The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third-published book in the Chronicles of Narnia, but chronologically it's the fifth. It was published in 1952. It's been adapted into a miniseries, a film, at least two musicals, and several audiobooks.
It takes place shortly after Prince Caspian. Unusually, not much time has passed for either the Pevensies or the Narnians. Caspian is still king and has set out on a voyage in the Dawn Treader to find seven missing lords. Edmund and Lucy -- and their odious cousin Eustace Clarence Scrubb, who almost deserves his name -- fall into Narnia through a painting. They have a series of adventures with Caspian as the Dawn Treader travels to different islands. Along the way Eustace makes a nuisance of himself, until an encounter with treasure leaves him completely changed -- in more ways than one.
This book is virtually nothing like the rest of the series. There's no villain to defeat. Unless you count the pirates, the sea serpent, the island of dreams, and so on, but those are more obstacles than real villains. Aslan barely appears in the story. Peter and Susan are nowhere to be seen. None of the story takes place in Narnia itself. And it doesn't have a plot as such. It just describes the different islands the Dawn Treader visits and the adventures its crew have there. Some of those adventures are light-hearted, like the meeting with the Dufflepuds. Others are more serious, like Dragon Island and Deathwater Island.
A book without a plot all-too-easily becomes a meandering mess. Luckily this book avoids that trap. It may not be just as exciting as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but it's enjoyable to read and gives the reader a glimpse into just how vast the world of Narnia is. I was amused to discover that Narnia is literally a flat world, and you can actually sail to the end of it. The idea that Narnian stars are people is a fascinating one, and I wish C. S. Lewis had written more about them. But my favourite part of the book is Eustace's redemption.
He starts out almost as bad as Edmund in LWW. If there's something to be grumbled about, you can be sure Eustace will do enough grumbling for the entire crew. He spends half the book as a selfish, utterly self-absorbed little pest who makes you long to box his ears. But then, like Edmund, his actions cause him much misery and the experience leaves him a much better person.
The book's ending is one of the most depressing in the series, when Edmund and Lucy are told they can't return to Narnia. I was not happy with this when I first read it. "Seriously? First Peter and Susan, now Edmund and Lucy?!" I understand why Lewis chose to end it like this, but it's still sad 😢
This is probably the lightest book in the series, and it doesn't require much knowledge of the previous novels. Is it the best Narnia book? No. But it's certainly not the worst.
Is it available online?: I doubt it.
Rating: 7/10.
It takes place shortly after Prince Caspian. Unusually, not much time has passed for either the Pevensies or the Narnians. Caspian is still king and has set out on a voyage in the Dawn Treader to find seven missing lords. Edmund and Lucy -- and their odious cousin Eustace Clarence Scrubb, who almost deserves his name -- fall into Narnia through a painting. They have a series of adventures with Caspian as the Dawn Treader travels to different islands. Along the way Eustace makes a nuisance of himself, until an encounter with treasure leaves him completely changed -- in more ways than one.
This book is virtually nothing like the rest of the series. There's no villain to defeat. Unless you count the pirates, the sea serpent, the island of dreams, and so on, but those are more obstacles than real villains. Aslan barely appears in the story. Peter and Susan are nowhere to be seen. None of the story takes place in Narnia itself. And it doesn't have a plot as such. It just describes the different islands the Dawn Treader visits and the adventures its crew have there. Some of those adventures are light-hearted, like the meeting with the Dufflepuds. Others are more serious, like Dragon Island and Deathwater Island.
A book without a plot all-too-easily becomes a meandering mess. Luckily this book avoids that trap. It may not be just as exciting as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but it's enjoyable to read and gives the reader a glimpse into just how vast the world of Narnia is. I was amused to discover that Narnia is literally a flat world, and you can actually sail to the end of it. The idea that Narnian stars are people is a fascinating one, and I wish C. S. Lewis had written more about them. But my favourite part of the book is Eustace's redemption.
He starts out almost as bad as Edmund in LWW. If there's something to be grumbled about, you can be sure Eustace will do enough grumbling for the entire crew. He spends half the book as a selfish, utterly self-absorbed little pest who makes you long to box his ears. But then, like Edmund, his actions cause him much misery and the experience leaves him a much better person.
The book's ending is one of the most depressing in the series, when Edmund and Lucy are told they can't return to Narnia. I was not happy with this when I first read it. "Seriously? First Peter and Susan, now Edmund and Lucy?!" I understand why Lewis chose to end it like this, but it's still sad 😢
This is probably the lightest book in the series, and it doesn't require much knowledge of the previous novels. Is it the best Narnia book? No. But it's certainly not the worst.
Is it available online?: I doubt it.
Rating: 7/10.
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