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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It's honestly a fairly anti-climactic end to an otherwise excellent saga. The final paragraph of the book is perfection. But it doesn't cover the so-so plot of the rest of the story. And Aslan's words to the Taarkan are borderline universalism. I wanted this to be better.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Well .. I had never read all of the books when I was younger. I knew they had religious overtones but in the books I had read I didn't find them very distracting. Even reading them now I was able to overlook many of the religious things. Even the unfortunate sexist and somewhat racist tendencies seen in earlier books can be looked pay in my mind by understanding when and my whom they were written. It doesn't excuse it, but I can still read literature with these things when keeping things like that in mind. (Plus I believe in reading all sorts of stuff)
Anyways, I was not able to overlook these things with this book. The first two thirds is heavy on racists issues that bothered me. And the last third.. the religious crap bothered me to no end. It became so overt unlike any of the other books that I found it hard to finish reading it! If I do read these again, I will not be reading this book.
The end of the world, godliness of Aslan (vs the devil), the deaths of the children implying they're in heaven now kind of ruin the whole magical element of this other 'world.' when there older children showed up as backup I quite liked it and thought it was a fun victorious moment. Though no Susan bothered me. To only find out later the "truth" of the matter... Well, very disappointing.
As an ending to a pretty good series, this really sucks. Super disappointed with the turn this took. I know it was written quite a few years ago, but even accounting for that, it could have been so much better with a different final battle.
Anyways, I was not able to overlook these things with this book. The first two thirds is heavy on racists issues that bothered me. And the last third.. the religious crap bothered me to no end. It became so overt unlike any of the other books that I found it hard to finish reading it! If I do read these again, I will not be reading this book.
The end of the world, godliness of Aslan (vs the devil), the deaths of the children implying they're in heaven now kind of ruin the whole magical element of this other 'world.' when there older children showed up as backup I quite liked it and thought it was a fun victorious moment. Though no Susan bothered me. To only find out later the "truth" of the matter... Well, very disappointing.
As an ending to a pretty good series, this really sucks. Super disappointed with the turn this took. I know it was written quite a few years ago, but even accounting for that, it could have been so much better with a different final battle.
This was not the best book in the series, as witnessed by the 2 months it took me to read it. It was much more heavy handed in the Biblical stuff, but it was hard for me to follow. It felt like reading a dream.
Definitely the worst of the series. Though there are some lovely moments near the end, the first half reeks of racism and xenophobia to the point that it nearly ruins the series. The book is overly preach-y, and not at all in line with the wonder and magic of the rest of the series. There’s a reason it’s so forgettable.
This book made me angry, on a few different levels. I'm going to talk fairly openly about this, and there's kind of two tiers to the spoilers. The short version is I had a lot of problems with this book, and rating it 2 stars is pretty much entirely because of scenes like Jill being so good at sneaking through underbrush that she sounds like a special forces soldier or something. Tier 1 of spoilers is me talking openly about stuff in the story, but not about the ending. Tier 2 is a discussion of the ending.
If you don't want spoilers for this book published in 1956, then the take away should be that it is Not Good, and its main redeeming quality is that it's a fast read. If you don't care, then read on.
Also, fair warning: there's swearing by the end.
SPOILERS TIER 1: STORY BUT NOTHING ABOUT THE END
What the hell. Really, CS Lewis?
Alright, here's the deal: in The Final Battle, our heroes are all white, and they are good. The evil people are dark-skinned Middle Eastern stereotypes, who worship a bird-headed multiple armed god. At one point the idea that Tash could be another name for Aslan, but NOPE it turns out that Tash is totally evil and the "opposite" of Aslan, which means the racist caricatures worship the Devil. Also, the main shitty character is a talking ape who dresses up a donkey to be an imitation Aslan/Jesus. That part isn't explicitly racist on its own, but with the entire rest of the book being what it is, it's probably safe to assume it's racist and I just missed an important clue.
Also, the white characters have to go in brown face to hide among the bad characters, and the Dwarves that lose their faith in Aslan (in the story it actually makes sense they would) go around calling these bad guys "Darkies" over and over. To their faces. As a taunt.
