Lost in a Good Book

Published: March 5th 2002 (originally 7 September 1953)
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 257
Format: Book
Genre: Junior Fiction/ Fantasy
★   ★   ★   ★   ★  – 5 Stars

The Silver Chair brings the return of Eustace, cousin and former brat of The Dawn Treader adventures. The story begins with Eustace returning to school after the holidays when his cousins Lucy and Edmund visited, and after his transformation in Narnia. This story also introduces a new character in Jill Pole;  their relationship between the pair isn’t one of great admiration and fleeing from bullies is what gets their adventure going. Ah Jill Pole, the annoying and useless hero of Narnia. I apologise Jill, you were not that bad and you recovered well, but you did cause some strife.  Dear Jill is suddenly and surprisingly thrown into the world of Narnia with Eustace as Narnia calls to help them, or get help from them, we are yet to find out.

There is mystery and intrigue from the get go in Narnia. Despite being an adventure story Lewis manages to create a lot of questions and intrigue in seemingly simple storylines. Aslan appears early on, and it was interesting to see how he treats the non cherished children. I do enjoy The Silver Chair as a story, the new characters are a great change from the usual bunch, and now we have popped off the last of the famous four we get to explore more of Narnia. Eustace is a lot more bearable after his last adventure, and Jill is alright, but throwing her into this world where she is demanded of so much is a bad mix. Watching her fail at every turn is a tad annoying, I always got annoyed at her, but you can see how she faults and so you do understand which is almost more annoying.

I think the new settings and people makes this a high favourite. More of Narnia is explored and it shows that lives exist away from the drama of previous books. Time has also moved a lot faster than in the real world and so the world has changed once again, creating new issues problems and a new history to learn. One of the new characters Puddleglum is by far a favourite character of mine; his cynicism and glumness is always a joy, and he is very matter of fact when you look past the despair he always seems to feel.

It is not only new characters as The Silver Chair brings a few old faces again as the story connects more with Prince Caspian than to The Dawn Treader. Aslan’s appearances seem more aggressive than in previous books, though that too is understandable considering what happens. What I always enjoyed about this story was the magic involved; it is a different magic than that in previous books. We see the darker side and the evil and beauty other magic holds; similar to that in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but a little bit different again. The plot aides this magic well, but alone the story developed is actually quite interesting and engaging. Outside of the rest of the series and continual adventures it stands on its own fairly well. It was good not to rehash every bit of the past and just take the necessary components, something that some of the previous books over indulged in. Another advantage of removing yourself from the legend and past of the Four Kings and Queens of Narnia.

With these later books being a little less continual you can say it kind of follows on, but the events of Dawn Treader are not in vain, it all comes together in the slightest ways. Characters and stories do still reappear and bring the world of Narnia completely together on the page. No good will come from reading this series in a random order, there is not enough recap to allow that, but by changing the order depending on editions it forces you to chose. Pick a version, whether original or chronological, and stick with it. It is always easier to read things in the given order (which ever order you choose) as it avoids confusion, and especially as the series comes to a close it is more important than before.

Published: March 5th 2002 (originally 15 September 1952)
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Pages: 272
Format: Book
Genre: Junior Fiction/ Fantasy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Stars

A voyage to the very ends of the world. 

Narnia… where a dragon awakens… where stars walk the earth… where anything can happen. A king and some unexpected companions embark on a voyage that will take them beyond all known lands. As they sail father and farther from charted waters, they discover that their quest is more than they imagined and that the world’s end is only the beginning.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third published but chronological fifth book in the Narnia series and yet another I rather liked. The way Lewis has created this world and these stories is so elegant and magical that you do forget his shortcomings if you find them and get carried off in the narrative.

Following the events of the previous story we are introduced to cousin Eustace and his horrid and bratty ways. This is the first book without Peter or Susan, Peter is studying and Susan is travelling in America. The story begins with Lucy and Edmund arriving at their cousin’s house to stay for the holidays. Given that Lucy and Edmund have been king and queen of an ancient land they really do put up with a lot from their cousin. Lewis manages to capture his personality
well and you do get a sense of his intolerance and spoilt nature. When the inevitable call from Narnia comes the three travellers find themselves onboard the ships of Caspian, now the king of Narnia. Three years has passed in the Narnian world and Caspian and his crew are sailing the seas and distant Narnian lands looking for the seven lost Lords; a quest for his coronation. Despite being in the land, Eustace still refuses to accept the stories his cousins told him are true and makes the entire journey tedious for all involved.

