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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The first story of Narnia is sweet and delightful. I loved learning the history of such a magical place.
While the idea was certainly intresting I found that the writing was telling me everything instantly and i was not allowed to ponder and make my own connections
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
A great fantasy story with multiple conflicts for our young protagonists to sort. A clear bad guy and bad woman, and some clear helpers to help our two heroes along. Minus one star for being a close allegory to the bible in its second half.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Je ne sais pas pourquoi je n'ai jamais lu les livres, j'étais obsédé par le film quand j'étais plus jeune. Et je dois dire que c'est très bien écrit,j'ai hâte de découvrir le reste de cet univers incroyable.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am on a quest to read hundreds of Fantasy Novels. I started with Narnia because it seems to me approaching Narnia at any other time might be too late in the process. It isn't my first time - but when I first read these I was much younger, and in a very different place spiritually, politically, and intellectually. I was interested in seeing if Narnia still held wonder and hope and excitment for me despite having developed some negative connotations with its evangelical connections. Those connections are on full display throughout Narnia and if Lewis was attempting subtelty its one story teller skill he lacked.
I am glad to say though that the grandfather by the fire tone of Lewis is still touching, and Narnia is still a fantasy world I'd very much like to visit. I do like fantasy locations that feel like things you'd want to defend - and its a trait we see less of in the genre these days. While I did have new reservations about some of its moral trimmings, there is one thing I very much want to say about C.S. Lewis and his theological leanings, something of a personal hot take. If you think of him as the poster child of the right-wing evangelical movement, either because you belong to that movement yourself and he's the only fantasy writer you will tolerate, or because you are a secular who, like Pullman, despises Narnia for its Christian trappings - you're at least partly wrong.
I don't think Lewis can be thought of quite in that way. His theology, though certainly Christian in concept, is heretical in design in many respects from an evangelical perspecitve. This is true to such an extent that if you ignore the christian book store marketing that swallowed him up and read him for what he wrote you will find an exploration of a single, slightly mad, creatives cosmology. It is Christian inspired but far from orthadox. This is the most fasinating thing about Lewis and about Narnia.
Yes, there is a Jesus Lion. But that itself brings up a lot of questions. Lewis proposes a many worlds hypothesis in Narnia; itself a world populated by pagan spirits like wood nymphs and river gods which evangelical fans seem to ignore like a west world robot seeing a photograph of the modern world. He's not what you might expect. I suggest, if you are not a fan by default of church affiliation, that if you wish to approach Narnia do so from the perspective that much fantasy is based on an author's reimagining and reinterpretation of a religious framework - that framework for Narnia simply happens to be a proto-chrisitan one. Though at times its almost more roscrucian.
Still, I do not mean to hype this up too much. What you have here is, after all, essentially a children's fantasy novel with a lot of the elements of fairy tales and just a few of high fantasy. I only rant about the theology aspect because its a conversation that overshadows Lewis' talents as a writer. But talented he is; and enjoyable he is as well. If you can let go of your feelings about the source of the inspirtation, regardless of which direction those feelings lean, you might find yourself able to fall in love with Narnia and The Magician's Nephew.
I am glad to say though that the grandfather by the fire tone of Lewis is still touching, and Narnia is still a fantasy world I'd very much like to visit. I do like fantasy locations that feel like things you'd want to defend - and its a trait we see less of in the genre these days. While I did have new reservations about some of its moral trimmings, there is one thing I very much want to say about C.S. Lewis and his theological leanings, something of a personal hot take. If you think of him as the poster child of the right-wing evangelical movement, either because you belong to that movement yourself and he's the only fantasy writer you will tolerate, or because you are a secular who, like Pullman, despises Narnia for its Christian trappings - you're at least partly wrong.
I don't think Lewis can be thought of quite in that way. His theology, though certainly Christian in concept, is heretical in design in many respects from an evangelical perspecitve. This is true to such an extent that if you ignore the christian book store marketing that swallowed him up and read him for what he wrote you will find an exploration of a single, slightly mad, creatives cosmology. It is Christian inspired but far from orthadox. This is the most fasinating thing about Lewis and about Narnia.
Yes, there is a Jesus Lion. But that itself brings up a lot of questions. Lewis proposes a many worlds hypothesis in Narnia; itself a world populated by pagan spirits like wood nymphs and river gods which evangelical fans seem to ignore like a west world robot seeing a photograph of the modern world. He's not what you might expect. I suggest, if you are not a fan by default of church affiliation, that if you wish to approach Narnia do so from the perspective that much fantasy is based on an author's reimagining and reinterpretation of a religious framework - that framework for Narnia simply happens to be a proto-chrisitan one. Though at times its almost more roscrucian.
Still, I do not mean to hype this up too much. What you have here is, after all, essentially a children's fantasy novel with a lot of the elements of fairy tales and just a few of high fantasy. I only rant about the theology aspect because its a conversation that overshadows Lewis' talents as a writer. But talented he is; and enjoyable he is as well. If you can let go of your feelings about the source of the inspirtation, regardless of which direction those feelings lean, you might find yourself able to fall in love with Narnia and The Magician's Nephew.