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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2010 16:55:02 GMT
I've just finished reading the first book in the series The Magician's Nephew and here is my review of it.
PLOT: Two children Diggory Kirke and Polly Plumber are sent to an area that is essentially a portal to other worlds by Diggory's mad uncle Andrew (who considers himself a magician). There, they enter the world of Charn and awaken the evil Queen Jadis. They accidently take her back to their own world (specifically London in the early 1900's) where she causes havoc. The two children then take her back the Wood between the World's (the portal area they visited earlier) along with Uncle Andrew and a London cabbie and then go into Narnia. Upon setting foot in the world Aslan comes along and creates it (it was previously a barren inhospitable wasteland). After creating Narnia Aslan makes the cabbie the first King of Narnia and his wife his Queen before sending the others back to their own world except Jadis who has ran off into Narnia.
THOUGHTS: Although this book is supposed to be the first story in the Chronicles of Narnia it shouldn't actually be read before The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. This is because several unanswered questions from TL,TW & TW are answered here but in such a way that the writer expects you to have already read TL, TW & TW. The book is also written from a storyteller's perspective and parts of it read as if you (the reader) are a child and you're being told the story by somebody else - somebody in fact (judging by parts of the book) have personally known the characters featured in the book at some point in the past.
TIMELINE: In the Narnian timeline the events in this book mark the creation of Narnia while on Earth the timeline is set in the early 1900's about fifty years before the events of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
CHARACTERS: Diggory Kirke grows up to become Professor Kirke in the other Narnian books and his trip into Narnia would explain why he believed Lucy Pevensie's tales of Narnia through the Wardrobe many years later. Polly Plumber doesn't turn up again in the books until the final one in the series The Last Battle where she is a woman in her sixties. Jadis becomes the White Witch in the follow up story The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
RATING: Not quite as good as the most famous Narnia story of all time but still a good read. The creation of Narnia section is excellently written but the following chapters that feature seemingly endless conversations with the animals falls quite flat. This is why I have given it a 4/5.
Next I will be re-reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and be subsequently giving my opinions to that one.
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Post by Bogatan on Mar 5, 2010 23:01:06 GMT
I'm not sure if I've read it. When I listened to the audio book/ radio play I recognised the story though. Has there been a tv version of this one?
I found it a little odd to be honest, but yeah the creating Narnia bit was neat.
Andy
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2010 12:07:25 GMT
A TV series was never made of the book but I expect Disney to do an adaptation of it after they have done their next Narnia film The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It isn't actually the oddest book though. The Horse and his Boy is actually the oddest. That book isn't actually set in Narnia but rather one of its neighboring countries and stars a talking horse and his young owner. This book actually has the most religious undertones in it out of all of the Narnian books and even Aslan seems to have shoe-horned into the story at a late stage just to make it a Narnia book. Anyway, I'll get around to reviewing that book a little later.
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Post by blueshift on Mar 6, 2010 12:24:43 GMT
The Horse and his Boy is probably my least favourite of all the Narnia books.
This thread has inspired me to break out my BBC Narnia boxset though!
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Post by jameso on Mar 6, 2010 13:25:00 GMT
I had a pub quiz the other day and the last round was on Narnia, we only got 8 out 15, bit of an awkward round. I keep trying to watch the Prince Caspian movie, but I can't get into, and could never get into the book. I always liked Voyage of the Dawn Treader though, so looking forward to the movie.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2010 13:30:04 GMT
The Horse and his Boy is probably my least favourite of all the Narnia books. Same here. It just doesn't feel like a Narnia book and reads like it was written as some other book but altered slightly to make it a Narnia book in much the same way as the third Hitchhikers book was originally an unused Dr. Who story but was changed at a late stage.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2010 14:04:38 GMT
I've now finished reading C S Lewis' most well known work - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and here is my review of it.
PLOT: Lucy Pevensie finds a hidden door into the world of Narnia through an old wardrobe and befriends a young fawn named Mr Tumnus. She then goes back to her own world and tells her other siblings Edmund, Susan and Peter. They just think that she is making up a fairytale and just play along with her. Edmund then follows his sister into Narnia and befriends the White Witch before all four find themselves in the magical world. After a few minor adventures they kill the White Witch and sit on the four thrones at Cair Paravel to become the four kings and queens of Narnia. After about fifteen years as kings and queens they return to their own world back through the wardrobe and find they have been returned to their child forms and to the exact time when they originally left their own world.
