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C’était l’une de mes séries préférées quand j’étais plus jeune. Cela a eu une énorme influence sur mon amour de la fiction fantastique. Maintenant, en le relisant à l’âge adulte, je constate que ce n’est pas un sans-faute, mais c’est quand même une belle aventure avec des personnages merveilleux.
J’ai lu l’ancienne édition du club de lecture que j’ai depuis des années. Il comprend les cinq romans, plus une collection de nouvelles se déroulant dans le même monde, qui est vaguement basée sur la mythologie galloise.
J’ai en quelque sorte pataugé au milieu de la collection et j’ai mis beaucoup de temps à tout parcourir. Je ne suis pas sûr de le relire moi-même, mais je le lirais certainement à une future progéniture potentielle.
Le personnage principal, Taran, apprend qu’il est le seul à pouvoir choisir quel genre de vie il mènera, indépendamment de sa naissance ou de ce qu’il considère comme son destin (un thème très américain d’un auteur américain !).
Taran en vient également à comprendre que le vrai leadership est un lourd fardeau, impliquant des sacrifices pour ceux que l’on dirigerait. La série lui fait passer le cercle complet d’un garçon entêté avide de gloire à un homme qui est prêt à donner sa vie pour les autres.
« Un vrai roi porte sa couronne dans son cœur. »
There were things in this book that felt reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings to me—the Dark Lord Arawn with his dark land (to the west-ish this time instead of the east), Taran’s wound that still bothered him later and his waking at the end in the castle at Caer Dathyl, traveling over the mountains and an evil black lake, Gurgi seeming kind of gollum-like (but not evil like Gollum), Medwyn being like a mix between Gandalf and Beorn, probably other stuff too. Being that it was published about ten years after the Lord of the Rings, I bet that the author read LotR… or maybe it’s just that they both follow a lot of standard mythological hero’s journey tropes. I gotta say, though, when Gwydion gives Eilonwy “a ring of gold set with a gem carved by the ancient craftsmen of the Fair Folk” and says “It is precious …” I thought: “Run, Eilonwy, run!”
The Horned King was kind of a disappointment in this book. I really wanted more of him. He was scary in the scenes that he was actually in, but I wanted him to be even scarier and have a less anticlimactic death, although his death and the method did tie the end of the story back to the beginning. In terms of scariness, the Cauldron-Born really steal the show. I remember being terrified of them as a kid.
The writing is also not as great as I remember it. Adverbs freckle the pages. Lots of people “cry” or “shout” or “murmur.” And so much “seeming”! Does it “seem” to be, or is it? Oi.
What I did like about this book were the characters and the humor woven in. I remember as a kid thinking that Taran was awesome and Eilonwy super-annoying, but as an adult I picked up more on Taran’s inexperience, foolishness, and misplaced love of the glory of battle, as well as Eilonwy’s understandable frustration at being treated like “just a girl,” not to mention her obvious love of Taran almost from the start. Taran gets some character development, realizing that people don’t usually accomplish things completely by themselves, that “glory” belongs to all.
I could see why this series is such a great read for kids—the action doesn’t let up for a bit. It’s great at holding a kid’s attention, if appearing a little lacking in background and random to an adult reader.
The Black Cauldron *****
Arawn has slowed down on collecting corpses and begun murdering living people in order to throw them into his Black Cauldron and make more zombie Cauldron-Born warriors. A council meets at Caer Dallben with the goal of planning a foray into Annuvin to steal the Cauldron and find a way to destroy it. However, when they get there, they find out the cauldron is already gone, having been taken back by Orddu, Orgoch, and Orwen, three powerful witches who live in the Marshes of Morva and who were the ones who gave Arawn the Cauldron in the first place. They’re neither good nor evil, but have some hand in the balance of fate in the world. To bargain with them for the Cauldron, Taran must make a sacrifice.
Party member Prince Ellidyr continually stymies the others with his monstrous need to prove himself, somewhat reflective of Taran’s desires in the first book. Taran is forced to come to terms with this part of himself as he deals with Ellidyr.
More stuff reminiscent of LotR in this book—the Black Cauldron (a.k.a. Crochan) is sort of like the One Ring; it kicks off with a council sort of like in The Fellowship of the Ring. Beyond that, though, it feels more original—rather than simply needing to be destroyed in a particular place, the Black Cauldron can only be destroyed if a living person willingly climbs into it. The only catch is, they won’t be climbing out again.
What makes this book great is that the reader can feel what’s at stake. The danger of the Cauldron is dark, creepy, and very present, unlike the Horned King in the first book. The Huntsmen villains are just as awful as the Cauldron-Born in some ways—they ride in groups, and for each one that is killed, the others gain magical strength.
