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Coca Koala posted:This is a good sentiment but man, Taran gets roasted a lot. It’s a tough world for assistant pig keepers. It's kind of funny how much he comes off like a complete idiot in this book in particular, though I think a lot of it is more showing him as a child to contrast with later on (certainly by the final books he's very mature compared to this one, but I like how he does have some capacity for self reflection even now).
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May 10, 2023 18:36
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I always did love that the story ended with Taran feeling he did nothing but make mistakes, I definitely related at that age to someone who tried to do the right thing but felt like all they did was mess up all the time. As coming of age stories go, this series is one of the best ones at showing the growth from child to adult; Taran always had a decent heart but you can follow the improvements that come from experience with him.
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Jun 21, 2023 00:43
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silvergoose posted:Taran Wanderer is *such* a story. Definitely my favorite of the whole series, yeah.
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Jun 22, 2023 00:11
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nine-gear crow posted:That is perhaps one of the valid criticisms you can lobby against most of the books is that, due to the age range of their prospective readers, a lot of the dangers the characters face in them lack teeth. At least until a certain point in Book 4, Book 5 definitely. Yeah, for a guy who was only introduced and existed for 8 or so chapters, his death was remarkably moving. Granted, in retrospective adulthood I have to admit he was sending up death signals pretty hard; if nothing else I can't see Taran doing any growing up when he's got a wise adult to consult.
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Jul 21, 2023 00:36
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Genghis Cohen posted:I'll be honest, I can't exactly remember how the story moves on from this bit. But in a sense the heroes can go back now and report success - the cauldron is beyond Arawn's grasp, with powers which I really don't think he could recover it from again. Not sure if this is spoilers (it might come up in a bit, can't remember), but even if the story doesn't say it leaving the Black Cauldron in the hands of three beings who cheerfully handed said Cauldron to Arawn in the first place is not terribly "secure". Even if Arawn's credit is no longer good with these three, what stops them from handing it to somebody else who's a bastard? I think it's entirely logical to decide it won't be safe until the good guys have it and destroy it, period. Granted, Taran could probably have ducked out to actually discuss this with Dalben/Gwydion/etc. in reasonable safety, but, well, Taran - not so good with not jumping in right then after all.
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Aug 1, 2023 04:39
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Darthemed posted:Here's to Prince Rhun, able to unravel Taran's character development into utter cattiness. Which of course makes his later fate downright heart-rending when it happened; although that book had a LOT of that going on he definitely stood out for me.
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Sep 13, 2023 07:45
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Wahad posted:If they ever made another movie or series out of these books, Smoit should definitely be played by BRIAN BLESSED. Yeah, even as a kid that was exactly whose voice I heard saying Smoit's lines. Genghis Cohen posted:Great stuff; I really liked King Smoit when I read these as a child. As an adult I see the slightly performative nature of the cantrev lords' violence. We've just been introduced to the impact of casualties with Aeddan's son and how his death affected his parents. Yet now, we have Goryon and Gast 'fighting' but it clearly won't be resolved before Smoit gets there and there isn't much sense of the bloodshed. It's a bit hollywood, everyone clashes their swords together and a few men on each side roll dramatically on the ground to make it look good. But when the smoke clears everyone seems to be OK. At least the book is awesome at deconstructing it (honestly the whole series is extremely good at making the cost of violence, even in those cases when it's in a good cause, terrible to behold).
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Dec 14, 2023 05:28
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Ravenfood posted:In fairness, I don't think its written in a way that makes Taran look good for being so, or Eilonwy bad for fighting. If anything, she comes off as being correct in her choices and Taran as being sexist. Honestly, “Eilonwy is right, Taran is wrong” is a running theme in the series really.
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Apr 17, 2024 19:59
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Genghis Cohen posted:Eh, he got his throat torn out by a wolf. I think the details of the description are occluded in line with the YA audience of the books. Most violence in them seems to be portrayed that way, people bloodlessly expire like an early 20th century swashbuckling movie. But it's definitely not a lovely way to go. Given his threats to Eilonwy were something rather past the PG line themselves, I think a nice brutal throat tearing was terribly appropriate really even for YA fiction.
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May 5, 2024 03:35
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