| I seem to recall that The Book of Three was a required
reading book at some point in my life circa 5th or 6th grade.
Although I didn't read the other Prydain books then, I have now
gathered a matching set and devoured all the text. I really like the
way Alexander creates a voice for each of his characters using
different mannerisms in the dialog. The characters in this
particular world come alive to me not so much through the plot or
through the moralistic narration, but through the charming and
unique ways they express themselves. The Westmark books are dark.
The point seems to be that war is a terrible thing, rather than that
heroes win wars, the latter being a common fantasy theme. But the
characters are fun and interesting in the way that the Prydain
characters are, especially in the first book of the trilogy.
The novel Time Cat, Alexander's first novel, is cute. (I
am and always have been, of course, more of a cat person than a dog
person, though now both make me sneeze some.) It's a little like a
series of related short stories, though --- short stories being, to
my taste, much inferior to novels. But my copy has these interesting
illustrations which I doubt have been retained in recent printings.
Books by Lloyd Alexander
(O=own, R=read, E=enjoyed)
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