I really like how the first chapters of “The High King” echo the first chapters of “The Book Of Three”. Hen Wen is still afraid of making any prophesy relating to Arawn. But this time she does. And Taran, now a young man who has learnt something of the horrors of war, is no longer eager to ride off to adventure - but he’s quite grimly ready to do his duty.

Everyone else who’s been accumulated over the series gets to do their character bits. And there’s a few reminders of little things Alexander plans to bring back like the gwythaint chick Taran rescued four books ago. Overall though: we have been here before, at the start of this whole series, and now we are here again but with a vastly different lead character. The evil looming over the first two books receded for 3 and 4, but now it is definitely back and it’s time for the final encounter.