Reviews Week 19

 Reviews Week 19

May 9th-15th

Book 52: Taran Wanderer

by Lloyd Alexander

Read May 13th

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I have really enjoyed following Taran on his journey throughout this series. The Chronicles of Prydain has definitely become one of my favorite series ever. I loved every one of the books besides the first one. This book was no exception to that. In fact, I believe that each of the books has gotten better as the series has continued. Taran Wanderer stands out greatly. 

We saw Taran become a hero in The Black Cauldron and his hero's journey throughout the other books in this series. In Taran Wanderer, we see Taran grapple with finding an identity for himself. He is in search of his parents and throughout at least the first half of the book that is his major goal. That changes as he goes on his adventure. Taran goes through a lot in this book, and the search for his parents is not his only goal by far. This was quite the coming-of-age story, that hits pretty hard.  

Many familiar faces appear throughout the book, but the major focus is on Taran and his loyal follower Gurgi. Gurgi is such a great character that helps Taran so much throughout the series.

I really look forward to reading the final book next month. I'll also have to pick up the collection of short stories too. 

Book 53: The Unofficial Harry Potter Companion Volume 1: Sorcerer's Stone

presented by Alohomora

Read May 13th-14th

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I wish that there were more books like this for other newer fantasy series. Ones that look in-depth into books in a way like this does. This was a great little book that deep-dived into the first book in the Harry Potter series. I have never listened to the Alohomora podcast before but this made me interested in it. My favorite section of the book was at the very end when they discussed the different tasks that Harry, Hermione, and Ron have to do at the end of the book. They discuss the connections between the tasks and plot points from the other six books in the series. This book was full of information that I mostly knew about the series but some of the tidbits were quite interesting. I enjoyed this book a lot and it just made me want to read the series again.

Book 54: Enchanted Glass

by Diana Wynne Jones

Read May 15th

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Diana Wynne Jones had so a great writing style that I am really falling in love with as I read her books. I love the way she explains magic in her worlds. It's just another part of the world. We get bits of it throughout the entire story. 

The story follows a thirty-something academic named Andrew Hope, who inherits his magician grandfather's house after he passes away. This also gets him involved with his grandfather's job that he has forgotten most of since he was a child. He has magical abilities that he does not fully understand at first. A twelve-year-old 

 named Adrian comes to live with him after being chased by creatures dead set on catching him. 

Together Andrew and Adrian are trying to figure out how to control the magic and who really is after Adrian. With magical beings, bossy servants who don't want the changes that Andrew is bringing into the house, a pretty young woman who wants to become Andrew's secretary, and a mysterious man named Mr. Brown.

What I wasn't expecting were the fae characters such as Puck, Titania, and Oberon, known from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and other English folklore, to play a role in the story. It really added to the overall story and I enjoyed what part they had to play. 

This was an entertaining read overall with a good amount of humor and heartfelt moments. I just was not a fan of the ending of this book, which I won't spoil here. It wasn't for me. But I really did enjoy most of the rest of the book.