Finally finished the first Prydain book (Book of Three) today. There are some books that you don’t get around to reading long past when everyone else does, and you don’t really know why.
I was in just the right mood for this sort of immersive otherworld adventure, and I enjoyed it lots and lots, in spite of a few reservations: that Taran is a bit of a twit (but he’s supposed to be), that several characters are built largely around a single conversational tic or two (“munchings and crunchings” are fine and even lovely, “a Fflam always” was beginning to push it), and most of all the fear that as likable a female character as Eilonwy is likely to get tamed in later books rather than being allowed the spirited adventure-seeking life she deserved (Gwydion went down many notches in my regard when he began simultaneously flirting with and dismissing her).
But that’s not the real reason for this post. The real reason is a conversation lnhammer, who’d been rightfully telling me I needed to read these books for years.
Me: “I already knew Taran was an assistant pig-keeper. But I didn’t know the pig was important.”
lnhammer (looking up): “Some pig.”
Fanficcers, your mission is clear.
