THE CHRONICLES OF PRYDAIN / Lloyd Alexander / Book Review / Brian Lee Durfee (spoiler free)
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- Wherein our hero Durfee reviews The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King, bks 1-5 of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles. #LloydAllexander #Prydain #TheBlackCauldron #TheBookOfThree
I you liked this vid check out my favorite Science Fiction novels of ALL TIME!!!! ua-cam.com/video/0lwcQ5oNlck/v-deo.html
Brian, I'm ALWAYS impressed by the breadth of your collection and reading. Just heard of Lloyd Alexander's series, came to UA-cam, and lo-and-behold you have a review for the series... and a positive one at that!
Taran Wanderer really changed my opinion on this series. Up to that point I thought it was just fun and campy, but then things got really deep and emotional. Loved the 4th and 5th books the most!
Thanks dude, just ordered these based on this review! Also, looking forward to digging into your books soon!
His Westmark trilogy is also wonderful.
My first fantasy series, which I read around age ten back in the late 70's. That led to Narnia, which led to LOTR and by then I was fully hooked on Fantasy and Science Fiction. I actually tracked down these particular editions like the one you're holding last year as they were the covers of the editions I read. A seminal and very important series. I need to read them again.
yes these editions are the best
Okay. Blasphemy time. I don't see what all the fuss is about LOTR. Admittedly, I'm prejudiced. I was indoctrinated to fantasy/sword & sorcery via Conan and Robert E. Howard which employs a faster paced and descriptive writing style with a simpler plot and a less descriptive system of magic.
Note: Prydain is pronounced (per the glossary in the book) as Prih-DANE
The glossary is wrong, it’s pronounced Pruh-dine.
Prydain is the appellative name the Welsh gave to wales.
Wales being the Welsh word meaning lands of the Gâl and was latinised by the Romans to Brittania which was in turn anglicised to Britain.
In Welsh a Y is pronounced uh as in the u in cut unless it’s it the last syllable of a word
If the word is a combination of Y with another letter like Yr or Fy, even though it’s only one syllable it is also pronounced uh.
The ai diphthong in Welsh is pronounced like eye, so Prydain is pronounced Pruh-dine and because the word is multi-syllabic, the emphasis is on the penultimate syllable and every other syllable, so a word with 4 syllables, the emphasis is on the first and third syllables.
@@Penddraig7 I think the author of the book gets to decide how to pronounce the words he uses for place names.
@@captainnolan5062 they are Welsh and are all names taken from existence, he didn’t create the names himself, so there are correct ways of saying the names, he clearly didn’t learn the correct pronunciations, it’s not like English where letters and vowels and diphthongs can be pronounced differently and therefore can make word pronunciation ambiguous, Welsh has specific rules for pronunciation so if a writer is going to use names of people and places from another language and then do a guide of how to pronounce those names, they have a duty to learn the pronunciation so they can give the correct pronunciations, failure to do this is lazy and disrespectful, a good writer would not make those mistakes, they would take the time to find out
@@Penddraig7 That doesn't matter. If the Author wants it pronounced Prih-DANE that is up to him. In this documentary at 3:30 he pronounces Prih-Dane. ua-cam.com/video/Wt9ZHQy2wAk/v-deo.html
@@Penddraig7 Welsh pronunciation is different from American pronunciation though, right? Since the author is American, I think his pronunciations make more sense from that perspective. Either way, Pry-DEE-an ain't it haha. If you're Welsh though, or if you have some expertise in Welsh names, I'd love to see a "corrected" and extended pronunciation guide of all the names in these books. For instance, one I was surprised wasn't in the glossary was "Dinas Rhydnant". Which I assume would be pronounced DEE-nas RUHD-nant? I always read RIHD-nant... but I had to ask Chat GPT lol.
My favorite Book from the series is 100% The Black Cauldron - The Marshes of Morva was my favorite part, along with Adaon's, Ellidyr's, and Morgant's. A beloved classic of mine - this series!
I just found out theese books existed a couple of weeks ago. And now I'm looking for them, because The Black Cauldron is one of my favorite disney movies of all time. But I'm from Denmark and prefer to read in Danish, but Danish publishers harbor no love for the fantasy genre, so that shits hard to come by and if a full series has been published you are damn lucky.
do you plan to review the riftwar saga? as always, nice review.
eventiually yes
Good review but you were butchering names left and right. Prydain (Preh-dain); Eilonwy (Eye-lon-wee); Taran (Tah-run). Not my interpretation, Lloyd Alexander's. Love your enthusiasm though. All that aside, this is possibly the best book series I've ever read as it pertains to quality of writing, story and emotion.
