Lloyd Alexander

To escape the wrath of the king and his wicked soothsayers, an honest young man joins forces with a poet-turned-jackass and a young girl with mystical powers as they embark on a series of epic adventures through the land of Arkadia. Reprint.

The Arkadians

Jeni Enjaian

I finished this book yesterday and absolutely fell in love with it.

I remember loving Lloyd Alexander books as a kid and even purloined one of the names of his characters for the name of my own character. (Shh... don't tell anyone)

I haven't read any of his books in a very long time and don't even remember my overall opinion of them.

This book deftly weaves together versions of old Greek myths and a somewhat casual way, almost making fun of themselves. As I sit here and write this review I am reminded Lord of the Rings and how Tolkien often delves off into the stories, the histories of a group of people. This is what Alexander employed in the Arkadians but in such a lighthearted way that he almost is making fun of the technique that works so well in this book.

Also, I don't believe that Alexander is a Christian... but I'm not certain of course... throughout the book Alexander interspersed beautiful nuggets of truth such as the King bearing the responsibility of the burdens of his people and being more than willing to do so. There were several other examples of that but I cannot remember them at the moment.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone willing to suspend belief in reality and indulge in a little fantastical journey.

The Arkadians

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