This book follows Caspian as he searches the lands for the missing Lords and in doing so the visiting trio get swept up in the adventures. Lucy and Edmund are older now so they also act and carry themselves as more grown up, added their royal position and the effect Narnia has on them only makes them more likeable in this book. There are a lot of new faces; I especially like Reepicheep, simply because despite him being a mouse he is a tough fighter and doesn’t take any of Eustace’s nonsense. Though I will say Eustace does not remain as intolerable for long and he redeems himself. Aside from the characters, the lands the ship visits, and the adventures and situations the crew find themselves in are quite wonderful; they are beautifully dangerous, magical, mysterious, and enchanting all at once. There is magic, dragons, slavery, mysterious mist, sand footprints, all you could ever want in an adventure!

I did like the dragon inclusion in this novel. When I was younger I used to think dragons were real; I thought they were like dinosaurs in that they existed a long time ago and were now extinct. I was quite happy to believe this until I realised the truth; and I’m a little sorry to say it was a real disappointment, one of those ‘feel it in your chest’ disappointments. And so I must now get my dragon delights through literature.

I do not want to ruin the story by giving anything away but there were some issues I found, nothing to affect my overall opinion just a few small details that caught my eye. I will admit I did not understand the ending completely until the film came out, but I understood enough. It was the third time I had the sense Lewis was trying to push religion on his readers through the story. This was blatantly obvious in the film, but I was glad the book had some restraint about it. As per usual Aslan does make an appearance, though not for long, instead he is more of an ideal at first, similar to that in Prince Caspian or A Horse and His Boy.

Having come so far changes are inevitable, especially since we are now privy to these Narnian rules, however unexplained they may be. I think by reading the other non-Pevensie focused books you do not miss the absent Pevensie’s as much, nor mind new characters being brought in because you have been exposed to others and different stories. I think if we had nothing but the four siblings then having them gradually be removed would be strange, almost like recasting to keep a series going. As the series is coming to an end you really have to keep going till the end, and now with new faces being introduced there is a chance of different styles of adventures.

Published: March 5th 2002 (originally 15 October 1951)
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Pages: 240
Format: Book
Genre: Junior Fiction/ Fantasy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Stars

A prince fights for his crown
Narnia…where animals talk…where trees walk…where a battle is about to begin.
A prince denied his rightful throne gathers an army in a desperate attempt to rid his land of a false king. But in the end, it is a battle of honor between two men alone that will decide the fate of an entire world.

Do you know why this is one of my favourite in the series? Because they finally acknowledge what happens when the four beloved kings and queen of Narnia, that have been sought after for one hundred years and who saved Narnia from eternal winter, when they disappear people took notice! For years before I actually read this book it annoyed me to no end that nobody seemed to mention they had vanished from Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe, and the children themselves seemed to brush it off. They ruled for years and people would miss them! Thank you for finally mentioning it Prince Caspian even if it was only briefly.

We meet again these four children who are waiting at a train station. They are planning to go back to school when a distant horn attracts their attention. The four then feel themselves being dragged against their will and they are magically transported to a mystery beach near an old ruined castle. It is not long before the four realise they are back in Narnia, however their return to Narnia demonstrates to readers that time passes differently in Narnia and that one year on Earth has actually been hundreds of years in Narnia.

As they begin to explore and find the reason for why they were summoned they find a dwarf who tells them what has happened since their disappearance. Narnia has been invaded and divided by Telmarines while the rightful king is oppressed. The Pevensies children are soon embroiled in the issues of the new Narnia and try and help Prince Caspian gain back his thrown and restore the Narnia they once knew.

Aslan makes his usual appearance in cryptic and unclear ways, and old foes threaten to appear to fight in the coming war. The conflict and efforts to get Narnia back to the glory says is a great read really. Though there is nothing more than the fight to get Caspian onto the thrown, the politics and sneakiness of those involved does make an interesting read as always. Lewis manages to make these battles and political brawls engaging to readers in non technical and not overly descriptive and violent ways.

The story is suited for all readers, children do and have enjoyed this book, and adults love it as well. There is certainly a lot more being able to be read into these books the older you get and I think this is a great reason for a reread. As much as it is an enjoyable, lovely, familiar story, there are greater discoveries and meanings to be found. There doesn’t have to be a meaning in everything of course, and I certainly don’t want there to be hidden meaning in everything because it can ruin simple stories. However knowing Lewis’ style he likes to add meaning and hide things in layers through his story that are revealed each time you read and that can be discovered the older you get.

The ending offers a surprise that was initially unexpected, and rather not explained, simply yet another thing we must accept from Lewis. There is also no cliff hanger or anything that gives you incentive to continue unless you wish to see what other adventures there are. This is not a bad thing, it is a series with different adventures that connect and revolve around the same group of people. You just keep going through the series and see what happens. There is a chronology (let’s not get into the issues again but there is), so you do have a desire to see what happens next in the plot, and now we know time goes differently and that there are apparently rules you are curious to see the changes that might happen in the next book. I think if you are starting a series you do have to read the complete set because you really cannot gain a full understanding of the story if you don’t.