THOUGHTS: This is by far the best of all of the Narnia books and several chapters are excellently written and described. The narrative storytelling is still present in the book (the book reads like it is being read to you by an adult) but it is far less intrusive than The Magicians Nephew. The odd thing about the world of Narnia is that several Earthen elements exist within it. The Beavers have a sewing machine and other inventions that are associated with Earth and also Father Christmas takes on the appearance of the Father Christmas as created by Coca Cola in the 1940's. These problems aside the book is well worth a read.
TIMELINE: The book takes place circa 1950 (at around the time the book was written) on Earth while in Narnia they are in a part of the country's history that is about 500 years down the line from the Narnia in The Magicians Nephew.
CHARACTERS: The four Pevensie children turn up again as a quartet in the book Prince Caspian (which was written after this one) while just Lucy and Edmund turn up in that books sequel The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. All of the Pevensie's bar Susan also turn up in The Last Battle. Jadis - The White Witch originally turned up in The Magicians Nephew. The adult versions of the Pevensie's make brief cameo appearances in The Horse and his Boy.
TV & FILM ADAPTATIONS: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe was first adapted for TV in the late 1960's but it is the 1988 BBC TV adaptation that is the most fondly remembered. This version virtually adapted the book word for word (some the dialogue from the book even appears in the programme) and only about two minor scenes from the book are omitted for this TV adaption. The same however can't be said about the recent Disney adaptation. Most of the book was condensed by Disney within the first half hour of the film and the rest of the movie was filled with newly written content that took advantage of CGI. The final battle at the end of the film goes on for far too long presumably because the CGI animators wanted to show off their skills. I watched this movie once but I won't be watching it again.
RATING: An excellent story that kids over the past fifty or so years have heard of. Either they have read it themselves at some point or have had it read to them. C S Lewis wrote several books in his lifetime but its this one that he most associated with. An easy 5/5.
Next I will be re-reading the third book in the series The Horse and his Boy. A book that isn't quite as good as the others.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2010 18:53:20 GMT
I've finally got around to finishing the Horse and his Boy and this is my review of it.
PLOT: Shasta - an adopted son of a fisherman meets up with a talking horse called Bree and they decide to travel to Bree's homeland of Narnia, going through a desert and Calormen and Archenland. Very early on in the journey they meet up with a young girl called Aravis and her talking horse Hwin. After a lengthy stay in the city of Tashbaan they uncover a plot by that city's prince Prince Rabadash to attack Archenland and Narnia. Quickly, the four travelers head to Archenland, warn King Lune and beat the attacking Calormen. Shasta then discovers that he is in fact Prince Cor - King Lune's son and heir to the Archenland throne. Many years later Prince Cor and Aravis get married and become king and queen of Archenland.
THOUGHTS: The main problem with the story is the pace. The story is only fifteen chapters long and the first three chapters go at an average pace before we get a full five chapters where the protagonists are stuck in Tashbaan. These chapters make for very slow reading before finally the journey continues at a slightly interesting pace. Suddenly though, the author decides to drop Bree, Hwin and Aravis from the story after chapter ten (they also made very few appearances in the Tashbaan chapters) so that Shasta's travels into Archenland and Narnia can be fleshed out. Enter Aslan who makes his first speaking appearance in chapter eleven before disappearing again in the very same chapter followed by several Narnians. Bree, Hwin and Aravis are written back in the final two chapters and the battle is quickly glossed over. Altogether the story is a mess. It starts off at an average pace then slows down to a painful crawl before picking up pace dramatically when C.S Lewis realises that he is running out of chapters.
TIMELINE: The entire story is set in the surrounding lands of Narnia - namely Calormen and Archenland (Narnia actually only gets one or two very brief mentions) and is set during the adult reign of the Pevensie children in Narnia. Indeed, the reason why Rabadash decides to lay an attack on Narnia and Archenland is because Queen Susan refuses to marry him.
