If what gripped you was how Manawydan unravels the curse over Dyved and bargains with Llwyd after the mouse trial, you’ll love how The Book of Three reimagines that same Welsh mythic bedrock into a fresh quest. Prince Gwydion, Arawn of Annuvin, and other Mabinogion echoes give you the same ancient resonance you felt when Rhiannon and Pryderi vanished into otherworldly snares—only here you’ll follow Taran, Eilonwy, and Gurgi through a bright, perilous Prydain that speaks the language of those older tales.

The way Walton treats magic—Rhiannon and Pryderi caught by an uncanny golden vessel, and Manawydan freeing them through canny negotiation rather than spellcraft—mirrors the dream-logic of Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter. If you loved how the curse on Dyved felt old as starlight and governed by promises and pride, this tale of a mortal realm breaching Elfland’s borders will give you that same wondrous, almost-lawless magic where words bind tighter than wands.

If Walton’s lush sentences and grave music—like the mouse-justice scene spiraling into revelation—are what stayed with you, McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld will feel like coming home. Its language shimmers with the same timeless cadence, and, as with Rhiannon’s hard-won dignity, the story centers a powerful woman navigating vows, names, and the costs of power in a way that reads like spellwork made of prose.

Much of The Song of Rhiannon is close-to-the-hearth—Manawydan and Cigfa scraping by as craftsmen, the fields of Dyved gone silent, a single mouse changing everything. Thomas the Rhymer keeps that same nearness: a handful of voices tell of a mortal taken into Elfland and the quiet aftershocks when he returns. If you loved the hush of emptied Dyved and the personal stakes of freeing Rhiannon and Pryderi, this gentle, haunting ballad will resonate.

Walton’s tale hinges on ethics as much as enchantment—Manawydan refuses easy vengeance, bargains honorably with Llwyd, and restores what was wronged. In A Wizard of Earthsea, Ged learns that names and pride carry consequences, and that true mastery is restraint and balance. If the justice and measured mercy that freed Rhiannon and Pryderi spoke to you, Ged’s hard-earned wisdom will, too.