No, not the Disney movie, the Disney movie butchered the books if that’s what you’re thinking of when it comes to The Black Cauldron.

But you wouldn’t be reading this if you were into the Disney movie, would you? I’ve noticed I have made my rankings longer than necessary by describing the plot which I realized was redundant as I’m assuming one wouldn’t be reading my rankings unless they have already some idea of these book series. So I’ll be keeping it short.

1. The Black Cauldron: Okay I’m biased with this one. Even though the movie wasn’t good, it did make me look into finding out that it was based on Alexander’s series so I tracked down the novel. Although it’s the second book, I think it does a great job in showing Taren the difficulties and sacrifices that are required for being a hero, an interesting foil, and of course, the rest of the gang backing him up with Ffluer and Eliwonly at their best. So very enjoyable.
2. The Castle of Llyr: This comes second for its magnificent quest-like adventure in combination with revealing more of Eliwonly’s origins and her magic. Also I’m just a sucker for the Taren-Eliwonly romance
3. The High King: Just epic! Epic, epic! I mean it’s a freaking war over the fate of Prydian with a ephemeral ending that emphasizes the high fantasy setting of the books that is remiscent of the old adventure tales where everyone lives happily ever after. It comes in third though because with the epic nature of everything, the smaller moments get a bit lost in my opinion. Even though everyone has their chance to show which is always great.
4. The Book of Three: This is where it all began, and thus while it is wonderful for setting up the story, it is predictable. I do admire how Alexander began this so optimistically in keeping with the original Welsh retellings of legends before adding more mature and darker themes.
5. Taren the Wanderer: While this is a great book for Taren himself as it really makes him grow as a hero and as a person, learning more about himself, breaking past misconceptions of his hero’s journey and what it means to be a leader, a wonderful character exploration. . . I just miss his friends. A big draw of the series is its ragtag band of heros who work with Taren and grow to reach their destiny, it just feels like its missing something without them.