Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander (2 stars)
I am still working my way through children's classics I strangely didn't read as a child, and I'm now 3/5 of the way through the Chronicles of Prydain! This wasn't the strongest entry in the series, especially coming off The Book of Three and The Black Cauldron, but it wasn't boring and featured more character development for our adventurous Assistant Pig-Keeper. :)
What I liked:
The conflict. Lloyd Alexander is brilliant about continuously putting Taran in uncomfortable situations that force growth. Bringing back Achren and giving her story some closure was a good move, too.
What I didn't like:
There's very little of Eilonwy in the story. She's one of my favorite characters in this series and the story had a limited female presence without her. The story also heavily featured the clumsy, somewhat useless Prince Rhun who was sometimes amusing, sometimes exasperating.
The pacing felt slower and the buildup to the climax less effective than in the last two books, but it was still an enjoyable enough fantasy read, and I'm looking forward to finishing this series. :)