Good info. I'm not Welsh so my bad on the names
@@B.LEE.DbrianleedurfeeREVIEWS Not a problem. When I was a kid we saw the film strip with the record playing and beeps to prompt the next slide. That was my first introduction to the world of Prydain. It was the early 70s and the Newberry Award was "the" award in children's literature. I, and a group of the nerdier students (when it came to books) like myself went back and read the entire series. What I appreciated most about it was you got to grow and mature with Taran and Eilonwy. So often I hear adults critiquing YA fiction but viewing it through the lens of an adult. The Black Cauldron was very impactful on me, as was Taran Wanderer but The High King was the culmination where you see all those hard earned lessons coming into play for Taran. Prince Rhun...wow. Yeah, this is a great series.
Lloyd’s glossary of how to pronounce them is wrong
@@Penddraig7doesn't an author get to choose how to pronounce his own works, even if it defies conventional pronunciation?
@@AdrianLParker if they create their own characters in a fictional world with a fictional language then sure, you can make your own pronunciations for those characters but that’s not the case, it’s based on Welsh mythology and set in Prydain which is Welsh and it uses the Welsh language which by the way is a phonetic language, it’s not like English where you can have multiple pronunciation possibilities, therefore any competent writer would take the time to learn the correct pronunciation especially when it’s a phonetic language and especially when appropriating them from another culture and language.
The pronunciations are important in Welsh because the wrong pronunciation can result in the word or name having a completely different meaning, again, a competent writer understands this and would make sure they got the right pronunciation down, it’s common courtesy more than anything, that’s what defines a great writer, attention to detail, research, understanding the material you are appropriating, being respectful to those whose culture you are appropriating.
A failure to do this is considered lazy and disrespectful and is a reflection on the person as well as on their ability.
There are so many reasons why it’s important to get it right.
Imagine if they made a show or movie, I would be happy.
I loved these books as a kid. I really need to read them again.
One of my all time beloved Book Series - Right after Tolkien's Middle Earth works and the Bible!
Hi. Can you tell me the dedication of “the black cauldron?
Read these books and unfortunately wasn’t impressed. Maybe Tolkien has spoiled me, but I found these books to be heavy with tropes and predictable cliches. It does however have very well written and likable characters, especially Fflewdur Fflam and Doli being a personal favorite. Many of Lloyd’s descriptions of action are also engrossing and surprisingly brutal at times.
I had the opposite result, it spoiled me when I had to read Tolkien. So boring and slow with no action whereas Alexander moves things along and has better dialogue. I read the LOTR and The Hobbit but it was so painful.
@@csd8204 The brisk pace is this series’ Achilles’ heel. Maybe that’s a boon for those with lower attention spans, but not for me. So many resolutions felt rushed and unfulfilling as a result. He absolutely could’ve afforded expanding the length of each book considering how interesting yet underdeveloped the world is, and the number of unsatisfying endings due to the quick pacing.
And Gandalf’s quotes alone trump *anything* from any character in the Black Cauldron series, whether Dallben or Adaon or anything from Taran Wanderer (personal favorite novel of mine). I’m really not sure how you could rationally argue that LOTR or even the Hobbit have poor dialogue.
Lloyd can really make you turn the pages!
What edition are these books? 🖤
0:32 I agree on your literary assessment, but not on your pronunciation.
You just pronounced "Prydean" ...
I thought this was a good series too. I enjoyed it. Book 4 was so different from just about any fantasy book I have read. I like Narnia better, but I read it first too.
Best fantasy book series ever
I love these books.
Here is a documentary about Lloyd as well: ua-cam.com/video/gocHqTToccY/v-deo.html
Cool thanks!!!
I had a crush on Cheetara ;)
Welsh not welch please.
Hey Brian, Did you know that Lloyd Alexander wanted to be an artist before he was a writer? Here is Lloyd talking about writing: ua-cam.com/video/Wt9ZHQy2wAk/v-deo.html
I like it unscripted!
So much cringe here. A-get a tshirt the fits. B-the hat…you aren’t pulling it off. C-that elvish armband is lame AF.
Someone is clearly bitter, completely unnecessary but I guess that’s trolls for you, they love to project their meaningless existence on others