I'm undecided as to whether this is my favorite book in the series, but if it's not at the very top it's at least #2. And, favorite or not, The Grey King is my "home" book of the series. It's the one I always remember best, the one that gives me the clearest mental pictures, the one whose eerie vibe stays with me for the longest time.

I love Bran -- how normal he is (a boy with a dog he loves) and how unearthly (the Raven Boy, heir to the Pendragon throne) at the same time. Will, as always, is my favorite. It makes me really uncomfortable how powered down he is in this book compared to what I'm used to, but at the same time it raises the stakes. The Grey King reminds me of the Landrost from the Pellinor series. It's really creepy how the whole Light vs. Dark battle, in this book especially, takes a form that no layman would even notice as odd. Just an angry man and some dogs.

One thing I don't understand, though: why can't Will speak Welsh? At first I get it, because he has amnesia about being an Old One. Even after he remembers himself, though, he still can't understand when other people are speaking Welsh. Why? In Silver on the Tree he goes back in time to Roman Britain and speaks fluent Latin because all languages come naturally to the Old Ones... except Welsh? Is it a feature of the Welsh language itself? Is it a symptom of his sickness he still hadn't healed from? Is it some power of the Grey King? I'm so confused by this.