Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair (novel)

Camp NaNoWriMo starts on Wednesday. Depending on how well it goes, I may not be able to keep to the posting schedule. So this might be the last review until it's over.

The Silver Chair is the sixth novel of the Narnia series, but when it was published in 1953 it was the fourth book. It was adapted by the BBC in 1990. A film version is reportedly being made. (Don't hold your breath waiting for it.)

Like most of the books, the plot starts when people from our world find themselves in Narnia. Unlike the others, the Pevensies are nowhere to be seen. Instead the main characters are Eustace Scrubb, whose experience on the Dawn Treader has made him a much nicer boy, and Jill Pole, who's never appeared in earlier books.

As usual years have passed in Narnia. Caspian is now an old man, Trumpkin is mostly deaf and even more crabby than before, and Caspian's nameless wife is long dead. His son Rilian has mysteriously disappeared. So Aslan calls Jill and Eustace, gives Jill four signs she mustn't forget, and sends them to find Rilian. Their trip takes them to never-before-seen parts of Narnia, accompanied by a member of a never-before-seen species: Puddleglum, a wonderfully, well, glum Marsh-wiggle.

The book isn't quite as good as the earlier installments. When I first read it I was disappointed the Pevensies were barely even mentioned. The Marsh-wiggles are sadly underused. They're mentioned only in this book (The Last Battle doesn't count), and Puddleglum is the only one who ever actually appears. C. S. Lewis had a habit of creating fascinating parts of Narnia's world and then never elaborating on them. (The same thing happened with the winged horses way back in The Magician's Nephew.)

But it has enough good points for it to be my third-favourite book. It gives a glimpse of how large the world of Narnia really is; something that's easy to forget when Narnia itself is usually the focus of the stories. And Puddleglum is one of my favourite characters in the whole series. His delightfully gloomy comments are always good for a laugh 😆

Is it available online?: Not as far as I know.

Rating: 7/10.

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (novel)

Like The Horse and His Boy, this book doesn't follow the usual plot of a Narnia book. In fact, it doesn't really have a plot at all.

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.

Review: Prince Caspian (novel)

Of the Chronicles of Narnia books, this is probably the only one I don't feel very strongly about, one way or the other.

I admit, I chose this cover only because it has Reepicheep on it 😊

Prince Caspian is both the fourth and the second installment of the Narnia series. It was published second, but it's chronologically fourth. It was first published in 1951. It's been adapted into a miniseries, a film, and a stage adaptation.

A year has passed since their first trip to Narnia when the Pevensies are called back to it. They find far longer has passed in Narnia. Several hundred years, in fact. Narnia is now ruled by the Telmarines. King Miraz tries to have his nephew Prince Caspian killed, but Caspian escapes and -- with the help of a group of Narnians and the Pevensies -- fights to overthrow his uncle.

The main problem with the book is that the circumstances leading up to Caspian's escape are narrated by Trumpkin after they happened. The Pevensies are left sitting in Cair Paravel while we get an extended flashback to why they're in Narnia, which confused me endlessly when I was trying to figure out what was happening when. Maybe I shouldn't have bothered trying to work out a timeline when Narnia's time is nothing like ours. It only leads to headaches.

I cheered when Lucy and Susan meet Aslan, but what happened afterwards left me scratching my head. What on earth was the point of characters from Greek Mythology suddenly appearing in Narnia? And why are they having a party when there's a literal battle raging a short distance away? 😕

Miraz's death is a real anti-climax. I expected him to die in battle with Peter. Instead he's betrayed and murdered by his own lords. But at least the walking trees coming to the rescue was awesome!

By far my favourite thing about this book is Reepicheep. In the words of film!Lucy (and at the risk of offending him), "Oh my gosh, he's so cute!" 😄 I don't even like mice, but Reepicheep is absolutely adorable. He's also the source of most of the book's humour, like when Dr. Cornelius wondered if he was a grasshopper 😆

The book has its flaws, but I enjoy it anyway. And it's certainly better than its film adaptation, which is... disappointing.

Is it available online?: I don't think so.

Rating: 7/10.

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (novel)

Not only am I posting reviews of the Narnia books at very irregular intervals, I'm reviewing them out of order. Oh well, at least it isn't essential to read them all in order.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the first-written and best-known of the Narnia series, though chronologically it's the second book. It was published in 1950 and has since been adapted into two TV series, an animated film, at least one radio version, and a live-action film.

I'm pretty sure everyone knows the plot. Wardrobe leads to a magical land, Lucy meets a faun, there's an evil witch, etc. But just knowing the plot is nothing compared to the magic of reading the book and following Lucy into Narnia for the first time. Knowing there's an evil witch doesn't make it any less frightening when she turns people to stone. And just knowing there's a talking lion is nowhere near as awe-inspiring as Aslan's first appearance.

I read the entire Narnia series multiple times as a child, and I still read them now I'm (supposedly!) an adult. No matter how many times I go back to this book, it never loses any of its magic. From Lucy's amazement at the forest in the wardrobe, to Lucy and Susan crying beside Aslan's body, to Aslan's resurrection, the Witch's defeat, and the children's coronation, this book manages to draw the reader in to experience everything along with the characters. Not many children's books can do that with such skill. I think that's why the Narnia books are still so popular. Many books try to fulfill the reader's wish to see another world. But few of them manage to do it as well as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Especially interesting is how the book portrays Edmund's change from a bratty bully, to a (not entirely willing) traitor, to a hero and a king. Never mind children's books; very few books aimed at teenagers or adults manage to show such convincing character development. Or such overall excellent writing.

Is it available online?: Not as far as I know.

Rating: 10/10.

