Has anyone read the books by Lloyd Alexander?

[SignSeeker]

I think these books are great

[bmilder]

Welcome to the board :)

Yeah when I was younger I read the entire series... the series about Taran, plus another one about the Kestrel. I don't remember much about them now though. I recall that someone got me The Book of Three and I thought it was the third book in a series, so I put it away and didn't read it until months later when I realized my error :p .

I always wanted to see Disney's "Black Cauldron" but when the finally released it on video a couple years ago, I wasn't too impressed.

[webwizard333]

Can you tell me all the books he wrote?

[SignSeeker]

I, on accident, not knowing it was a series, and i had just finished LotR, read the last book first (the high king) OOPS! i thought it was just one book. :D
The Prydain Chronicles: (i think these are all of them)
The Book of Three
The Castle of Llyr
Taran Wanderer
The High King

[bmilder]

You forgot Black Cauldron.

[SignSeeker]

so i did. i knew i was missing one!

[Finmandos12]

I remember those! I read those in fourth grade.

[webwizard333]

Thanks for the book titles.

[juntel]

I haven't read his books.

But I liked him as George in "Seinfeld"... ;)

[Theodred21]

Hmmm...I've read those! :)
My favorite characters were Taran, Flewddur, and Gurgi!

[galadriel]

I thought they were pretty good. I've only read the Book of Three, the Black Cauldron, and the High King, so I'm missing some parts. Also, I was forced to read the last two for school, and that takes a lot of the joy out of reading. They were a nice mixture of drama, mythos, and humor, definitely worth reading if you like fantasy and hero stories. I might even take a trip to the library sometime and read the two that I missed!

[afro-elf]

I read them all before most of the posters here were even born.

I thought that they were great.

It is GREATLY influenced by Welsh Mythology.

[Alethes]

I read those a few years ago, and I have The Castle of Llyr and The High King. I wasn't too fond of Taran Wanderer (though that may be because I read it after I finished all of the others), but I liked the others quite well. My favorite character was Achren.

[afro-elf]

Its been about 20 years since I read them.

Who was Achren.

I recall liking Adorn (sp?) and Gwydion.

[Alethes]

Achren was the female villain. She could use a variety of spells.
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She became "good" at the end of the 3rd book when she lost the use of magic. She went to live at Caer Dallben and was the one who told Taran and the other good guys about Arawn's ability to change shape.

Who is Adorn? Is he the one with the brooch?

[afro-elf]

Wow, I don't recall her at all. I need to reread them.


Yes, he is the one with the broach.

[jerseydevil]

I also don't recall her. But if it wasn't for the Black Cauldron, I would have never have started reading. It was the Prydain series that made reading fun for me and lead me to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series is also awesome.

[FrodoFriend]

I have all of them and read them every once in a while . . . Taran Wanderer is the best one!! My favorite characters are Taran and Llyan. Wouldn't it be cool to have a giant cat? :)

[Elanor]

I am a huge Lloyd Alexander fan, and I don't think his books are just for kids. They are great for kids or anyone. I've read almost all of his fantasy books, which are more than just the Prydain Chronicles.

Most of his books are based on mythology, and he usually picks a different one each time. For example:

Prydain (Wales)
The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen (Japan)
The Iron Ring (India)
The Time Cat (many periods in history)
The Arkadians (Greece)
The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha (Medieval Europe/Middle East)
Gypsy Rizka (Medieval Europe)
The Cat who Wished to be a Man (Medieval Europe)
The Wizard in the Tree (haven't read this one yet)
The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian (17th century Europe; aristocracy and musicians)
Westmark Series (17th century Europe; political revolutions)
Westmark
The Kestrel
The Beggar Queen

Vesper Holly series (Late 19th century, all over the place)
Illyrian Adventure
El Dorado Adventure
Jedera Adventure
Drackenberg Adventure

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

I LOVE the Prydain series!!!!!!! They are so good! I read them a few years ago, but I must read them again.
I had a dream once that I was Taran. . .wierd, huh?

[RosieCotton]

Originally posted by Elanor
I am a huge Lloyd Alexander fan, and I don't think his books are just for kids. They are great for kids or anyone. I've read almost all of his fantasy books, which are more than just the Prydain Chronicles.

Most of his books are based on mythology, and he usually picks a different one each time. For example:

Prydain (Wales)
The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen (Japan)
The Iron Ring (India)
The Time Cat (many periods in history)
The Arkadians (Greece)
The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha (Medieval Europe/Middle East)
Gypsy Rizka (Medieval Europe)
The Cat who Wished to be a Man (Medieval Europe)
The Wizard in the Tree (haven't read this one yet)
The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian (17th century Europe; aristocracy and musicians)
Westmark Series (17th century Europe; political revolutions)
Westmark
The Kestrel
The Beggar Queen

Vesper Holly series (Late 19th century, all over the place)
Illyrian Adventure
El Dorado Adventure
Jedera Adventure
Drackenberg Adventure

Well, that just about covers it! I'm impressed, I couldn't name half of them. I do enjoy Lloyd Alexander, but I haven't read them in a while. I like that girl....the spunky one...what's her name???
~Rosie~

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

Rosie Cotton, the girl in Prydain? It's Eilonwy. :) I'm really happy, I found the first two at the library today, I've been looking for a while. :D

[RosieCotton]

Eilonmy, thats it. She was my favorite character in any book...and then came LOTR.

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

Eilonwy is great! :) She is such a cool character. . .I haven't read those books in a while, I must do so now!

[markedel]

I enjoyed the Westmark series.

[TwirlingString]

Eilowny is definatly a fun character, but I still haven't figured out if I liked her having to give up her magic or not. ( oh well, it didn't matter much to her anyway)

[cee2lee2]

I've read only the Prydain series ( twice and long ago!) and enjoyed it very much. I have a one volume version from the SF Book Club which I should probably locate and read again.

[TwirlingString]

Pyradin books are cool but I only read the last 2 again and again. I think I prefer Westmark.

[Duddun]

I really liked the Prydain Series. But my favorite book of his is The Iron Ring, I love that book although the Prydain ones are good too.

[Telperion]

I've only read the Prydain series and i thought they were good. Unfortunately, after about ten reads and four years, i wan't to find more books.

[Beleg Strongbow]

Has anyone noticed the enourmous parallels between the Prydain stories and the LotR?

Just to name characters:
Taran = Frodo + Aragorn
Gurgi= Sam + Gollum
Arawn = Sauron
Achren = Gollum
Gwydion = Aragorn/Boromir
Eilonwy = Arwen/Eowyn
[[I can't remember his name]] = Saruman
Dalben = Gandalf
Math = Denethor
CauldronBorn ~ Nazgûl

Places:
Mt Dragon = Mt. Doom
Summer Country = Valinor
Caer Dalben = Shire
Red [whatever-they-were] = Brown Lands/ Dagorlad

And of course the swords. [what's it called?] = Anduril

There's enough of a difference, and the storyline is common enough that I wouldn't call them a rip-off. But still the similarities are amazing.

[Celebrian]

I noticed the similarties also, I wonder which series was written first! It's not that I they copied each other, but it would be interesting to know

[Beleg Strongbow]

LotR, by about 10 years

[TwirlingString]

I think the reason is that things from tolkien have sorta leaked into literature as the norm.

[AudrentheRanger]

I like to Prydain series best. My favorite was the High King. It was interesting how Taran became King because he wasn't that famous or imortant or of noble blood. It was also set somewhere in welsh mythology wasn't it? Does anyone here know how to spea welsh?I'm sort of learning.