The High King

most recent reading: Summary: The (mostly) satisfying conclusion of the Chronicles of Prydain series.

As I said in my post on Taran Wanderer, it has been over a decade since I read The High King. I still like it, but the more I read it as an adult, the less I think it holds up. I read The Lord of the Rings trilogy less than a year ago, and especially The High King feels like it borrowed from that mythology. However, I suspect they both borrowed from older mythology more than Alexander borrowed from Tolkien.

I appreciate that Taran is older and moving into manhood and leadership. But at most, he is early 20s here, and the single leader in their early 20s doesn't seem to make sense. There needed to be more of a council that led the group. And other than a few sections, I wish Eliowayn was more present. She was “there” almost the entire book but didn't play much of a role.

The action is fine, but I am less interested in glorifying war these days. I want more boring stuff about maturing.
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Short review: I don't know how many times I have read this. It is one of the best young adult classic fantasy books. In the best way possible, this is Lord of the Rings for younger teens (meant as a compliment, not a slight).

It has been a while since I last read this. Much more action-oriented than the rest of the series, I still highly recommend it.

My longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/high-king/