The Black Cauldron
Jan. 18th, 2023 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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bookheaven
The Black Cauldron by Lloyd AlexanderMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I picked this up again for a couple reasons a) one of my reading challenges had a reread prompt b) my library discarded their books of CD so I grabbed it for my holiday traveling. It has been forever and a day since I read this and I think in many ways this book is better than #1 since so much time isn't needed to introduce the characters. Back, of course, is Taran the assistant pig keeper (and our main character) Eilonwy, a princess who is living a simple life at Caer Dallben, Gurgi the not-quite-man creature, Dolbi the dwarf and Flamm, the king turned bard whose magic harp bursts strings when he lies.
Gwydion has called a meeting at Caer Dallben of all the kings, princes, fighters etc with a grand plan to stop Lord Arawn and his titular Black Cauldron, which takes corpses and turns them into deathless fighters. So destroying that is a good idea (and it doesn't take long to realize that some of these ambitious men might want it for themselves).
Taran finds himself on the mission with Prince Elodea who is a classist snob with a cruel streak and a bad temper. He has only a few friends to stand between him and the prince. Eilonwy chases after them and joins up (because girls would have been expected to do nothing when this was written so kudos for finding ways to include her).
Naturally things don't go to plan. Lots of hardship ensues. Not everyone will survive. And once they find the cauldron, what then?
This is not a book you can easily pick up if you haven't read #1. Yes they're both stand alone but Alexander expects you to remember the characters from the first book and that is one of the reasons this book moves better than the first. I still enjoy this series after all these years.
View all my reviews
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Date: 2023-02-02 09:42 pm (UTC)I dressed up as Eilonwy- a la the Disney film version- for Halloween one year and made a stuffed Gurgi (also a la the Disney film).
Prince Ellidyr was certainly a snob and an ass, but he does redeem himself somewhat by going into the Black Cauldron and wrecking it.
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Date: 2023-02-03 04:57 am (UTC)That is so cool about the cosplay. I remember when The Black Cauldron came out (year I graduated h.s.) I wanted to see it, it didn't come to my area, Disney locked it up and I'm not sure I ever saw it
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Date: 2023-02-03 10:48 pm (UTC)My sister and I have always been kind of closet cosplayers. My mom always regards her sewing for our Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus Halloween costumes as some of her best work, ha ha. It doesn't have that prince character in it, but other than that, it's roughly accurate (I mean, as accurate as a Disney version could be, lol).
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Date: 2023-02-03 11:18 pm (UTC)That's good to know
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Date: 2023-02-03 11:29 pm (UTC)If you've seen some screencaps of the main characters, I think that'll give you enough of an idea. (oh, the older mentor-like guy wasn't in the movie either)
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