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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
I'm not even gonna..... it's still a religious allegory. You can tell from page 5 it's about the end of the world. Lewis was an asshole towards Susan. Aslan has favorites.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Finally finished this, after dragging it out for almost two months. I was pretty disappointed by this book. The sexism, racism, and religious themes that were more subtle in the previous stories were too blatant to ignore here. The treatment of Susan was shameful. Instead of feeling like a satisfying and sentimental conclusion to the series this book just felt like propaganda. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and felt very distant from the plot (of course, this could be because I could only manage to read it for ten minutes at a time). I’d rather just pretend the series ended at the third book. Time to go watch the movies so I don’t totally ruin my opinion of Narnia.
From an adult perspective, this is bizarrely preachy and sometimes just plain odd, but I thought it was moving as a child.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
So while the other books were basically adventure stories with maybe some religion-y vibes (getting progressively more overtly religious), this book is more like a religion story with maybe some adventure plot in it…
The racist vibes also continue with the Calormese worshipping Tash who is, quite literally, ~the devil~. Which is…not super
I was also gonna say that this story only really worked because every Narnian is apparently an idiot™️. But then I was like, wait people being told to do bad shit cause someone said god told them to tell everyone to do that, is shit that ACTUALLY happens…sooo I guess I can’t actually make that a criticism even if it is real sad.
I did kinda like the..moral I guess you could say? In that it doesn’t actually matter who or what you believe in (even if it is tash…or noone), if you do good things that’s good enough for god, and if you do bad things it doesn’t matter if you pray to god every night you’re still going straight to Tash.
Although If you look at Puzzles, even if you are complicit in a lot of evil shit you can still go to heaven if you’re too stupid to get that you’re being manipulated….so yay? (This is good news for some of the worlds leaders rn I guess -.-)
Lewis really did Susan dirty tho
All in all I don’t think I can honestly say I liked this one, so I’m gonna give it two stars just for the one message that I kinda liked.
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
slow-paced
Was reading to finish the story but it was a good book, I at least remember some of the story
Out of all the Narnia books, this may be the most controversial. It also spawned the most questions from my six-year old. Despite it all, I liked the story (rushed though it felt) and its easy application to our own lives. While all of C.S. Lewis' books are allegorical, several are considerably more allegorical than the others. This is one of those.
Quasi-religious literature? Controversial? No way! I read countless reviews that lambasted Lewis for his racism, sexism, and more. To be fair, I can understand how those people arrived at those conclusions. However, they are wrong. I can't speak to Lewis' biases or bigotry, but I can speak to the intention behind this book. "The Last Battle" is an allegory intended to explain how the end of the world may seem apocalyptic to those experiencing it, but the people are brought out of the terror and into the light and joy of God. The gorilla isn't an allegory for blacks any more than the donkey, Puzzle, is an allegory for Democrats. Animals--talking animals--are a major part of the world of Narnia. Toward the end of the book, Peter and his siblings explain why their sister Susan didn't accompany them. They state that she is too obsessed with worldly things to worry about Narnia anymore. Is it sexist to obsess over the world? Not so! We are all guilty of that. Gender is not a predictor.
Controversy aside, "The Last Battle" is a great story filled with intrigue. A gorilla hoodwinks a donkey (Puzzle) into masquerading as Aslan, the god of Narnia. They convince nearly all of Narnia that Puzzle is actually Aslan and that they must give their bounty to the gorilla. The gorilla lives in luxury as the good people of Narnia are enslaved by the Calormen (stand-ins for the Ottomans--a group C.S. Lewis was pretty clearly opposed to). As in every book, humans from England swoop in to save the day! This time, however, they don't "save" the day so much as clear the way for Armageddon. When Armageddon arrives, everything ends and the good people of Narnia (and at least one Calormen) are brought to Aslan's Country where they live forever after in happiness.
My son loved this book and wanted to know everything about it. He had me stop the book dozens of times, which is why this book took me over two months to finish. It wasn't my favorite book, but it was definitely better than The Horse and His Boy, which remains my least favorite entry.
Quasi-religious literature? Controversial? No way! I read countless reviews that lambasted Lewis for his racism, sexism, and more. To be fair, I can understand how those people arrived at those conclusions. However, they are wrong. I can't speak to Lewis' biases or bigotry, but I can speak to the intention behind this book. "The Last Battle" is an allegory intended to explain how the end of the world may seem apocalyptic to those experiencing it, but the people are brought out of the terror and into the light and joy of God. The gorilla isn't an allegory for blacks any more than the donkey, Puzzle, is an allegory for Democrats. Animals--talking animals--are a major part of the world of Narnia. Toward the end of the book, Peter and his siblings explain why their sister Susan didn't accompany them. They state that she is too obsessed with worldly things to worry about Narnia anymore. Is it sexist to obsess over the world? Not so! We are all guilty of that. Gender is not a predictor.
Controversy aside, "The Last Battle" is a great story filled with intrigue. A gorilla hoodwinks a donkey (Puzzle) into masquerading as Aslan, the god of Narnia. They convince nearly all of Narnia that Puzzle is actually Aslan and that they must give their bounty to the gorilla. The gorilla lives in luxury as the good people of Narnia are enslaved by the Calormen (stand-ins for the Ottomans--a group C.S. Lewis was pretty clearly opposed to). As in every book, humans from England swoop in to save the day! This time, however, they don't "save" the day so much as clear the way for Armageddon. When Armageddon arrives, everything ends and the good people of Narnia (and at least one Calormen) are brought to Aslan's Country where they live forever after in happiness.
My son loved this book and wanted to know everything about it. He had me stop the book dozens of times, which is why this book took me over two months to finish. It wasn't my favorite book, but it was definitely better than The Horse and His Boy, which remains my least favorite entry.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Every book has been wonderful, but the allusions to the goodness of God and life after death are stunning. Aslan’s country awaits, and it is more beautiful than anything we have ever experienced. We see but in a mirror dimly the mysteries of the gospel, but go onward and upward, my friends, and you will find that His goodness grows larger the further you delve into it.
5 stars.
5 stars.