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Hey, I loved these books as a kid! Amazing how it all comes flooding back when you re-read them.Genghis Cohen posted:This is one of the other things that I can no longer suspend my disbelief around as an adult, looking back at books for kids. There's always some reason the adolescent protagonist(s) have a critical role to play and can make big decisions. Whereas in real life almost any adult present would seize control of the situation - it's completely unreasonable the Fllewddur, who seems to be an eccentric but relatively competent chap, would just let the goodhearted but inexperienced pigkeeper make the decisions. Age and experience do matter, although I fully see the point of teaching young readers to believe in themselves and imagine they could be the hero given the chance. Replying to this post from months ago: that's a good point and that, I guess, is why Fllewddur's character is the way it is: to make the group dynamics work, Fllewddur is a rather childish person himself, who actively runs away from responsibility and happily goes along with whatever other people decide for him: "A Fflam never flinches from danger! / A Fflam understands when it's sensible to withdraw!" (delete as appropriate).
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Oct 30, 2023 16:39
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Genghis Cohen posted:Another nice lesson for kids that I completely brushed over as a child myself. Yeah, reeds are really good for hiding in, more kids should know that.
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Nov 11, 2023 22:41
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Wahad posted:Chapter 2: Cantrev Cadiffor And it's not just that he's dead and dead forever and has left grieving parents behind who'll always miss him: his death is also a catastrophic economic loss, with the aging parents struggling to make ends meet and the farm going to pieces for lack of hands to work it. We're suddenly being smacked in the face with the realisation that some npc getting a spear through them might only take up a line of narrative but has terrible and lasting consequences for the people depending on them.
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Dec 10, 2023 20:43
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quote:"At first I thought it was just a frog who happened to have the same name as Doli. " 
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Jan 8, 2024 14:02
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I remember this book kind of bummed me out as a kid. I wasn't used to protagonists who kept losing, or where they're forced to choose among a range of bad options rather than the obviously good and correct one.
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Jan 21, 2024 19:43
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nine-gear crow posted:Meanwhile, I read this book for the first time when I was starting university during the middle of the 00s/10s financial crash and was like "Oh, this is meant to prepare kids for how lovely real life is. I like this." Oh yeah, as an adult I can read it and see how believable it all is: an idealistic boy riding out on a grand adventure and getting repeatedly smacked in the face by reality.
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Jan 21, 2024 20:37
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Genghis Cohen posted:Lol. I mean, we can see as adults that we're not at the end of the book. If I'm honest, I don't remember reading it for the first time, just re-reading it. But on the face of it . . . what a twist! Taran: "So, you're my father! That's.... great." 
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Jan 25, 2024 22:54
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Genghis Cohen posted:Another nice (and rather more cheerful) lesson. I do question how well you can feed and clothe a family by that kind of foraging though, and you certainly might hesitate before taking in two adult strangers to share the food! Craddoc should've just moved to their neck of the woods, where life appears to be easy, rather than shivering in the mountains and eating the lichen he'd scraped off rocks with his fingernails imo.
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Feb 8, 2024 16:24
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I struggle not to imagine Taran, Prince Gwydion etc as gritty dark age warriors with calloused hands and weatherbeaten faces. Then there's Rhum stood next to them in breeches, silk stockings, silver-buckled shoes and a beautifully tailored red overcoat covered in gold embroidery.
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Mar 26, 2024 16:16
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Owl at Home posted:Here's an author bio of Lloyd Alexander from the first edition of Cricket Magazine in 1973. He was a major contributor to the early era of the magazine and was on its board of editors, so Prydain-related stuff crops up in the early volumes fairly frequently. That's a beautifully Renaissance face. You can see it in the background of a hundred late 15th century Italian paintings.
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Apr 18, 2024 13:19
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