The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars A Compact, Philosophical, and Funny Fantasy Adventure I’ve read The Book of Three (1964) many times, first by myself in junior high school and later with my Japanese university students in seminars over the years, and every time I’ve liked going on the journey with Taran and company. Taran, the Assistant Pig-Keeper of indeterminate age, parentage, and appearance (one reason why his hair ranges from gold to red to brown to black in the various cover illustrations done over the years), is an impatient and reckless boy who chafes at chores and runs away from the safety of his home and its 379-year-old wizard Dallben to pursue the panicked oracular pig Hen Wen into the forest and then finds adventures more challenging and uncomfortable than he'd read or dreamed about. If Taran remains rather humorless and featureless, the colorful supporting characters he meets are vivid and funny, like Gurgi the homeless and hungry dog-monkey who refers to himself in third person and likes rhyming and eating (“crunchings and munchings!”), Eilonwy the lonely princess who’s learning to be an enchantress from a wicked “aunt” and who likes making similes, Fflewddur Fflam the abdicated king who likes wandering as a bard with a magical harp that plays itself and breaks its strings when he exaggerates, and Doli the crabby odd-man-out dwarf who can’t make himself invisible and can’t stand a botched job. I like the way Lloyd Alexander works into his concise and fast-paced story plenty of messages for kids (and adults) to think about, like the world of human beings being a hard place for animals to live in; the three foundations of learning being “see much, study much, suffer much”; overcoming despair is a more vital part of being a hero than big muscles or swords; noble character being more important than noble birth; our homes being smaller when we return to them after a journey; and so on. Although he does some typical things with gender, making the enchantress Achren a by-the-numbers beautiful wicked witch, he also (for 1964) makes Eilonwy strong-headed and clever (Taran’s boss) and gives her a great riff on not wanting to be called a girl. And his refusal to give us what we expect or want in the climax of the novel is remarkable. (view spoiler)[Everything has been leading up to a big battle between the army of the Horned King and the army of the Sons of Don and to a Boss Fight between the Horned King and Taran or Prince Gwydion (the legendary Son of Don whom Taran meets and loses early in the adventure). Eilonwy has been lugging around this huge enchanted (cursed?) sword, and Taran finally gets his hands on it and circumstances are forcing him to finally draw it to use it to kill the Horned King, right? Instead, the boy tugs it a few centimeters out of its sheath and is zapped unconscious by the action, which interrupts the climax because he’s the point of view protagonist. And then in the resolution chapter Taran’s companions and Gwydion tell him what happened while he was unconscious! Thus, Alexander doesn’t depict the climax in real time. And there wasn’t a big battle because Gwydion just said the Horned King’s true name to destroy him, which made the enemy army melt apart without their leader. Alexander is trying to get us to appreciate the non-physical side of being a hero, especially the psychological and moral or ethical side, as in helping or being helped by anyone or anything (after all, aren't we all lame ants?) or as in transcending disaster by overcoming despair. Taran has begun to learn both lessons by the end of the novel. He has often been a pessimistic downer: he thinks Gwydion is trying to poison him when they first meet, that Gwydion is killed in Spiral Castle's collapse, that Eilonwy is trying to trap or trick him, and even in the end that he has waken up in Annuvin. So he's still learning to overcome despair like Gwydion in Achren's torture castle. Anyway, in the context of genre expectations Alexander’s avoidance of the big boss fight and big battle is a bold move perfectly in tune with the themes of his novel. (hide spoiler)] Finally, Alexander’s writing is fine, his concise evocation of mood, place, and character through word choice, sounds, and images first rate. As with these descriptions: --“Approaching the Eagle Mountains, Taran felt his burden lighten, as he inhaled the dry, spicy scent of pine.” --“Medwyn strode ahead, as slowly and powerfully as if a tree were walking.” --“They descended to a broad, sun-swept meadow. The morning had turned bright and warm; dew still clung to the bending blades of grass.” Despite its flaws, then, (view spoiler)[like the Horned King remaining a cardboard dark lord’s minion or Eilonwy getting a pretty RING when Gwydion hands out rewards in the end instead of, say, a book of useful spells for adventures (hide spoiler)], it is a fine, compact novel that moves speedily, has a lot of good messages for kids (and adults) and colorful characters, and is refreshingly different in some key ways from usual fantasy adventures. Although my favorite novel in the five-book series is the fourth, Taran Wanderer, The Book of Three is a great start. And James Langton gives a fine reading of the audiobook—doing distinctive and suitable voices for the various characters and enhancing the various moods of the story without overly dramatically “performing” the book and drawing attention to himself.</["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]> View all my reviews
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