Review: The Magician's Nephew (novel)

Some stories are in the odd position of being written as prequels but making more sense as sequels. This is one of them.

The Magician's Nephew was published in 1955. Chronologically it's the first of the Narnia books, but it was the second-written and sixth-published.

The story begins when Digory and Polly decide to explore an abandoned house, and accidentally end up in Digory's uncle's study instead. Uncle Andrew is a magician who's been trying to find a way to another world, and he tricks Polly into going there. Digory follows her. They end up waking Jadis (who you might know better as the White Witch), accidentally bringing her back to London, and then dragging her, and Uncle Andrew, and a cab-driver and his horse, into a different world. They arrive in what seems to be nothingness, but then someone starts singing...

The Magician's Nephew is basically Narnia's equivalent of the Book of Genesis. It shows how Aslan creates a world from nothing, how evil enters the world, and how Aslan prepares to destroy that evil. But at the same time it's a great fantasy novel in its own right, with many memorable moments. The White Witch's arrival in London, and the chaos she causes, is probably the only time a scene involving her is amusing 😄

Digory's confrontation with the Witch in the garden is one of my favourite scenes in the whole series. A close second is Uncle Andrew's... ahem... "gardening adventures" 😏😆 Am I the only one who wanted to see the animals keep him as their pet?

The idea of the Wood Between the Worlds is a fascinating one, and I wish C. S. Lewis had revisited it in other books. The children's trip to Charn, and its utter emptiness, is the eeriest scene in the book. And then there's the hilarity of the Witch's trip to London, and the explanation of how a lamppost came to be in Narnia. And, of course, Aslan giving Digory a cure for his mother (which is a downright tragic scene when you consider the real-life inspiration for it).

I read this book after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, so I understood all the references and in-jokes to the rest of the series. There are so many references, though, that if you start the series with this book you'll miss out on an awful lot.

Is it available online?: I don't think so.

Rating: 10/10.

Review: The Last Battle (novel)

Why, C. S. Lewis? Why did you choose to end your masterpiece with... this?

The Last Battle, as its name implies, is the last installment in The Chronicles of Narnia. Many fans of the series like to pretend it doesn't exist. I must admit I'm one of them. It was published in 1956. So far it hasn't been adapted to the screen.

The story starts with an Ape and a Donkey finding a lion-skin. The Ape immediately decides to dress the Donkey up in the lion-skin and pretend he's Aslan. This hare-brained scheme actually works. (Apparently Narnians' intelligence and eyesight has worsened since The Silver Chair.) And it sets in motion a chain of events that lead to Narnia's destruction.

On paper the plot doesn't sound too bad. Except for the Donkey-in-lion's-clothing bit, but that's acknowledged in the book to be unconvincing. But in practice, it just falls flat. And the fact it ends with the Pevensies dying and Narnia being destroyed drives me mad. Why, C. S. Lewis? If you didn't want to write any more Narnia books, you should have just stopped with The Silver Chair!

The first time I read the book, I kept waiting for Aslan to arrive and turn the tables on the bad guys. But things kept getting worse and worse, and only get better after the heroes die. Years ago I tried reading the first half of the book, then stopping and imagining my own ending. (I used to do this for books like Charlotte's Web and A Tale of Two Cities -- and of course The Last Battle.) But it didn't work, and I always knew that no matter what I imagined Narnia was still destroyed. Very disappointing 😞

This book is best described as "an underwhelming end to a great series".

Is it available online?: I don't think so.

Rating: 4/10.

Review: The Horse and His Boy (novel)

This review is a day late thanks to real life getting in the way, but better late than never!

People who know me in real life can confirm that I love to read. My favourite book tends to change depending on what I'm reading at the minute. But among my absolute favourite books are The Chronicles of Narnia. And out of them, The Horse and His Boy is the one I like most. Yes, even more than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (Sorry, LWW fans! *dodges things thrown at me*)

The Horse and His Boy is chronologically the third Narnia novel, but the fifth book to be published. (This causes endless confusion when attempting to decide what order the books are meant to be placed in.) It was published in 1954. Unlike the other books in the series, its plot doesn't revolve around children from our world finding their way into Narnia.

The story begins with Shasta, the adopted son of a Calormene fisherman, learning that his "father" plans to sell him as a slave. So he escapes with Bree, a Talking Horse, and they set out for Narnia. Along the way they meet Aravis, a runaway aristocrat, and Hwin, another Talking Horse; encounter Edmund, Susan and Lucy (now adults and King and Queens of Narnia); learn that the Tisroc intends to attack Archenland; and Shasta learns his true identity and how much Aslan has been looking out for him.

One of the things I like so much about HHB (easier to shorten it to that instead of writing out the full title) is that it takes place entirely in Narnia (the world, not the country). No wardrobes, magic rings or paintings are needed to get the main characters into that world. It gives the reader a glimpse into a part of the Narnia-world that's only mentioned in passing in other books.

Another thing I love is the scene where Shasta meets Aslan. Picture this: Shasta is riding along a cliff in the middle of the night, in a fog, when he realises someone is walking beside him. Then he and the person have a conversation, where Shasta bemoans his fate and grumbles about how unlucky he is. The person corrects him, and shows him how everything he thought was a misfortune has been carefully arranged for his good. Then the sun rises and the mist vanishes, and Shasta sees Aslan in all his glory. What a wonderful scene! 😄

There are exciting moments (the race to reach King Lune before the Calormenes) and funny moments (Rabadash getting caught on a hook). And overall the story is just as thrilling as The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Is it available online?: I don't think so. But you can find it in most bookshops and libraries!

Rating: 10/10.