Category: Book Reviews

Book Reviews

The Chronicles of Narnia Review Part Two

floraj5604
As you can tell, this is obviously not a Narnian ship, because of the flags. It was the best I could find.

Hello everyone! I am so sorry that it took me so long to get this post out! I know I actually promised this post last week, but I was actually dog-sitting last week, so that took up most of my time.

Book Five: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

This was a pretty good book. I felt like it was a little long and tedious towards the middle, but other than that, it was just as good as the others.

The two youngest Pevensie children, Lucy and Edmund, are staying with their cousin Eustace Scrubb. All three children get drawn into Narnia, this time through a picture of a ship at sea. The children land in the ocean and are picked up by Prince Caspian and are taken aboard the ship, the Dawn Treader. Capsian explains that he wishes to find the seven lost Lords of Narnia: Argoz, Bern, Mavramorn, Octesian, Restimar, Revilian, and Rhoop (wow, those were fun to spell). They find Lord Bern on the Lone Islands. These islands had sadly fallen from Narnian ways and practiced slavery, which is against Narnian law. Caspian sets them on the right track again, and then they continue their journey. At the second island, Eustace runs away and finds a dragon’s cave filled with treasure. It turns out, the treasure is enchanted, so he falls asleep. When he wakes up, he discovers he is a dragon. With Aslan’s help, he is able to overcome his greed and turn back into a boy again. Caspian recognizes one of the bracelets that Eustace had picked up: it was Lord Octavian’s. They assume he either turned into a dragon as well, or he was killed by one. They narrowly escape a sea serpent, and next end up at Deathwater Island. They find a pool with what they think is a gold statue in the bottom. They find out that anything that falls into the pool turns into gold, and the man at the bottom is Lord Restimar. Next, they come to Duffers’ Island where Lucy helps remove an ivisibility spell. At the Dark Island, they rescue Lord Rhoop. Eventually, they find the island of the star, where they find the last three lords in an enchanted sleep. The fallen star who lives there, Ramandu, tells them that the only way to awaken them is to sail to the edge of the world and leave someone behind. Aslan appears and says that only Lucy, Edmund, Eustice, and Reepicheep will go the the edge of the world. Reepicheep goes into Aslan’s country, and Aslan sends the remaining three home.

Book Six: The Silver Chair

I didn’t really like this book as much I as did the previous one. It seemed to drag in the middle, and I guess I just didn’t find it as interesting.

Eustace meets Jill Pole, his new friend at his school. One day, when the school bullies are chasing them, they run straight into Narnia. Aslan tells them to find Prince Rilian, who had disappeared a few years before. He gives Jill four signs to follow, but they have already missed the first when they get to a great castle. They were supposed to greet King Caspian, who is now old and frail, and sailing away on a ship. Trumpkin takes them to their guide who will help them with their journey: Puddleglum. On their way to the land of the giants, the Lady of the Green Kirtle greets them and offers a place to stay. After staying for a few days, they find that they are the main dish for dinner, so they run away. While escaping, they fall down a long tunnel which leads to the Underland. They are found and taken to a young man who tells them that they are welcome in the city where the Lady of the Green Kirtle rules. The young man explains that every night he suffers from “ravings” where he must be tied to a silver chair, because if he is not, he will turn into a green serpent and kill everyone. They decide to watch because they feel that this might be Prince Rilian. When his “ravings” begin, he desperately begs to be let free. The children obey and he announces that he is Prince Rilian and the Lady of the Green Kirtle has been bewitching him. The Green Lady returns and tries to bewitch them all, but Puddlegum breaks the spell. The Green Lady turns into a serpent, they kill her, and then they help all her slaves escape. Aslan sends Eustace and Jill home.

Book Seven: The Last Battle

This was a pretty good book, although I didn’t really like the whole idea with the donkey and the ape.

An ape named Shift persuades a simple-minded donkey named Puzzle to dress in a lion’s skin and pretend to be Aslan. In doing this, Shift deceives everyone into serving the Calormenes and cutting down talking trees. Trinian, the latest king of Narnia is warned that evil things are happening. Trinian and his friend, Jewel the Unicorn, hear of the talking trees and go to confront them. They are captured, and Jill and Eustace soon appear to save him. Trianian and a small army approach and begin to fight. Long story short, they all get thrown into a shed. Inside the shed is Aslan’s country, or also known as Heaven. They watch Narnia die, and find that the place they are in is the real Narnia. And they all live happily ever after!

Wow, that took a while! Those were REALLY long books!

As I mentioned in my last post, this is my last post until I finish with school. I’ll be back sometime in June. I will still respond to emails or comments.

Thanks for reading! Happy writing!

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being thankful in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 4:2)

Book Reviews

The Chronicles of Narnia Review

floraj5604

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)