The Chronicles of Prydain

I love fantasy. I always have and I always will. I never passed into the middle phase where Lewis says we are too old for fairy tales and must wait till we are old enough again; I grew up on Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Sometime later, in my early adolescent years, I discovered Lloyd Alexander's The Book of Three. Over winter break I read it again, along with the later four novels that comprise the five-part series. The Chronicles of Prydain is a work which so far has grown with me. I may not learn anything new from here on out, but will always retain a fondness for it. 

The Prydain books are about what it means to be a man, and it traces the life of one such man from impetuous boyhood through the suffering required to achieve self-knowledge, wisdom, and greatness. In particular I loved the fourth volume, Taren Wanderer, where the hero undergoes a quest of self-knowledge. He is unable to perform that which he most longs to do, which naturally resonated strongly with me, for precisely that occurred to me as well. 

Alexander may be a modern democrat with Christian-esque views of greatness, but his work is fabulous, moving, and even tragic at times. And yes, in the end, Taran becomes great.