The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd AlexanderThe Chronicles of Prydain continues in Book 3, The Castle of Llyr. Assistant Pig-Keeper Taran and his friends are going on another journey. This time, young orphan Princess Eilonwy is sent to the Isle of Mona where she will be taught the most difficult skill set she's ever had to learn: how to be a lady. The king and queen of Mona will teach her the courtly things every young princess must know. On the way, they meet the king and queen's son, Prince Rhun, who is a lot less competent than one would desire in the heir to the throne. He likes to be in charge but has no clue what he is doing. Very soon it is revealed that the king and queen intend to have Rhun and Eilonwy betrothed. All the while Taran discovers his true feelings of love for Eilonwy. But other plots are also going on. When Eilonwy is kidnapped, everyone must work together to save the princess from the evil enchantress Queen Achren.
The story is exciting and moves quite quickly along. The romantic intrigue is an interesting addition to the adventure. It is definitely handled in a very kid-friendly way. To make things more complicated, the king asks Taran to watch over Rhun as they hunt Eilonwy's captors. Rhun eventually admits his own incompetence and his desire to prove himself worthy. There's lots of good drama and character development. The story seems a little episodic at times. They fall into many misfortunes and distractions that do not seem connected until the end of the story.
Like the other books, it is very kid-friendly and I can't wait to read them to Jacob and Lucy.
I loved these books when I was a kid and read them with my kids as soon as they were old enough. Now I can't wait for grandkids (well, I can wait a few more years) but I'll definitely put these books on the list to read with them. They'll always be favorites of mine.
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