The High King, Newbery Winner 1969... eventually

I was very, very deliberate about this book. The High King is the final book in the quintet of books called The Chronicles of Prydain; I made sure to read all five books, which is probably lucky because I don't think The High King would work very well as a stand-alone. Unfortunately for this reason I'm not really sure if it deserved the Newbery Medal, however - if we were to take the Medal as a sort of award for the series as a whole I totally get it. The Chronicles of Prydain is excellent, very reminiscent of Lewis or Tolkien's work and deserving of a place amongst the greats for high fantasy. So it all depends on how the committee was treating the award at that point in time. Let's start at the very beginning....

The Book of Three (1964)
A great introduction to this fantasy world. I listened to the audio the second time round and it helped immensely because of all the names heavily inspired by Welsh. Though this story stands decently on its own story wise, it is definitely the set up for a larger tale but there is no sense that you're left hanging at the end. I read this for the first time many years ago and was satisfied even without finishing the series.
The primary purpose of this first book is to establish our primary characters:
Taran is a dreamer that wants more. His mysterious past means and high aspirations make him an easy target for maincharacteritis.
Princess Eilonwy is NOT your typical fantasy damsel. She tap dances on just this side of annoying, but in the end I appreciate Lloyd writing a fleshed-out female character in this genre in the 60s - and her flaws kind of make her more impressive.
Fflewddur Fflam is a wandering bard/ king. I really loved his character. His harp is magic and the strings snap whenever he lies, er - colors the truth. A great set-up that manages not to get old even five books in.
Gurgi.

If you ever saw the Disney movie you might be a tad inclined to hate Gurgi. Thankfully he is faaaaaaaaar less annoying in the books! A wild man-beast he talks nonsensical phrases but often proves himself quite helpful. He starts out very cowardly and develops throughout the series into a brave companion.
Doli is a dwarf who constantly acts harsh and grumpy, but is really quite pleasant deep down. At the end of this first book he gains the power to turn invisible.

There are some other characters but really our five-man-band are the important ones.
The most significant plot point is a sword Eilonwy steals from a dead king (though she wouldn't consider it stealing). Taran wants to use the sword on a few occasions but she refuses to let him because, 'only a true king may wield it'. This immediately sets of your mysterious origins alarm bells, but in the end Taran is NOT able to wield the sword without being grievously injured. Prince Gwdion turns out to be able to use the blade. The end of the story sees everyone returning home (except Eilonwy she follows Taran seeing as her old place is a pile of rubble) and a delightful reset of the status quo.

The Black Cauldron (Newbery Honor 1966)
The classic fantasy archetype. The heroes are trying to find and/ or destroy some object - in this case the Black Cauldron. Our main five join the quest of Prince Gwydion in order to find the Black Cauldron before the bad guy (we have enough names here). The sacrifices in this book are so much better and more heartbreaking than the film.

The Castle of Llyr (1966)
My least favorite of the series. During a reread I'd even be tempted to skip it (I do that with a book in both Narnia and Harry Potter as well). In this story we are introduced to the thoroughly incompetent Prince Rhun, an arranged suitor for Princess Eilonwy. Eilonwy is kidnapped by some of those Welsh-named villains (I had trouble keeping them all separate) so Rhun joins the usual Taran, Gurgi, and Fflewddur Fflam. Rhun is another character that dances perilously close to unlike-ably irritating, however he does seem to realize what a goof-up he can be and works to improve himself. We also pick up Kaw (a talking raven) that proves very helpful and endears itself to Taran and Llyan (a magically giant mountain cat) that eventually becomes the familiar of Fflewddur Fflam.

Taran the Wanderer (1967)
Definitely the sleeper hit from the series. This one seems like a throw-away character study. But Taran's personal quest to discover his origins adds the character development that Taran needed. His growth has been occurring all through the series but here it is on full display. I adored his personal journey and how we see how he is when not on a quest for the princes or kings of the various lands. This book more than others follows an episodic nature - and makes for a really nice change of pace.

The High King (Newbery Winner 1969)
And now the main event! A true conclusion to an epic fantasy means one thing.

 War

The Welsh-named villains whose names seem to all start with A have gathered an army and stolen the super important sword from Prince Gwydion. Everyone agrees the sword is the only weapon capable of defeating our primary big bad. People and plot lines from all the previous books wind together to an epic final showdown. I hate to spoil things - let's just say payoffs to mysterious origins occur, deaths are unexpectedly devastating and difficult choices are made. I was so pleased with the end of this series.

Darn this movie for making me avoid this series. Darn it, darn it, darn it.

Overall a series I highly recommend from an author whose characters are all enjoyable despite (and in some cases because of) their flaws. Lloyd Alexander clearly was a master of his craft and his obvious love of Wales and Welsh mythology and history shine through in these works.