparently Charlotte’s Web was a finalist but not a winner.
So it wasn’t even a winner? I don’t think I ever read too many more Newberry winners. The only one I really remember for sure is A Wrinkle in Time cuz I bought it at the book fair at school .
I think my daughter has that – I should borrow it.
Yeah you should read A Wrinkle in Time. It’s really good. Now that I think about it, I wonder if I even understood it when I was that young cuz it has like philosophical and kind of like religious themes that I’m sure I didn’t even know what I was reading. I probably just liked the Sci-Fi adventure aspect and that the characters were kids.
Wow! I read all of these when I was young but haven’t thought of them in years. Thanks for flooding back all those memories. Glad your daughter enjoyed them.
Cool – I own physical copies of them all, so it’s nice to return to them from time to time. They’re kind of kids/young adult books, but they hold up pretty well.
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