What. In the stupid hell.
SPOILERS TIER 2: THE ENDING
So. The heroes - who by this point have done super racist things - die? I guess? It sounds like they get murdered in a fight, and are tossed into a stables to die. But Good News: God...er, Aslan...brings them to Heaven/Narnia, where they reunite with all of the other human ("Sons of Adam/Daughters of Eve") characters who crossed over to that point, and even their own parents. Well...except for Susan. Susan, you see, grew up a little bit, learned to like "lipstick" and dating, and therefore is not allowed in...Heaven, I guess? But it's a little unclear, because all these kids have died in a single massive train crash, which is why they're suddenly back in Narnia, but the Heaven Narnia.
Regular Narnia is lost to the Calormenes, aka the Racist Caricatures, and then the book speeds up. There's a clear implication that these people successfully enslave/murder all the Narnians, nobody is ever saved from this for as long as the world lasts, and then the world FUCKING ENDS AND IS EATEN BY DRAGONS, then a time giant snuffs out the sun, and the souls of all the creatures of Narnia either end up in Heaven Narnia or vanish into shadows, presumably going to Hell (which I think is...Calormene?). But all the characters that we have grown to know - these children and their Aunt and Uncle, everyone but Susan who had the gall to not be a stunted child - die in a fucking train crash.
Thanks for reading all seven books, I've murdered everyone for you!
Fuck you, CS Lewis.
If you don't want spoilers for this book published in 1956, then the take away should be that it is Not Good, and its main redeeming quality is that it's a fast read. If you don't care, then read on.
Also, fair warning: there's swearing by the end.
SPOILERS TIER 1: STORY BUT NOTHING ABOUT THE END
What the hell. Really, CS Lewis?
Alright, here's the deal: in The Final Battle, our heroes are all white, and they are good. The evil people are dark-skinned Middle Eastern stereotypes, who worship a bird-headed multiple armed god. At one point the idea that Tash could be another name for Aslan, but NOPE it turns out that Tash is totally evil and the "opposite" of Aslan, which means the racist caricatures worship the Devil. Also, the main shitty character is a talking ape who dresses up a donkey to be an imitation Aslan/Jesus. That part isn't explicitly racist on its own, but with the entire rest of the book being what it is, it's probably safe to assume it's racist and I just missed an important clue.
Also, the white characters have to go in brown face to hide among the bad characters, and the Dwarves that lose their faith in Aslan (in the story it actually makes sense they would) go around calling these bad guys "Darkies" over and over. To their faces. As a taunt.
What. In the stupid hell.
SPOILERS TIER 2: THE ENDING
So. The heroes - who by this point have done super racist things - die? I guess? It sounds like they get murdered in a fight, and are tossed into a stables to die. But Good News: God...er, Aslan...brings them to Heaven/Narnia, where they reunite with all of the other human ("Sons of Adam/Daughters of Eve") characters who crossed over to that point, and even their own parents. Well...except for Susan. Susan, you see, grew up a little bit, learned to like "lipstick" and dating, and therefore is not allowed in...Heaven, I guess? But it's a little unclear, because all these kids have died in a single massive train crash, which is why they're suddenly back in Narnia, but the Heaven Narnia.
Regular Narnia is lost to the Calormenes, aka the Racist Caricatures, and then the book speeds up. There's a clear implication that these people successfully enslave/murder all the Narnians, nobody is ever saved from this for as long as the world lasts, and then the world FUCKING ENDS AND IS EATEN BY DRAGONS, then a time giant snuffs out the sun, and the souls of all the creatures of Narnia either end up in Heaven Narnia or vanish into shadows, presumably going to Hell (which I think is...Calormene?). But all the characters that we have grown to know - these children and their Aunt and Uncle, everyone but Susan who had the gall to not be a stunted child - die in a fucking train crash.
Thanks for reading all seven books, I've murdered everyone for you!
Fuck you, CS Lewis.
I read The Last Battle as a child, but completely missed significant parts of it that shocked me as an adult. Makes me wonder if the end of this series was as traumatic for the reader as the end of Harry Potter.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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:
No