This book review was part of a podcast discussion.
Listen to the episode here.
I have a deep soft spot for Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain, a five-book series written in the sixties, heavy with inspiration from Welsh myth and endearing, if simple, characters. Written for young readers (I’d estimate middle schoolers or earlier), the books are rich with morals without being shy about mortal consequences or simplistic. Perhaps the best-known of the five, The Black Cauldron includes two complicated deaths, one of a selfish prince at last redeemed, and one of a noble king recently fallen to evil. Both receive honored burials, the lesson being that no one is but one thing and easily condemned. That book earned a Newbery Honor, and series finale The High King won the Newbery Medal.
Alexander taught the main character Taran over the series’ course that deliberation, consideration, kindness, hard work, and creation are what make a man, rather than swords and glory. He stretched to reach past his era’s pervasive sexism, showing the Princess Eilonwy vocally rejecting the default roles for women in her society but eventually abiding by them, and Taran often overrules her as well. They aren’t perfect books for this modern time, but they are still engrossing, richly imaginative, and well worth reading.
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Sometimes, Peter Schaefer conceals a puzzle in his bio. Little do lovers of the cryptic know that Peter is an encryption system given life, a cipher grown so complex it attained consciousness, along with a love of games, books, and improv. Everyone who believes they meet Peter only meet its proxy, a husk employed only for its wit. Has anyone seen beyond www.paschaefer.com or www.shoelesspetegames.com in spite of his esoteric calculi? Sadly no. Not a single person, and not any group of people.
