It only took me a couple months of vacillating between reading a few pages before bed and staring at the cover for a few moments and deciding I didn’t have the energy to read before bed, but I’ve finally finished Lloyd Alexander’s The Book of Three.
It’s a nice young adult fantasy tale, and I can see why some people claim it as their favorite children’s story or series. Like many good fantasy yarns, it was apparently heavily inspired by mythology and legend – in this case Welsh. In fact, it was originally to be titled “The Battle of the Trees” after an old Welsh poem. That brings me to my major quandary about The Book of Three, however – the title.
Granted I read the story over a long stretch of time, so I could be missing something, but as far as I recall, the Book of Three is a mysterious tome kept by the enchanter Dallben. It’s only mentioned a few times throughout the story, and plays no major role in the plot. I’m kind of baffled why it was featured as the story’s title.
Perhaps a more grizzled Prydain fan can educate or elucidate?
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