4 ½ out of 5 Covers
Life at the farm of Caer Dallben is the only life that Taran
had ever known, having been raised by the pig keeper Coll and the ancient
wizard Dallben. Even though he has gone
on several adventures now, Taran feels that he doesn’t know who he is without
knowing about his family. So he goes on
a journey to discover his roots.
Despite it being a journey, it is not a milieu tale like
other volumes in the series. This is
very much a character study. Even though
several of Taran’s friends show up throughout, he spends long stretches
journeying alone, especially towards the end.
And the third act is really some of the best storytelling in the whole
series, as Taran tries out several occupations to find if that is the work he
should do with his life. While this
could very well have fallen into the trope of humorous trial and error, the
author elevates the text by taking each job seriously and imparting a lesson
through each one. The lessons do get a
little repetitious, but that is a small sin as Taran’s journey of
self-discovery rings true.
There is one element that sticks out as a bit forced, and that
is Taran’s encounter with a group of raiders.
While it is very likely that Taran would encounter such a band on his
travels, turning them into the antagonist for the story did not seem
natural. But there had to be something
to provide the action and provide contrast to Taran’s development. It’s just not the strongest idea.
Taran’s journey of discovery is rich and compelling and
rings true so that anyone who reads the book is sure to take some lesson away
from it.
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