The Chronicles of Prydain, Books 1 & 2

50th Anniversary Introductory Collection

By: Lloyd Alexander

Narrated by: James Langton

Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

The Chronicles of Prydain, Books 1 & 2:

Book 1: The Book of Three:

Taran, The Assistant Pig-Keeper, longs to be a hero.

He begins his journey with a strange assortment of companions on a dangerous mission to save his beloved land, Prydain. Packed with action, humor, romance, and gallantry, Taran's adventures chronicle his beloved Prydain and his battle with the forces of evil.

Book 2: The Black Cauldron

Peace reigns in Caer Dallben, where Taran works as Assistant Pig-Keeper, but evil threatens the rest of Prydain. The diabolical Arawn’s army grows every day, and his terrible warriors never die. They are born in the Black Cauldron from the stolen bodies of slain soldiers. If evil is to be defeated, the cauldron must be destroyed. Taran volunteers to travel to Arawn’s stronghold and assist in the destruction of the dreaded cauldron. With his faithful friends reassembled, Taran marches off to face great danger with a courageous heart.

©2014 Lloyd Alexander (P)2014 Listening Library

Two For One Young Adult Fantasy - It Gets Better

Book of Three
If ever a book could have benefitted from a rewrite by its author's more mature self, this is it. At times this is _almost_ a good YA fantasy. Despite obvious Tolkien analogues and clumsy writing. Despite hand-waving and nonsensical explanations of MAJOR plot events. The book is at its strongest when it leans on Welsh legends and fairy tales.

The Black Cauldron
This book is far better than the first book in the series. In fact, I might encourage people to read a summary of book 1 (or not) and just start with this one. The same cast of characters reappear but with greater depth. And this time they actually play a direct role in the book's major events. As a young adult book The Black Cauldron shines, there is a growth arc and a good moral lesson - one that's imparted without any level of "preaching." It also has a strong female character, even if she is often dismissed by the pig-headed men of the story.

Prydain chronicles.

Stumbled across the full version of this anthology of books in my high school library. It was the first hardcover version with all five novels and the companion book of short stories that were the pre cursor to the five novels. Loved the entire series and I have looked for a long time to get the Prydain chronicles as it was in the school library, but finally just had to break down and buy each piece of the puzzle separately.

I loved the character voices.

Very well read. Its fun too listen to. Also a really good deal for the first two books in the series.

Classic High Fantasy

This book series is a fantastic example of classic high fantasy! Though not as gripping as The Hobbit, it is definitely within the same echelon. Highly recommended for younger readers who want to dip a toe into fantasy novels.

My all-time favorite young adult books.

These are the books that turned me into a reader. They are truly magical and timeless.

Finding strengths and friends

I loved it! The narration made this adventure become a reality. I look forward to hearing the rest of this most intriguing and inspiring saga.

“An Enthralling Tale of Splendid Storytelling!”

I never grew up with these books but I had seen the film as many times as I could as a kid and watched it several times a month if at all possible. With that being said I thoroughly enjoyed this series thus far and would place it at the top of my shelf if I had an actual paperback. The story is an instant classic for me now and the narration is tasteful. The narrator is really good at doing voices for the characters (all sexes, mind you) and he really helped push the story along and kept things interested with his pacing and fun repertoire of impressions. There were a few points where he seemed a bit lackluster but those were the yelling parts and it’d be unrealistic to demand he shouts, I suppose. Overall I’d rate it 10/10 I’m not one to listen to audiobooks again unless I thoroughly enjoyed them, but once I’ve finished with the rest of the books in the Chronicles of Prydain I am coming right back around!

Great upper-middle grade adventure

As a school librarian, I always have my eyes and ears out for good books for reluctant readers and this fits the bill perfectly. A great mix of fantasy, adventure, and mythology that's sure to appeal to the masses eating up the Riordain books. This is a and organic hi-lo series: high interest as far as plot and characters but low-level in that vocabulary and sentence structure is more approachable that many epic fantasy stories. Great for middle and high school (and us grown-ups).

A fun tale

The Narrator is great. Distinct, voices for all the main characters are easy to tell apart without needing dialog tags everywhere. A few of the voices were irritating at first, but grew on me as the characters developed and became friends. The short chapters help keep the book moving along at a rapid clip. The intended audience is children, but with the occasional tongue-in-cheek language and sassy companions, it kept me interested. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Thoroughly Enjoyable Adventures With A Pig Keeper

Taran the assistant pig keeper and his adventures kept me amused and entertained. Definitely a young adult book/series for the entire family. I love all the characters, the chivalrous knight, the princess, the old warrior, the talking pig. Both books use medieval imagery to tell subtle stories about the destructive sides of pride, desire, ignorance, and envy. I look forward to more of the series.

James Langton is an excellent narrator.