Finally, we reach the end of the Chronicles of Prydain. The final book in the series, the simply-named The High King, ends the entire series with an all-out war between the forces of good and the forces of evil.

The plot is rather simple. War is brewing throughout Prydain, and Arawn the Death-lord of Annuvin is on the move. After stealing the enchanted blade Dyrnwyn from Gwydion, things start looking rather grim for Prydain. Taran and his friends now have to muster a force powerful enough to go against an army of traitors and Arawn’s very own army of cauldron-born soldiers.

This is, without a doubt, the best book in the entire chronicles of Prydain. The stories take on a truly epic quality, what with the various campaigns and strategies Gwydion and Taran take up against the armies of Arawn. The story also begins on a rather dark vein, with the immediate arrival of Fflewdur Fflam and a bloodied Gwydion, bearing ill tidings. Hen Wen, the oracular pig, does no better, giving out prophecies that told tales of foreboding, at best.

There’s also a huge menagerie of characters in this one novel. A whole host of major and minor characters from all of the books throughout the series make an appearance in this novel, offering aid one way or the other. King Smoit, for instance, and Glew the eternally morose giant, arrive to help out in the campaigns. Readers are also introduced to the politics within Prydain, from the way the sons of Don conduct their businesses, to the backstabbings within the royalty.

The most interesting part of the book is the way the entire situation seems hopeless. Major characters - or characters you’d think would actually matter to the author - are killed off in due course (I wouldn’t mention names, but there are quite a few), which surprisingly moves the story forward. And there are some characters that you wouldn’t expect to reappear, Glew and Llyan being the least of them.

One thing I have to say about The High King is that it was the first Prydain novel I ever read - and I didn’t have a hard time understanding everything that was happening within the story. The book, while part of an entirely bigger series, can actually stand alone, and the elements of adventure and camaraderie isn’t lost. So while I normally wouldn’t recommend reading the last book in a series without having read the first few books of the same series, the situation is different. If you like reading the best book in a series first, then by all means, start with The High King. This is one book that any reader can undoubtedly enjoy.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.