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Pyridain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander

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Kveto from Prague
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Pyridain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander

Post by Kveto from Prague » Wed August 11th, 2010, 12:41 pm

this was probably one of my favourite series growing up. The world of Prydain is based on Welsh legends and Alexander managed to make a brilliant series around very lovable characters.

there are 5 books in the series.

the Book of Three
the Black Cauldron
Castle of Llyr
Taran Wanderer
the High King

while its for young readers, i reread them as an adult and loved them more. its one of the few series where each book gets better. watching the main character, Taran, grow, deal with responsibility, and especially cope with death (the deaths in these books really sting). the final book is a beautiful example of epic yet melloncholic writing as you see there are no real happy endings.

the chacters really make these books shine. The boasting bard, Flleyder Fllam, the princess Elionwy, and the silly Gurgi.
Plus I challenge any young boy reading these not to fall completely in love with Elionwy. I did.

Anybody else read these?

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Wed August 11th, 2010, 1:25 pm

I read them and loved them in my teens, although at the time I was embarrassed because they were 'kids books' -- my reading at that time consisting of anything in the library greater than 800 pages. (And yet I remember the Prydain Chronicles quite well, and almost nothing of Atlas Shrugged.)
Later I re-read them to my own children.

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sweetpotatoboy
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Post by sweetpotatoboy » Wed August 11th, 2010, 1:39 pm

Oh yes, loved them as a kid. I wonder what happened to my copies?

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Divia
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Post by Divia » Wed August 11th, 2010, 4:44 pm

Loved them.

I read them as a teen. And it helped me to start reading again because i hadn't done so before then. They were younger books but it gave me the confidence I needed to try other stuff.

I was a pisspoor reader. I was always in the "reading groups." for extra help.

And now I am a librarian, keeper of over 16,000 books. hmmm. How did that happen?
News, views, and reviews on books and graphic novels for young adult.
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annis
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Post by annis » Thu August 12th, 2010, 4:55 am

I loved these as well, and read them to my children. I still have the collected stories published in 2 volumes during the 1980s. They have been reissued in much more funky-looking editions in recent times, and are still very popular at the library.

The best of children's/YA novels aren't sentimental yet aim straight for the heart. Their appeal is for children, in Rosemary Sutcliff's words, "from 9 to 90".
Last edited by annis on Thu August 12th, 2010, 7:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

Alex Worthy
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Post by Alex Worthy » Thu August 12th, 2010, 8:24 pm

[quote=""Divia""]Loved them.

I read them as a teen. And it helped me to start reading again because i hadn't done so before then. They were younger books but it gave me the confidence I needed to try other stuff.

I was a pisspoor reader. I was always in the "reading groups." for extra help.

And now I am a librarian, keeper of over 16,000 books. hmmm. How did that happen?[/quote]

This is off topic but I have a question for a librarian. My local libraries will often have the first and third book of a trilogy but not the second. Or the second and third but not the first. Drives me crazy.

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fljustice
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Post by fljustice » Thu August 12th, 2010, 8:35 pm

I first read them in college for my Kiddie-Lit class (my favorite of all my education courses) and loved them. I don't know how I missed them growing up. I read tons of SF/F/HF as a kid. Later I tried to introduce them to my daughter, but she never took to them. I think she might have been a bit too young. She didn't care for the Dragonriders of Pern either. :( However she adored the Harry Potter series.
Faith L. Justice, Author Website
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SarahWoodbury
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Post by SarahWoodbury » Fri August 13th, 2010, 2:15 am

Oh yes. These are wonderful. And while he's not named for Taran, we took the name for our youngest son.

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Divia
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Post by Divia » Fri August 13th, 2010, 2:26 am

[quote=""Alex Worthy""]This is off topic but I have a question for a librarian. My local libraries will often have the first and third book of a trilogy but not the second. Or the second and third but not the first. Drives me crazy.[/quote]


well, there could be a few reasons for this.

A. the book was never brought back and another copy was never purchased.
B. it has been misplaced and who knows where it is in the library
C.The librarian puts in a book order for the complete series but books 1, 3 and 5 come in. This happens ALOT with my graphic novels. Its so annoying. And then sometimes you can't get another copy because they are out of stock.
D. someone stole it, which is kinda like A.

Hope this helps :)

You have no idea how annoying it is for me when I had the complete series and then suddenly a book goes missing. Oh, I hate that.
News, views, and reviews on books and graphic novels for young adult.
http://yabookmarks.blogspot.com/

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Fri August 13th, 2010, 4:15 am

Alex, in the case of the Prydain Chronicles, most libraries will carry the fourth book in the series, Taran Wanderer, because it was a Newbery Award winner. They may not carry the rest, which is annoying indeed.

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