The High King
1968 fantasy novel by Lloyd Alexander / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The High King (1968) is a high fantasy novel by American writer Lloyd Alexander, the fifth and last of The Chronicles of Prydain. It was awarded the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1969.[1]
Author | Lloyd Alexander |
---|---|
Cover artist | Evaline Ness |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | The Chronicles of Prydain |
Genre | Fantasy |
Published | October 27, 1968 |
Publisher | Holt, Rinehart and Winston |
Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
Pages | 288 |
ISBN | 0-8050-1114-5 (first edition, hard) |
OCLC | 23225498 |
LC Class | PZ7.A3774 Hi |
Preceded by | Taran Wanderer |
The series follows the adventures of Taran, the Assistant Pig-Keeper, as he nears manhood while helping to resist the forces of Arawn Death-Lord. In the concluding volume Taran and companions join the rest of Prydain in a great effort to defeat Arawn directly. Finally Taran must decide whether to be High King.
Thirty years later, Alexander explained to Scholastic students: "The High King was the final logical development of the first four books in the Prydain Chronicles. It was not an easy book to write, but at least I was building on a foundation that I had already made. I never considered a different ending ...". He did cry afterward, as the exchange implies many readers have done. After seven years "the characters were as close to me as my own family. ... I wept at the end – to see Taran confronted with such a brutally difficult decision."[2]
"The final choice is never offered to us in the real world ... In another sense, we face this kind of choice again and again because, for us, it is never final."[3]