CHARACTERS: Talking horses Bree (who comes over quite arrogant for much of the story) and Hwin plus their respective companions Shasta (later Prince Cor) and Aravis. The horses actually act like they are the dominant characters out of the four travelers. Queen Susan makes a very brief appearance and so does Queen Lucy near the end. King Edmund makes about two brief appearances while King Peter is only mentioned but never appears. None of the main characters in the story return in another story.
RATING: Easily the worst of all of the Narnian stories. Aslan's appearances in the story seem to have been inserted in at a later time to give it some continuity with the other Chronicles of Narnia and the same can be said about the appearances of the Pevensie children. Without these cameo appearances it it wouldn't be a Chronicles of Narnia story at all. Furthermore, the Calormen are described as a kind of highly religious race that bear a striking resemblance to certain Indian religions. This may put off a few people who don't believe in such religions. The story isn't all that good anyway and so it can only be given a 2/5.
The next book in the series is Prince Caspian but I'll be taking a bit of a break from re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia before I start on that one.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2010 19:31:38 GMT
Now that I've finished reading the fourth book in the series (continuity wise) I can give my review of it. This is Prince Caspian.
PLOT: Narnia has changed a lot since the Pevensie children last set foot in it. An army of Telmarines from the land of Telmar took the throne of Narnia when the land was suffering from not having any strong ruler or government. The first of the Telmarine kings of Narnia was Caspian I and upon taking the throne he banished all talking beasts into hiding and made future generations believe that the reign of Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan was just a fairytale. In the present day the ruler is King Miraz who is the uncle of the current heir to the throne Caspian X. Prince Caspian is due to be the king upon Miraz's death but then Miraz's wife has a babay and so he seeks to kill Caspian so that his own son can ascend to the throne. Caspian seeks refuge amongst the long hidden talking beasts of Narnia and plots to take Miraz to war with the help of the Narnian animals and the Pevensie children who have been called back into Narnia by means of Susan's horn. The Narnian camp go on the offensive and Peter challenges Miraz to a one-on-one battle with Peter winning. The Telmarines surrender upon Miraz's death and Aslan reveals to them that they are actually not genuine Narnians but rather humans from Earth who found a doorway into Narnia many centuries ago. Aslan then creates a doorway back to Earth and a large number of the Telmarines go through it to live a new life on a deserted island while the Pevensie children also return back. Peter and Susan then reveal that they cannot return to Narnia due to them now being too old to do so.
THOUGHTS: Prince Caspian was written shortly after The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and it shares some of its interesting storytelling with it. It is also a decent enough sequel to C S Lewis' most famous Narnian book and is well worth a read however, a few chapters near the end do seem to lose their exciting edge as C S Lewis attempts to tie up all of the remaining loose ends in one or two chapters.
TIMELINE: Prince Caspian is set several hundreds of years after The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (and also The Horse and his Boy) in Narnian time but only twelve months in Earth time between the two stories. Several details are mentioned about the change in the landscape since the original reign of the Pevensie children like their royal abode - Cair Paravel now being derelict while the area that housed the famous Stone Table is now a man-made hill which can be entered where the still broken Stone Table still resides.
CHARACTERS: The four Pevensie children Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan appear for the last time as a quartet (Lucy and Edmund next appear in Voyage of the Dawn Treader while they reunite with Peter for the finale The Last Battle). Prince Caspian is only a child in this book but he appears as an adult in the following novel along with mouse Reepicheep. King Miraz makes his only appearance in the Chronicles of Narnia in this book.
TV & FILM ADAPTATIONS: The BBC created a TV adaptation of Prince Caspian in 1989 thus going further with the Chronicles of Narnia than what the 1960's TV adaptation and the 1979 animated movie did. Unfortunately, they cut out a vast majority of the story, only made it two episodes long and bundled it together with its sequel The voyage of the Dawn Treader (a four parter). Disney's big screen adaptation of the novel however is the best despite them not getting off to a good start (with me anyway) with their adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
RATING: Although not quite as good as The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe it is still a good little story and I believe it deserves a 5/5.
My next story will of course be The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
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