Let's go to Narnia

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adamhovey1988

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So, I haven’t seen the films (I want to finish the book series first, and I am well aware the books are almost always better), but I kind of want to talk about The Chronicles of Narnia Series. I’ve already read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and am in the process of reading Prince Caspian. I am curious, for those of you that are Narnia fans, what your favourite books in the series are, and why (without giving away spoilers)? I honestly love doing C.S. Lewis threads, and I like the positive feedback I tend to get on them (and I haven’t done one in a while). By the way, I am curious, who here has seen the BBC series? My brother has talked to me about a little (he is a little less than six years older than me, see even if I have seen it, I wouldn’t remember it).
 
I liked “The Silver Chair” because of the way it explores the concept of having faith separate from complete understanding. Can’t say how this comes to be without giving away spoilers, but those who have read the book will know what I mean about “following the signs.”
 
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I will read it (eventually) and do you know what? I will be sure to look what you have described.
 
I liked all of them. The ones I’ve reread the most are Prince Caspian (I like the themes of the mythical kings from the distant past returning to save people) and Voyage of the Dawn Treader (I liked how the main characters shifted, and the themes of exploration, and the worldbuilding).

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe was a good start. It was probably the most allegorical of all of them.

The Silver Chair was fun. I liked Puddleglum, and again, I liked the revolving main characters. I also liked how they were given certain tasks from the get-go, but kept not recognizing when they were supposed to do x, in order to be successful. Doesn’t that happen to us all the time! 🙂

The Horse and His Boy was cool— I liked it for the worldbuilding, and for the different perspective.

The Magician’s Nephew was pretty heavily allegorical, and also had good worldbuilding.

And The Last Battle had very obvious allegory as well. It was a good read, but I usually would re-read parts of it, rather than the whole thing.
Although Lewis did not consider them allegorical, and did not set out to incorporate Christian themes in Wardrobe , he was not hesitant to point them out after the fact. In one of his last letters, written in March 1961, Lewis writes:
Since Narnia is a world of Talking Beasts, I thought He [Christ] would become a Talking Beast there, as He became a man here. I pictured Him becoming a lion there because (a) the lion is supposed to be the king of beasts; (b) Christ is called “The Lion of Judah” in the Bible; (c) I’d been having strange dreams about lions when I began writing the work. The whole series works out like this.

The Magician’s Nephew tells the Creation and how evil entered Narnia.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Prince Caspian restoration of the true religion after corruption.

The Horse and His Boy the calling and conversion of a heathen.

The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader” the spiritual life (specially in Reepicheep)

The Silver Chair the continuing war with the powers of darkness.

The Last Battle the coming of the Antichrist (the Ape), the end of the world and the Last Judgement.
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(That reminds me of a bit where Tolkein spent about 10 pages explaining how The Lord of the Rings had absolutely nothing to do with WWII…)
 
My favorite book in the series is The Horse and His Boy followed closely by The Last Battle. The Horse and His Boy isn’t crucial to the main story line but it’s really fun and expands the world of Narnia while also expanding on the history bewteen the Magician’s Nethew and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The Last Battle is filled with allegory and explores the ideas of salvation for those who didn’t know Christ.
 
I don’t mind the story being non-crucial. Sometimes, it’s nice to take a break from the main story. I will get to it eventually, as I intend on reading the whole series.
 
Per my own request of not giving away spoilers, I just have to say, Aslan toward the end of the first book, awesome
 
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I love The Silver Chair best. I read it at about 12, and didn’t understand it at all, but it was such a wonderful story it got me started with C.S. Lewis, who was later instrumental in my salvation.

A lot of quotes in that book mean a lot to me, such as when Puddleglum says to the witch (who is using magic to convince them that Narnia and Aslan don’t exist) that he will go on searching for Narnia and living as much like a Narnian as he can even if none of it is true. That thought has carried me through several times of doubt, because even if Christ were not real, there is no one else worth following.
 
The Last Battle. For many reasons. But since you have yet to come further up and further in to the stories, no spoilers. I will say that I was always touched by what happens with Emeth.
 
I’ve read them all, some of them a second time over the years. The Silver Chair was my favorite. It has been a while since I read it, so I couldn’t tell you exactly why. It was a great adventure story with lots of great characters. The story line teetered on the ragged edge between order and chaos. Grace and providence seemed to play significant parts.
 
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I haven’t read any of the books (maybe part of one), but have seen a couple of the movies. Are the books a worthwhile read for an adult?

p.s. I love CS Lewis in general.
 
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Yes, they are a worthwhile read for an adult. I didn’t start them until I was almost 30 years old.
 
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I understand there are two possible reading orders. Recommendations?
 
Been a while, but I always liked the perspectives that The Horse and His Boy and Last Battle give on what might just happen when we die. I guess CS Lewis now knows whether he was right (or close).

Otherwise, Dawntreader is just a great self-contained adventure with characters that grow and learn on the way
 
That’s a matter of opinion, but, let me put it this way, I am not much of a fantasy reader, but I am really liking Narnia.
 
Publication first, then chronological. (Seriously, no one seems to think you should read them in chronological order first, I researched this when I started reading them)
 
In my 30s is when I started reading them (though, I think I started reading Lewis’s other works in my late 20s)
 
The Last Battle is also my favourite. I’ve lost times I’ve quoted this book to people while thinking about the current situation in the church and the world.

And I can’t read the line about ‘He no longer appeared to them as a lion’ without springing a tear.
 
Reading order: I began with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (received as a gift), then some years later continuing with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
 
snarflemike said:
Are the books a worthwhile read for an adult?
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Yes. You can probably finish each of them in one sitting. They’re not very long.

re: reading order, I agree with publication order first (LWW, Caspian, Dawn Treader, Silver Chair, Horse, Magician’s Nephew, Last Battle) and then on the re-reads, you can do chronological order if you wish. (Nephew, LWW, Horse, Caspian, Dawn Treader, Silver Chair, Last Battle.) But mostly, when it comes to rereading, I just grab the ones I like the best.
 
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