THE BOOK OF THREE (THE CHRONICLES OF PRYDAIN ONE)

This is a guest review from my twelve year old grandson, Kai O:

The Book of Three is an ever changing story. It starts out with a young boy, Taran, who lives in Caer Dallben. The book picks up after Taran finishes an argument with Coll (Taran’s master) about if Taran should learn more about smithing or swordfighting. Then a giant swarm of bees starts terrorizing all the animals in Caer Dallben. One of those animals is Hen Wen, an oracular pig. Hen Wen is important, especially right now.  This is because a dangerous warlord, the Horned King, was recently recruited by Arawn, a powerful and evil ruler of Prydain.

Hen Wen knows a lot about the Horned King because she (the pig) is an oracle. Because of the bees, Hen Wen is terrified and runs into the woods with Taran chasing after her. After losing Hen Wen deep into the woods, Taran encounters the Horned King and his war band. Taran is nearly caught, but escapes running blindly through the woods.

Soon...Taran meets the good and powerful ruler, Prince Gwydion. Taran finds out that Gwydion is also looking for Hen Wen (for her knowledge) and tells the Prince that Hen Wen is hopelessly lost. This forces Prince Gwydion to take Taran with him on his quest because Taran is also hopelessly lost. This is where you will have to read (for yourself) the rest of the book because the story starts to pick up from here.

 

I thought that Lloyd Alexander is a very talented author because he constantly changes the main points of his story, while not losing my interest. Over the course of the story, the author introduced many new characters, but even with all the new characters, he makes the story work. I would recommend this novel to YA readers eleven and up.

 

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: I thought Kai’s last paragraph was very perceptive for a twelve year old. Good job! How will Kai write his reviews after he learns the unique rules of of Cormac McCarthy? I can’t wait!