Reviews

The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander

shane_tiernan's review

3.0

I'm reading this one with my "new" 9 year old son/cousin. We're going to be reading a little every night. So far so good. The prydain chronicles were my favorite books when I was 8 so we may read those too.

Just finished this (FINALLY!). Just didn't end up reading as often as I thought we would. It was a fun book, a few too many characters but good and suspenseful for a kid. Unfortunately even though our 3rd grader is reading at a 5th grade level he still was having a hard time keeping up with the vocabulary. It definitely didn't help that the story was set in india and he used many indian words like kshatriya and chandala a lot. Kind of funny though that I'm also reading -Virtues of War- a story about Alexander the Great and they use the kshatriya in that book too but it's on audio so that's how I found out the "k" is silent.

So we're going to tone it done a bit and see how he does with some simpler books. Also to my chagrin he's says "fantasy books are just okay". But he does seem more excited about reading some Star Wars books so I guess I can't complain.

booksnorkel's review

Eh. This book was hard for me to get through. There were a lot of terms and cultural aspects that were interesting. But they didn't make up for a story that dragged on for so long. It felt like the main character had to meet every animal in India before the story could even start. I wouldn't recommend it.

allisonjpmiller's review against another edition

5.0

An old favorite; I can never just pick up this book for a quick glance, I always have to re-read it from start to finish. It's got such a great sense of language and character - endlessly entertaining, yet never short on the kind of depth that a formative story like this demands. I'm reading it for the first time to my husband (who's the human incarnation of Garuda the worrisome eagle). I just love sharing this one with people. It's so under-appreciated.

saphread's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful sad tense

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I really liked the way the main character, for the sake of honor, was willing to go on a dangerous quest to fulfill what might have been a dream, willingly risking his life many times.

(soldier)“Kana wants to see you.”(Tamar)”He sees me”😂

drearyletters's review

I wanted to like this book because of the mythology but I bounced off it. Too wandering. It really does read like an old school legend, but I couldn’t bring myself to remain interested long after the first chapter. 

chrish_10's review

5.0

What a delightful read! I read this book to my son as part of his history curriculum and we both found it to be most enjoyable. So many fun and unexpected characters; it would make quite an entertaining movie!

christinedtc's review

2.0

This book was really challenging for me. There's a lot of characters and a lot of hard words.

mojostdennis's review

5.0

I loved this book as a kid. I'm pleased to report that I still love it as an adult.

lisajha's review

4.0

One of my favorite fantasies. I love Lloyd Alexander anyway, and this book is a nice departure from some of his other books, set in Arthurian England or Wales. It's also pretty accurate in the way it portrays Indian social structure and culture, based on what I know from other classes I've taken.

chutinett's review

1.0

I read this in 7th grade for a history class and I just remember it being the most hated book I ever had for a class