The Chronicles of Narnia Review

Hello, everyone! Sorry for the long wait! Thank you for your patience!

Today, I’m going to give my review on the book series by C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia. I know it has been several months since I promised this post, and I apologize. I suppose I just never got around to it. (WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!)

For each book, I will list my favorite part, what I liked, what I didn’t like, and give a quick summary.

Book One: The Magician’s Nephew

I think this was my second favorite book. I loved this book, from cover to cover. I think it was one of the best ones in the series. My favorite part was when Narnia was being created. There is such beautiful imagery, and I love the way it parallels to when God created our world. To be honest, I liked everything about this book. Not any dislikes, except for Digory’s uncle. I really just didn’t like him.

The book starts off with Digory and Polly meeting each other. They become friends, and soon Polly shows him the secret tunnel in her attic that connects all the houses on their street. They end up trying to get inside a house that they know is abandoned, but they end up in Digory’s attic instead. They find their Digory’s uncle and he offers Polly a ring. Polly accepts and as soon as her hand touches the ring, she vanishes. After Digory’s uncle gives a long explanation of what happened, Digory grabs a ring to go and save Polly. Once Digory finds her, they end up deciding to explore a bit. They find another world with an evil queen who woke up at the sound of the bell. They try to get back to their own world without her, but she follows them and starts to take over Earth. Digory and Polly use the rings to try to take her back to her world, but they end up in Narnia. Aslan, the lion who created the world lets them go home, but the witch ran away.

Book Two: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

This was probably my favorite book. My favorite part was when all of the children meet Aslan. It reminds me of when we will meet God, in heaven. Some of us He will smile upon, and some of us He will be disappointed in. I didn’t necessarily have any parts that I disliked.

In the beginning, Edmund, Susan, Peter, and Lucy Pevensie are going to go live with Professor Kirk in the countryside. Since this book is set during World War Two, their mother has sent them away from London to escape the bombing. Lucy, the youngest of the four, discovers a wardrobe. Inside the wardrobe, she finds Narnia. She tries to tell the others about her adventure, but they don’t believe her. Finally, they all go into the wardrobe and find Narnia. They try to find Mr. Tumnus, Lucy’s friend she had met in Narnia before, but he is gone. Edmund runs away to find the White Witch and the others are set on a journey to find him. Aslan sacrifices himself so Edmund won’t have to die at the hand of the White Witch. Aslan comes back to life and arrives at the battle between good and evil just in time to save Edmund. Aslan kills the witch, and the battle is won.

Book Three: The Horse and His Boy

This was probably my least favorite book. I didn’t find it as interesting as the first two, and I was disappointed that the four Pevensie children only show up briefly. My favorite part was probably when the two boys find out they are brothers.

Shasta is raised by Arsheesh, whom Shasta believes to be his father. When the boy learns that Arsheesh is planning to sell him, he and Bree, the talking horse, decided to run away. On their journey to Narnia, they meet Aravis, a young Calormene aristocrat, and Hwin, another talking horse. They decide to travel together, and when they begin their travel through the capital of Tashbaan, trouble begins. Shasta is captured because Narnian visitors mistake him for Corin, the prince or Archenland. Shasta overhears their plans to escape a forced wedding between Queen Susan and Rabadash. Shasta escapes when the real Prince Corin returns. Shasta warns Archenland and Narnia of the approaching Calormenes. Shasta finds out he is really the brother of Prince Corin, and they all live happily ever after.

Book Four: Prince Caspian

This was my third favorite book. My favorite part was at the very beginning when the four Pevensies find they are back in Narnia once again.

While waiting for their train on a British railway station, Edmund, Lucy, Susan, and Peter are whisked off to Narnia close to a ruined castle. They discover the castle used to be their castle during their previous visit to Narnia. Although only a year has passed on Earth, over a thousand years have passed in Narnia. The children rescue Trumpkin, a dwarf, from several soldiers who were trying to drown him. Trumpkin reveals the trouble in Narnia: Telmarines have invaded Narnia. When Miraz killed his brother, the king of Narnia, he became king. Miraz’s nephew is Caspian, whom Miraz tries to kill when his wife becomes pregnant. Caspian fled and was rescued by several dwarves who wanted him to help them gather an army to fight the Telmarines. Meanwhile, Trumpkin and the Pevensies arrive to help. Once the Narnians have won, Aslan appears and he takes the children home.

That’s it for today. I’ll continue this review next week. If you haven’t noticed, I have had some trouble getting my posts out every Thursday. I apologize for this. This is mostly due to school work and other things that are just making my life busy. After next week’s post, I will be taking a break from my blog. I will probably start back sometime in June, after school is out. I will definitely have more time then. Thank you for understanding.

Thanks for reading! Happy writing!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)