Of course, that’s hardly a concept that’s original with Lewis or Tolkien. I’m pretty sure that every culture who’s lived next to the ocean has had something similar.
But yes, he did it well.
I read all of the books multiple times both as a child and as an adult, and I’ve read all of them to my older children as well.
Dawn Treader was always my favorite when I was a kid.
Now, it’s hard to pick one that stands out above the rest. I voted Dawn Treader though.
Oddly enough, as I grew up in a very literary home, I didn’t encounter the Narnia books until a college literature course. Because I was (more or less) an adult when I read them, it was The Silver Chair that stood out for me as the better written book, although I truly labored over choosing that title over Dawn Treader, which was my sentimental favorite.
Yea, after reading several of the others to my daughter we had to take a pause on this one. The Horse and His Boy is a more complex story and the language was much more difficult. I spent a lot of time explaining what was going on. However, it did add to my enjoyment.
I do enjoy The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, because of the high adventure feel and episodic nature with new things around every corner. And The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a wonderful discovery in my church’s library, exposing me to a type of book I’d never encountered before: allegory but fun–magic, but Christian. I felt naughty reading it.
But I think the book I got the most enjoyment out of when I first read it was The Magician’s Nephew. I read it in its proper place–after all the others besides The Last Battle. As the first prequel I ever encountered, I enjoyed how it filled in past info. I enjoyed the stuff taking place in the house and how it felt like an adventure I could have done. I enjoyed the creation of the world.
But, most of all, I just enjoyed the concept of those rings. Of something almost sci-fi rather than fantasy to get them between worlds. I adored that sort of stuff as a kid.
The Magician’s Nephew is the one that has stayed the most with me. The scenes of Jadis of Charn rampaging through Edwardian London are a joy.
A Horse and His Boy.
Unfortunate portrayal of the Calormenes aside, anyway.
The Silver Chair is a close second, providing as it does, my favourite example of ‘language marches on’ - the scene where Jill ‘makes love’ with the giants.:eek:
I voted for Dawn Treader, which really captured my imagination as a kid. Sailing to the end of the world! Meeting strange people and having adventures! And coming at last to Aslan’s home in the Utter East, where the sun is born anew each day. I love that book so much that when the movie came out a few years ago I refused to see it. I hated how the movies had taken the soul out of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian and I knew seeing their bastardized version of Dawn Treader would break my heart.
It’s hard to choose a second favorite. It would have to be between Wardrobe and The Horse and his Boy. The next tier would be Silver Chair, mostly for Puddleglum, and The Last Battle just for the eschatological ecstasy and tying everything up with a bow. Also, growing up in a conservative Christian home, it was my first exposure to the idea that non-Christians (non-Aslan-believers) could end up in heaven, which was pretty eye-opening for me.
As long as they don’t wear lipstick!
The Silver Chair is the best for me. Puddleglum, their quest, the whole journey draws me in.
I love Voyage of the Dawn Treader as well. A close second.
I have very little memory of The Silver Chair, whereas Treader and Reepicheep have stayed with me since childhood. Puddleglum does ring a vague bell, however. In light of what everyone has said I am looking forward to rereading The Silver Chair as an adult. Not sure I can face The Last Battle though. (I’m reading them to my son in Narnian chronological order, so have already done The Magician’s Nephew, which has lots of good bits, and Horse and his Boy which was excellent bar the out-of-date racism.)
That’s not really the point. The problem with Susan is that she knows such a world exists and has effectively met God and is now actively denying both things for purely material reasons.
I have a feeling that this sort of idea is somehow dealt with better in the space trilogy, but I can’t put my finger on it.
As a kid, The Magician’s Nephew, with its delirious worldbuilding, was a favorite. The Silver Chair, with its horror undertones (overtones?) stuck with me. I voted for the former but considered the latter.
I never finished A Horse and his Boy. Bored stiff by it whenever I tried.
I’ve only reread bits and pieces as an adult, and those only in my early 20s, when I was at my most aggro atheist stage. Lewis struck me as preachy and meanspirited, but I should give him another chance sometime.
Not just any old ‘material reasons’, but particularly those associated with adolescent female sexuality.
As for the space books, I coped with, and enjoyed, the first two - mainly due to the fantastic imagery - but I found That Hideous Strength unreadable.
The Great Divorce is full of that kind of thing. In the Space trilogy though, I think the best example of a materialist’s downfall might be Devine, whose unrelenting self-centeredness is proof against any sort of whisper of ethics or values outside of the Me principle, and whose moral core is portrayed as inferior even to Weston’s (who ends up effectively selling his soul to the devil)
It was a hard choice, but I voted Silver Chair for my Narnia book … not for any one reason, but for everything. Puddleglum. Metaphysical arguments with the Green Lady (“what is this ‘sun’?”). Bism. The whole feeling of the quest through the desolate wilderness. I just love it.
Also - can we have a round of applause please for PUBLICATION ORDER! Well done, that man!
Just doing a bit of background reading as this has interested me and I found this great quote by George Orwell, who says that Lewis “is entitled to his beliefs, but they weaken his story”. I totally agree with this, but realise that many will hold very different views.
Yes! As I mentioned I am reading these to my son and went for Lewis’ preferred order, but I think this was an error.
Have you ever read* Till We Have Faces?* Fiction, not Christian apologetics - it does have the same ‘god in the background’ aspect as Narnia, but mediated through a version of the Greek pantheon rather than Christianity - though obviously he structures it in such a way as to be compatible with Christian ethics. A great grown-up fantasy book, IMNSHO
OP here; thanks to everyone for your comments. A couple of weeks ago I found a 2013 Lewis bio,* A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of CS Lewis*, by Devin Brown, which mentions quite a number of the books including the joyful ending of The Last Battle. It set me rereading the series, and I realized, after starting with The Horse and his Boy, that I’d never really thought about ranking them according to favorites.
If I had to pick just one it would currently be Dawn Treader, which I just reread, but over the years and at different times I’ve liked The Silver Chair and The Magician’s Nephew just as much, if not better. I love the quests and adventures of all three, but what strikes me most now is the variety and the bright, open air atmosphere of Dawn Treader, especially at the end.
Seconding Aspidistra’s plug for Till We Have Faces; I’m putting it on my reread list.
And a big yes for publication order!
I voted for Dawn Treader, which has been my favourite since childhood. The ending of The Last Battle is wonderful and uplifting, though.