That’s got to be the official definition of “damned with faint praise.” It’s like saying, “On a par with Pol Pot for positive impact on the civilian populace.”
Although contrasted with Left Behind, it is positively effusive. 
Other Stuff About The Christ Clone Trilogy That Made It Better Than Left Behind -[ul][li]Not as shamelessly padded [] Not as larded with inexplicable references to Baptist apocalyptic theology that I have never heard of [] Some genuinely ambiguous characterizations [] Not as given to dead stops in the narrative while someone delivers a sermon []Practically everything else[/ul] [/li]
But your point about the prose style is a good one, but genuninely good prose is unpleasantly rare in modern fiction, unfortunately. The best parts of Narnia are enhanced by the prose - the cozy gemutlichkeit of the Tumnus and Beaver scenes in TLTWatW, the dream-like episodes on the Silver Sea in The Dawn Treader, the ornate Orientalism of the dialogue of the Tisrah* and his son and advisor in The Horse and His Boy, and so forth.
And I especially liked the Britishisms of some of the dialogue, because it seemed so un-forced and charming. Edmund is calling to Lucy in TLTWatW -
And the occasional snottiness of the exchanges between Digory and Polly in The Magician’s Nephew - just like real kids. It establishes them as real characters, not stock ones. They talk as they would in Lewis’ real life.
Regards,
Shodan
*Especially that most chilling line from the Tisrah.
“And your life would be short and your death slow once you had said it.” :eek:
Donna Tarrt. Valerie Martin. Andre Dubus (okay, so he’s dead, but he’s still recent). Alice Sebold. Pat Conroy. Gaitskill. Hell, even Thomas Harris, when he’s not writing Hannibal.
And that’s just from the top shelf omy bookcase.
You mean “Tisroc,” but yes, I’m fond of the professor’s prose style too.
He’s not a Chief Rabbit, for pity’s sake! 
Regards,
Shodan
The -rah suffix denotes a Chief Rabbit in Watership Down (The Threarah at Sandleford; Hazel-rah at the end of the story); the boss-man in Calormen is The Tisroc.
Gotcha. Thanks.
And don’t you mean “the Tisroc - may he live forever”?
Regards,
Shodan
“I certainly do not,” Bree said. “I don’t WANT him to live forever, and he won’t whether I do or not.”
-
First read: Grade 3. Actually, at the beginning of grade 2, the new librarian showed me the whole set, which had just come in, but I was loyal to the old librarian, and turned up my nose. (This may be the reason why we never got along very well.) Don’t remember what prompted me to try them after all, but I basically assimilated them. I could tell you where I was when I read each one.
-
Christian subtext: I don’t mind it when it is subtext, supporting the story. It bugs a little when Jack gets on his own pulpit, making comments like “Bibles were not generally encouraged at Experiment House” or “Things like Do Not Steal were, I think, hammered into boys’ heads a lot harder than they are today.” But that may have less to do with his being a Christian than with his own personality. That said, I like Puddleglum’s defiance of the Green Witch. Best argument for faith I’ve ever heard, or, even if faith is not important to you, at least an argument for sticking to your own principles.
-
Favorite: TMN. Although it is the least Narnian of all of them, but that’s how I feel. Least favorite: I wouldn’t say there are any I don’t like. I even like TLB, maybe because of the circumstances in which I read it. My dad was in the hospital, and no one, not even him, had bothered to tell me that people don’t usually die from cataract surgery. So the theme resonated with me quite a bit. Also, from that book I learned that when you’re dehydrated, it’s better to take small doses of liquid than to chug as much as you think you want. And the end of the world scenes are compelling. Also liked SC for the Underworld scenes.
-
Best written: They’re all consistent. Good job from Lewis, actually: there’s never a point at which you can say he lost his touch after or with a particular volume.
-
Peter: Neutral. Susan: Gets short shrift, I think. I like the bit where she outdid the dwarf in the archery contest, but was humble about it. Edmund: I like the dynamic characters. Lucy: Oh, gag me. Sanctimonious little sugarplum. Caspian: As a kid, he was blah. As King, he rocked. Eustace: I liked that he was the only our-world character to have a WTF reaction to Narnia. Jill: Also liked her. Shasta: Didn’t make much impression on me. It wasn’t until I was an adult that the significance of the title, The Horse and his Boy, struck me. Aravis: Liked her, but I’m not sure it was consistent when Lewis mentioned how she’d been such a tomboy before the story began. I would think her upbringing would have precluded that. Digory: Dude, he took the red pill! Polly: I like her too, but I wish she hadn’t been dumb enough to grab the ring without even thinking about it. I dislike Lucy most, as I said, and I identify most with Jill, who took more abuse than anyone, and unlike Eustace, didn’t even have it coming. But it was necessary, because it was established in the first chapter that she was going to have to start asserting herself. And in LB, you can see that she’s earned her stripes.
-
Susan: She’s not dead, so she can’t be in hell yet. Perhaps the death of her family altered her worldview. If not, then she probably deserves hell.
-
Criticism: The ethnocentricity, definitely. I’m not sure the “product of its time” excuse is valid, either. I’ll give him a pass for stuff like “Battles are ugly when women fight,” but stuff like, in H&hB, when they’re crossing through Tashbaan, was aggravating. It actually seemed like an exciting, exotic city to me, but Lewis was so determined to dump on everything that’s not white and Christian, he just harped on the negatives and acted like it was a toxic waste dump.
-
Movie. Didn’t like it. Don’t get me started.
-
Sequels: I’d be surprised if it happens.
-
Proper order: PUBLICATION! Jeez! Who decided that this should even be an issue?! One comment to a young reader is not an endorsement for ruining the impact of LWW!
I’m currently reading these aloud to my nine year old son, and appreciating them more than ever. Beautifully done.