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Loading... The High King (The Chronicles of Prydain) (original 1968; edition 2006)by Lloyd Alexander
Work InformationThe High King by Lloyd Alexander (1968)
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Actually really poignant. Whether it's deliberate or just a maturation of Alexander's writing, this final book in the series sheds much of the bland, expository dialogue in favour of a poetic, elegaic tone. The series became increasingly aformulaic and, while "The High King" starts out very traditionally, it gradually expands into a mournful yet thrilling climax. ( ) After finishing Taran Wanderer, this one just didn’t quite hold a candle to it. It was longer than the other books, so there was more action and the story more involved, that was nice. We were back to striking parallels between this story and LOTR, it’s really hard to miss. Obviously, Taran’s company doesn’t have enough people to match 1:1 with Frodo’s, but it’s still amusing. Also, more of Taran’s friends die in his story than in LOTR, that was much less amusing. The ending was a little surprising, but completely (I think?) satisfactory. It made me think a lot more than I had expected, especially since Taran was essentially choosing to give up one of the things he had worked toward for the last couple of books. You can find this review and many more on my blog: Into The Heartwyld The final book in the Chronicles of Prydain and I can safely say this was my 2nd favorite of the entire series (My first being The Black Cauldron) One thing I can for sure say that I truly enjoyed about Alexander's storytelling was his ability to not shy away from death. I have read my share of childrean's books and while there are some out there that do include death, I feel the amount that was present in this book was a lot, and it was all characters that while being a side character still managed to hurt when their life was taken, and it's because he had a way of making you care for everyone that came into the story. The story starts out sweet and then it turns and war finally starts, and we finally get that long awaited battle with the Death Lord Arawn, which to be honest was nice, for awhile there he just kept being mentioned in passing that it almost felt like the big battle would never come. Glew was a character I could have completely done with out this entire book, and I mean that whole heartily, he just didn't bring anything to the story for me. Eilonwy was back and her usual self so I was glad for that, after going two books with her being basically non existent it was nice to have the leading lady return. I will say the final battle was a little disappointing but it was expected. The thing I didn't like most was the final chapter, something about this Summer Country bit just felt.... odd. I cant really explain it, but it felt so out of place left this weird vibe with me. Overall, it was great read and If I was child I would have enjoyed this very much. no reviews | add a review
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In this final part of the chronicle of Prydain the forces of good and evil meet in an ultimate confrontation, which determines the fate of Taran, the Assistant Pig-Keeper who wanted to be a hero. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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