The first thing you need to know is that Lloyd Alexander is one of the greats of children's literature. His magnum opus is the Chronicles of Prydain, The first thing you need to know is that Lloyd Alexander is one of the greats of children's literature. His magnum opus is the Chronicles of Prydain, a pseudo-Welsh fantasy coming-if-age that can break your heart in all the right ways; I'm partial myself to the faux French Revolution of his Westmark trilogy, in particular the second book, The Kestrel, where war brutally, beautifully drives Theo into post-traumatic madness. Lloyd Alrxandet writes for kids, but his protagonist suffer, because of life. Which brings us to The Iron Ring. Here, we find a young lord in a Hindi-derived setting (although more philosophy than religion), setting out to pay a debt of honor and stumbling into war, love, the limits of his rigid world. Alexander is in fine form with both his casual explanations of caste, never quite seeming to "As you know, Tamar..." as well as his motley of characters, elder loyal teachers and monkey kings and vengeful serpents and noble exiles. And yet... Well, for one thing, the love interest, Mirri, in particular feels too much like that. While Eilonwy or the Beggar Queen Mickle feel fairly fleshed out, Mirri is spunky on a children's novel love interest sort of way, withou much more to reccomend her. For another thing... There are way too many characters for such a slender book. At one point, three important new characters walk onto the stage and introduce themselves over two chapters. It gets a lulu title crowded, and if he'd cut a few and given the remaining characters more to work with, things may have seemed tighter. Finally, the end itself works well, but the penultimate event of the novel concludes a plot line you had probably forgotten about ages ago, which seemed more like world building at the time. Again, cutting it would have made the rest of the plot hold together more. There are a few other quibbles. But it's a kids book: if you're an adult, these criticism mean more, so bump it down to three stars. But if ultimately the biggest problem with the book is that it isn't as good as the best Lloyd Alexander has to offer, is that really a failing?...more
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