The Book of Three

I first read this book over 40 years ago when I was struggling to learn how to write fantasy for young readers. I loved it so much that it became a foundational text for me. Lloyd Alexander's gift for building characters that fairly leap off the page, characters that made me laugh but then broke my heart as they were forced to deal with painful decisions, gave me something to aspire to in my own writing.

The series grows in depth and complexity, and the final book makes me weep every time I read it. It provided one of my… show more.

This is a young adult fantasy novel. When I read it to my daughter as an adult, I realized it could also be read as a meditation on the nature of leadership.

It’s the first in a five-book series, and I also think the entire series is about leadership, leadership as the willingness to make heart-rending choices nobody wants to but someone has to make.

What I particularly like is that the protagonist, who emerges as a leader, does so without any special superpowers. If anything, he has super-flaws. The one thing he does, though, is he inspires trust.

My favorite cozy reads often take me back to my childhood. The Chronicles of Prydain was one of my favorites Lloyd Alexander series.

The series begins with The Book of the Three, about Taran, a pig keeper who is embroiled in a series of adventures. As he faces off against Arawn, he acquires a motley group of friends, which includes the brave Princess Eilonwy, all against the backdrop of Welsh mythology.

The subtlety of Alexander’s magic cannot be denied in the first novel of his series, The Chronicles of Prydain. Be it Eilonwy’s bauble or a portent-telling porcine, Alexander is a master at magic with the deftest of touches. And who can resist Gurgi’s munchings and crunchings or an oracular pig? The series as a whole is wonderful, but The Book of Three is truly a piece of art with its sentimental characters and use of the arcane.