The High King (and 4 others)
by Lloyd Alexander
This is the fifth and last book in the sequence known as 'The Chronicles of Prydain, which made Lloyd Alexander the top name in children's fantasy in the 1960s. He is certainly a "Grand Old Man" who in 2003 was given a Life Achievement Award by the World Fantasy Convention - the literary equivalent of the last Oscar of the evening, which always gets a standing ovation.
It was inspired of Usborne to make these fine novels available to a new generation of readers, though a shock to discover that they had ever gone out of print. I suppose, like Diana Wynne Jones, Alexander owes his renascence to a post-Potter revival of interest in junior fantasy but there are no jolly boarding-school japes here.
Alexanders source material was The Mabinogion, which has also influenced Alan Garner, Kevin Crossley-Holland and before them, Tolkien; it was perhaps more unusual for an American author. The series begins with Taran the assistant pig-keeper, who longs for a more adventurous life. This he gets in spades as he sets out on a quest to rescue the magic pig, Hen-Wen, from the Horned King. Along the way, as is traditional, he picks up companions ¨ Prince Gwydion the hero, the unpredictable Princess Eilonwy, Gurgi the wolfhound and Doli the dwarf. There is also a bard with an unpronounceable Welsh name.
The first book, The Book of Three, is full of comic touches but as the sequence proceeds, with The Black Cauldron, the high style kicks in. The Lord of Annuvin, the evil Arawn, has the eponymous vessel, in which dead warriors are brought back to life (this is straight from the Mabinogion). Taran wants to live up to the heroic Gwydion and his noble knights and destroy something that gives such an unfair advantage in battle. In the original story of the cauldron it takes the self-sacrifice of the destroyer to do this but Alexander has a gentler ending.
In the third book, The Castle of Llyr, the focus is back on feisty Princess Eilonwy, who is supposed to be becoming a lady. Instead, she discovers she has magical powers and Taran must rescue her from Achren the enchantress. Taran the Wanderer deals with the assistant pig-keeper's quest to find his true identity.
The High King is the culmination of all these strands of story. The companions must defeat Lord Arawn and the secret of Taran's parentage is revealed. The sequence ends as it began, with the actual Book of Three, the volume of prophecies which Taran is at last fit to handle. Satisfying and rip-roaring stuff, issued in attractive new paperbacks. Essential in any fantasy library.
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