And it's over (well, except for a book of short tales). The series has grown on me. It's still child-like, but it can be enjoyed by an adult. The thing is that worldbuilding is not the strong point. Prydain is based on Wales, but it feels like a generic fantasy land with the peculiarity that the scale is very small. It's like if Mordor were only two or three days' march away from the Shire.

The characters are better. Some of them seem like caricatures or archetypes at the beginning, but they get better as you know them more. There is some humor, and some good character arcs, like Eilonwy's or, above all, Taran's. In fact, book 4 (Taran Wanderer) is my favorite one, and it's the only one that does not feature a classical good vs. evil epic struggle. On the contrary, it's a very personal quest, where Taran goes away to try to find out who his parents were, but it ends up being about how he tries to find out who he is. I thought that book was a very fine YA coming of age tale.

In book 5 we are back to the fight against a dark lord of the first books, but this time the stakes seem higher, just like the body count.

All in all, it's not the best YA epic fantasy from an adult point of view, but it has good points, it's a fast read and it can be enjoyable. Alexander writes with a didactic intention, reflecting on what makes a hero and what things are important in life. ( )

So I tried to give it a shot and skimmed some.
Am I the only one who cannot imagine a kid talking in high medieval prose ?
I feel like this way of talking is something you work up to, not start out with. ( )

One of the true classics of children's fantasy, alongside Cooper's Dark is Rising pentology, the Chronicles of Prydain weave the Welsh Mabinogi into what is not merely a children's fantasy story, but one that grows with the reader and imparts important life lessons.

The fourth and fifth books are perhaps the most poignant coming-of-age stories I have encountered; I still (thirty plus years on) tear on reading Taran's final conversation with Dallben.

These books tell a wonderful story that any who enjoy mythology can savor; but these books tell a story to inform the life of any serious or sober child about how our lives are what we make of them. ( )

This is another wonderful series from my childhood that I never tired of re-reading. I no longer have copies of these books, but will probably buy them again soon to re-read again. ( )

Es ist eine Saga aus der man immer noch als Erwachsener etwas lernen kann und dennoch hat es einen kleinen Fehler, es endet zu schnell, so als hätte man keine Zeit mehr gehabt ein passendes Ende zu schreiben. Dennoch sehr lesenswert und hoch interessant. ( )