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A review by yas_sezer
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
3.0
3 stars. i understand the point of this book to conclude the story and of course we need an epic battle to finalise it……… buttttttt
still isn’t my favourite. i did really enjoy seeing all our characters come back including digory and polly since we haven’t seen them since the magicians nephew. however, i was disappointed with susan’s character development (why did we go backwards?) and wished she was part of the group coming back to narnia. i understand she was supposed to represent people who forget religion and god and instead focus more on worldly things, but i can’t help feeling disappointed.
i felt bad for puzzle and his dynamic with shift was interesting to read and compare to modern rulers and influences. shift said do, puzzle said okay! reminded me a lot of what i’ve always learnt since being a child, of the ways people will be strayed away so i liked that familiarity.
however, the magic wasn’t there even for this. i felt lost during the fight scenes, and zoned out for a lot of it. the constant dispute back and forth between tash’s followers and aslan and the whole controversy of them being combined but not - i found myself not caring. i was just waiting until aslan was back so the magic could return, butttttt somehow expected more? i can’t fault the book since it DID, in theory, bring great aspects with all the og characters, reepicheep, caspian, everyone in aslans country. even with aslans return and his interactions with everyone especially lucy and jill… alas, it didn’t affect me the way i anticipated.
part of me felt a little disappointed that they died in the railway accident, and now they’ve entered the ‘real narnia’. again, i can’t really pinpoint why, but as soon as the wiping away of narnia went away and it became the ‘real’ i found myself just going .. oh? it built up so well then just fell flat for me.
there are definitely faults with this story as a whole in terms of racism and sexism, but considering when it was written, i will suppress some of the disgust. but the way the ‘dark’ people are described to just be filthy and essentially stupid compared to the ‘white pure’ people doesn’t really sit right in me. when beauty is associated with the ‘dark people’ it’s always written as a shock rather than something normal.
despite everything, will i recommend narnia as a whole, of course. it is a classic and i think everyone should read it even if you aren’t religious. it’s a story told from a narrator for anyone of any age and that is hard to find.
my ranking of the books:
1. the lion the witch and the wardrobe
2. the voyage of the dawn treader
3. the magicians nephew
4. prince caspian
5. the horse and his boy
6. the last battle
7. the silver chair
still isn’t my favourite. i did really enjoy seeing all our characters come back including digory and polly since we haven’t seen them since the magicians nephew. however, i was disappointed with susan’s character development (why did we go backwards?) and wished she was part of the group coming back to narnia. i understand she was supposed to represent people who forget religion and god and instead focus more on worldly things, but i can’t help feeling disappointed.
i felt bad for puzzle and his dynamic with shift was interesting to read and compare to modern rulers and influences. shift said do, puzzle said okay! reminded me a lot of what i’ve always learnt since being a child, of the ways people will be strayed away so i liked that familiarity.
however, the magic wasn’t there even for this. i felt lost during the fight scenes, and zoned out for a lot of it. the constant dispute back and forth between tash’s followers and aslan and the whole controversy of them being combined but not - i found myself not caring. i was just waiting until aslan was back so the magic could return, butttttt somehow expected more? i can’t fault the book since it DID, in theory, bring great aspects with all the og characters, reepicheep, caspian, everyone in aslans country. even with aslans return and his interactions with everyone especially lucy and jill… alas, it didn’t affect me the way i anticipated.
part of me felt a little disappointed that they died in the railway accident, and now they’ve entered the ‘real narnia’. again, i can’t really pinpoint why, but as soon as the wiping away of narnia went away and it became the ‘real’ i found myself just going .. oh? it built up so well then just fell flat for me.
there are definitely faults with this story as a whole in terms of racism and sexism, but considering when it was written, i will suppress some of the disgust. but the way the ‘dark’ people are described to just be filthy and essentially stupid compared to the ‘white pure’ people doesn’t really sit right in me. when beauty is associated with the ‘dark people’ it’s always written as a shock rather than something normal.
despite everything, will i recommend narnia as a whole, of course. it is a classic and i think everyone should read it even if you aren’t religious. it’s a story told from a narrator for anyone of any age and that is hard to find.
my ranking of the books:
1. the lion the witch and the wardrobe
2. the voyage of the dawn treader
3. the magicians nephew
4. prince caspian
5. the horse and his boy
6. the last battle
7. the silver chair