The Arkadians [Hardcover]

Lloyd Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Lucian, a young man of ancient Greece's Arkadia, embarks on a classical quest of danger, daring, and romance and encounters a remarkable cast of heroes, poets, seamen, horsemen, wise women, kings, and peasants.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lucian flees corrupt palace officials in pre-classical Greece, his flight becoming a quest to discover his role in life. Soon, he's trying to help a second-rate poet turned donkey regain human form. Roaming the land, he also gets caught up in the great conflict between followers of the mother goddess and believers in the Olympian pantheon. Fortunately, he has the help of Joy-in-the-Dance, a young prophetess, in a relationship strikingly similar to that of Taran and Eilonwy in Alexander's five-volume Prydain Chronicles. And like the Prydain novels, this adventure draws heavily on a great body of myths and legends. Perhaps to accommodate the constraints of a single volume, Alexander relays many myths in comic, de-bunked forms-he shows poets transforming a clan of horse-riders into centaurs, a skilled mariner separated from his barmaid love into the epic hero Odysseus. Even with much of the raw material developed only minimally, the result is a good, involving story. Readers already acquainted with Greek literature and legend will enjoy picking out familiar threads. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8?An expertly developed cast of characters rounds out this witty epic that's filled with romance and adventure. Lucian, the archetypal hero, knows more than he should about the king's nefarious soothsayers and must escape the palace or be killed. He takes with him Fronto, a poet whose folly has turned him into a donkey. Guided by Joy-in-the-Dance, a pythoness oracle who serves the Lady of Wild Things, they seek the Lady on an Oz-like journey for answers to their problems, joined on the way by Ops, a chief who was cast out of his village. The travelers do not get what they had hoped for from the Lady, but Lucian does learn why her followers and his Bear Clan are enemies. The seekers are then sent on another journey that completes the heroic cycle. On one level, this is a rousing adventure complete with cliffhangers and do-or-die stituations. On another, readers familiar with Greek mythology will find clever hints at the myths' purpose and genesis. The Arkadians have experiences and listen to tales that resemble the stories of Narcissus, the Wooden Horse of Troy, Odysseus, and Theseus and the Minotaur, among others. The women are the wise ones in this novel and play their own heroic roles. On a deeper level, this tale is about love and peace, symbolized by the marriage of Lucian and Joy-in-the-Dance and the subsequent uniting of the Bear Clan and the Followers of the Lady. Thus, Arkadia becomes the mythical Arcadia, which poets lauded as a utopia. The plot has many twists and turns, but is not hard to follow, and Alexander's style is eminently readable.?Cheri Estes, Dorchester Road Regional Library, Charleston, SC
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; 1st edition (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525454152
• ISBN-13: 978-0525454151
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #511,046 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Few writers have inspired as much affection and interest among readers young and old as Lloyd Alexander. At one point, however, it seemed unlikely that he would ever be a writer at all. His parents could not afford to send him to college. And so when a Philadelphia bank had an opening for a messenger boy, he went to work there. Finally, having saved some money, he quit and went to a local college. Dissatisfied with not having learned enough to be a writer he left at the end of one term. Adventure, he decided was the best way. The United States had already entered World War II. Convinced that here was a chance for real deeds of derring-do, he joined the army -- and was promptly shipped to Texas where he became, in disheartening succession an artilleryman, a cymbal player in the band, an organist in the post chapel, and a first-aid man. At last, he was assigned to a military intelligence center in Maryland. There he trained as a member of a combat team to be parachuted into France to work with the Resistance. "This, to my intense relief, did not happen," says Alexander. Instead, Alexander and his group sailed to Wales to finish their training. This ancient, rough-hewn country, with its castles, mountains, and its own beautiful language made a tremendous impression on him. But not until years later did he realize he had been given a glimpse of another enchanted kingdom. Alexander was sent to Alsace-Lorraine, the Rhineland, and southern Germany. When the war ended, he was assigned to a counterintelligence unit in Paris. Later he was discharged to attend the University of Paris. While a student he met a beautiful Parisian girl, Janine, and they soon married. Life abroad was fascinating, but eventually Alexander longed for home. The young couple went back to Drexel Hill, near Philadelphia, where Alexander wrote novel after novel which publishers unhesitatingly turned down. To earn his living, he worked as a cartoonist, advertising writer, layout artist, and associate editor for a small magazine. It took seven years of constant rejection before his first novel was at last published. During the next ten years, he wrote for adults. And then he began writing for young people.Doing historical research for Time Cat he discovered material on Welsh mythology. The result was The Book of Three and the other chronicles of Prydain, the imaginary kingdom being something like the enchanted land of Wales. In The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen Alexander explored yet another fantastic world. Evoking an atmosphere of ancient China, this unique multi-layered novel was critically acclaimed as one of his finest works. Trina Schart Hyman illustrated The Fortune-tellers as a Cameroonian folktale sparkling with vibrant images, keen insight and delicious wit. Most of the books have been written in the form of fantasy. But fantasy, Alexander believes, is merely one of many ways to express attitudes and feelings about real people, real human relationships and problems

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Alexander novel not set in Prydain or Westmark, August 11, 1999

By 

Joy Kim - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Arkadians (Paperback)

Lloyd Alexander is best know for his Prydain and Westmark series, and justly so. Those two series are complex, engaging, and beautifully written. In comparison, some of his other books have always felt a bit simple to me. I think "The Arkadians" is Alexander's best stand-alone novel. Lucian is a bit like Theo and Taran; Joy-in-the-Dance is rather like Eilonwy and Mickle. It makes the book seem familiar to his long-time readers. There's also a lot "The Arkadians" which is new and lovely -- a kind of magical and enchanted atmosphere that most Alexander fans will love. If you enjoyed your trips to Prydain and Westmark, I think you'll enjoy Arkadia too.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The art of storytelling at its most professional, June 15, 2004

By 

Jack Sparrow (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Arkadians (Paperback)

This single book is better than the entire Prydain Chronicles. Whereas the storytelling in the latter series was occasionally clunky and the settings vague, Alexander's hallmark is the nerve-wracking suspense he creates so that the reader just has to finish the book once he starts it.

Alexander is not an author; he is a master storyteller. This book is a collage of various characters telling their own humorous stories threaded together by a common plot of a runaway boy and his talking donkey. The wealth of beautifully crafted characters and the occasionally funny, occasionally sombre plot never fails to sustain the amusement of the reader as Alexander shows off his own skill in the stories of his characters.

This is a highly endearing and delightfully light book that is perfect for bedtime reading - although you probably won't get to sleep until you have turned the last page of the book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Fun Story, June 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Arkadians (Paperback)

I fell in love with Lloyd Alexander's books with The Prydain Chronicles, so when I found out that there were more books of his that I didn't own, I had to get this one. I was not disappointed in the least. The story is a rich blend of Greek Mythology and classic fantasy, and it easily pulled me into the world of Arkadia. The Arkadians is a very fun and easy read. I /highly/ recommend it to all Lloyd Alexander fans and anyone that loves good fantasy.