What’s at stake for each character is also much clearer—they’re not just moving from place to place not really sure of what their goal is; they have a very clear goal and they’re willing to sacrifice for it, Taran realizing that giving up a chance at power actually makes him more of a man than before. Eilonwy holds her own against a bunch of men who frustrate her with attempts to keep her back from danger and often proves that she is just as smart as they are, if not more. Even Prince Ellidyr, who’s completely awful, makes sense by the end and finds a fate that fits his character.
I had remembered that Gurgi dies in this book, but after reading it I realized that’s in the Disney movie, which combined the first two books and made a lot of changes. The books are much, much better, but I’d still kind of like to see the movie again. I only watched it once, although maybe there was a reason for that.
The Castle of Llyr ***
Dallben, the enchanter who raised Taran at Caer Dallben, decides that he is not the right person to teach Princess Eilonwy how to be a lady, so he sends her to the Isle of Mona with Taran and Gurgi as her escorts. There, the intent is for her to live with King Rhuddlum, Queen Teleria, and Prince Rhun and learn how to be a royal princess. Sort of randomly, Fflewddur Fflam shows up there too.
Unbeknownst to the group, Prince Gwydion waits there in the guise of a shoemaker, uncovering a plot by Queen Achren, who’d held Eilonwy captive in the first book.
When Achren makes her move, Taran and company set out to rescue Eilonwy. Meanwhile, Taran must contend with the news that Prince Rhun and Eilonwy are to be betrothed and the realization of his own feelings toward her.
I liked the book because it explained just a little bit more about the background of the House of Llyr and the nature of Eilonwy’s bauble, a magical golden ball that was given to her as a toy and featured in the first book. However, the way Eilonwy was treated as a character disappointed me. Gwydion shares information about his suspicions of Eilonwy’s plight with Taran, but asks him to keep it from everyone else until it’s too late. They decide that it’s better to use Eilonwy as unknowing bait for Achren. Knowing about her danger would have been much better, but since it would have taken away some twists from that contrived part of the plot, I guess it didn’t work for the author.
This is somewhat redeemed by Achren’s ultimate defeat being placed in Eilonwy’s hands, as well as Eilonwy’s refusal at the end of a betrothal she doesn’t want. Overall, though, she seems like a weaker character in this book even though it’s supposed to be focused on her. The decision to keep her in the dark doesn’t make sense, and neither does her assertion once they meet up again that she suspected there was some kind of plot, but went along with it anyway to see what would happen.
Taran Wanderer ***
Taran intends to ask Eilonwy for her hand, but in order to do that he decides he has to know his parentage. He figures that he can’t marry her unless he’s nobly born. So, he sets off on an episodic journey that is at times fairy-tale-like in structure in terms of repeating motifs, etc.
He learns about what makes a person truly important—their character and dedication rather than their birth. It’s a much slower read that is more about self-discovery than adventure. Lots of character development here for Taran and good lessons that I enjoyed reflecting on, but not my favorite book in the series.
The High King ****
Arawn steals the sword Dyrnwyn from Prince Gwydion—chaos ensues. Taran and his friends get together in a last-ditch effort to stop Arawn once and for all.
There were some deaths in this book, but none of them were particularly hard-hitting for me. Alexander is definitely not the George R. R. Martin of children’s literature.
Overall, it’s a more exciting book than the previous one, but on this re-read I think I like The Black Cauldron the best. It just felt like the most complex and original book, despite the Lord of the Rings-ish elements.
The High King definitely felt like a wrap-up, and not much more than that. I’ll say, though, that it tied up a lot of ends in ways that made sense. I appreciated the return of Eilonwy and her agency, despite having to give up her enchantments in order to stay in Prydain at the end (an ending which, by the way, smacked of LotR elves traveling into the West… again, likely a case of Tolkien and Alexander both borrowing from the same mythological source material rather than Alexander borrowing from Tolkien, though. It was mentioned that Alexander gained inspiration from Welsh mythology).
The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain****
I really enjoyed this book of short stories, probably because I didn’t remember them at all. It contains:
The Foundling***
Orddu, Orgoch, and Orwen find Dallben as a baby and we learn how he gained The Book of Three. I didn’t really get the part about it turning him old—was it because he read it for too long, or did it literally transform him?
The Stone***
A cottager named Maibon finds the dwarf Doli and demands a wish that has unintended consequences.
The True Enchanter*****
The story of how Eilonwy’s mother Princess Angharad met her non-magical father Geraint.
The Rascal Crow**
A story about Kaw’s father Kadwyr.
The Sword*****
A darker story on the origin of Dyrnwyn and the fate of its last bearer, King Rhitta.
The Smith, the Weaver, and the Harper*****
How Arawn tricked Prydain’s best craftsmen out of their magical tools, except for the harper who stood up for life and laughed him off the scene. « You fail, Death Lord! You destroy the instrument, but not its music. With all your power you have gained only a broken shell. » (hide spoiler)]
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