THE LAST BATTLE by C. S. Lewis

 

The Last Battle (1956) is a children’s fantasy novel, the seventh and final in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. It won the 1956 Carnegie Medal. Almost single-handedly, Tirian, the last king of Narnia, must deal with the rise of a false Aslan and a surprise Calormene invasion.

The Last Battle is a grim and bleak tale unlike any other in the series, as things start badly and get progressively worse in a hurry. Lewis handles this well, particularly by capturing the feelings of his characters, particularly their despair, and as a result, the book is suspenseful and gripping. The book’s finale, both as part of this story and the series as a whole, is nothing short of magnificent: it is an emotionally and spiritually powerful finish. The book’s final paragraph, which captures the heart of the true hope of Christianity, may bring tears to the eyes.

Lewis’s prominent theme here is the danger of false religion, and he deals with it from the points of view of the unbelieving perpetrators as well as the unwitting victims. The biblical imagery is strong here (for those who have a deep familiarity with the contents of the Bible, it may be the strongest in the series). The false Aslan’s politics and dealings evoke any number of biblical images, ranging from Old Testament prophets to Revelation imagery. Certainly The Last Battle is the most philosophically and theologically interesting book in the series (which is why it’s also the most controversial).

The book is not without a couple of small problems. Lewis’s involved narrator sometimes feels out of place given the direness of the story. Lewis also skips over a little more of the story’s behind-the-scenes developments than he might have – we do go from a lone crafty ape to a full-blown Calormene invasion rather quickly. But these are minor issues that do not detract from the story significantly.

Some readers have complained that in The Last Battle, Lewis “undoes” all his previous stories. This could not be more wrong (do you “undo” a game when you finish it and put the pieces back in the box?). Rather, Lewis brings them all full circle: The Last Battle culminates with the fulfillment and consummation of Narnia and all its stories.

As with The Horse and His Boy, some readers have also alleged racism here. While the dark-skinned, “Arab” Calormen are the villains of the piece, they are never portrayed as inherently evil (as in The Horse and His Boy, some are good and some are bad). Similarly, Lewis has been accused of being anti-Islam in his writing, for no other reason that I can see except that Islam is the religion of many Arabs. Certainly the Calormene religion bears no resemblance to Islam to the very limited extent to which Lewis goes into it; with its bloody god Tash and its human sacrifice, it’s far more reminiscent of the ancient worship of Chemosh or Molech. Anyone seriously maintaining these accusations is inferring quite a bit more than Lewis has put into the text.

The Last Battle is a triumph, a phenomenal story, and a beautiful conclusion to the series.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

***Bonus***

The audio version of The Last Battle is performed by Patrick Stewart. Anyone familiar with Stewart’s work, whether on Star Trek or elsewhere, knows he has a powerful voice, and so expectations will rightly be high. But while Stewart generally does a good job, he doesn’t quite meet these lofty expectations. Some of his voices are simply off; his sort of Cockney accent for the Calormenes seems flat-out wrong. And from time to time during his performance, his voices run into his narration. On the whole, it’s a good but not great performance.

THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW by C. S. Lewis

The Magician’s Nephew (1955) is a children’s fantasy novel, the sixth in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. Decades before the events of the other books in the series, two children (one of whom is Professor Digory Kirke from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) travel to magical worlds, inadvertently free the witch Jadis, and witness the creation of Narnia.

The Magician’s Nephew often has a lighter feel than the other books in the series. Lewis, who draws to a great extent upon his own childhood, is involved in the narrative in a more playful way than we’ve seen since The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. And while Jadis is an imposing and terrible figure, her attempts to conquer London are more comical than anything; Lewis does a good job striking a balance with her and not making the character ever seem silly, in spite of what’s happening.

Lewis’s imagination has free rein in a number of places in the story, most notably the Wood between the Worlds, the dead city of Charn, and the birth of Narnia. And with references to fairies, Atlantis, Arthurian legend, and the like, this book has something of the feel of a traditional fairy tale. The total effect is that for the most part, The Magician’s Nephew is refreshingly different from the other books in the series.

In addition to Lewis’s nostalgia for the Edwardian days and bygone social mores (the good and the bad), there are other moral themes at work here. The one that Digory is faced with time and again throughout the novel is integrity. And as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe contained strong parallels to Christ’s Passion, The Magician’s Nephew parallels the biblical account of Creation and the Garden of Eden.

It has been the fashion recently to read The Magician’s Nephew as the first in the series (since it is, after all, chronologically first). This is fine, I guess, but to my mind it works better after the reader has finished The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the “Caspian trilogy.” Here, Lewis assumes that the reader already has a familiarity with Narnia, and while that isn’t mandatory to enjoy the book, there are a lot of little moments that the reader will not fully appreciate if he or she hasn’t read the other books first.

The Magician’s Nephew is a fun, imaginative story. But don’t read it first.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THE HORSE AND HIS BOY by C. S. Lewis

The Horse and His Boy (1954) is a children’s fantasy novel, the fifth in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. Here, an adopted lower-class boy, a young, independent girl, and two Narnian talking horses attempt to flee from Calormen into Narnia; on the way, they get caught up in international political intrigue.

While Lewis wrote this book fifth, it takes place during the original reign of the Pevensies during the last chapter of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The only reason for this chronological decision is so that Lewis can bring the Pevensies back in supporting roles, which he does (plus Mr. Tumnus). And it is nice to see them as adults, more mature but still distinctly the same characters.

I trust it will not be too great an affront to Lewis to say that this story reads like The Prince and the Pauper by way of Arabian Nights. Not that there’s anything wrong with the story; it’s well-told, but it doesn’t feel particularly imaginative, and that’s what separates the good Narnia stories from the great ones. The Horse and His Boy feels too much like Lewis took a number of trusty old story elements and gave them the Narnia treatment.

This is the only book in the series where children from Earth are not prominent characters (there’s not much time spent in Narnia, either), and that alone gives The Horse and His Boy a different feel from the rest. But this isn’t Lewis’s best set of characters. Shasta is decent enough, but I feel like we’ve seen him before, in Twain and elsewhere. While the horses have their own personalities, they don’t add much to the story. A highlight is Aravis (another character we’ve seen before), in whom Lewis has the strongest female character in the series. (Aslan, as usual, steals most of his scenes.)

Lewis offers lessons to be learned, of course. The most obvious theme is pride: the Calormenes are a prideful people in general, and several of the book’s prominent characters have to learn to practice humility. Another is divine providence, which, thanks to Aslan, is present in all the books in a general way, but here is much more pronounced, culminating in Aslan explaining to Shasta how he has been present and involved at every key moment of the boy’s life.

Some critics have pointed to The Horse and His Boy (as well as to The Last Battle) and cried “racism.” In a book where most of the people who are good and right are light-skinned and the warmongering villains are dark-skinned, that’s understandable, but, I think, taking it too far. Certainly Lewis has populated his other Narnia books with light-skinned enemies, and, while he has done Calormen in the style of the medieval Arab world and set this culture up as a rival to Narnia, there is nothing egregiously antagonistic on Lewis’s part here, particularly since he portrays Aravis so sympathetically.

In short, while not Lewis’s best, The Horse and His Boy is another quality adventure.

RECOMMENDED

THE SILVER CHAIR by C. S. Lewis

The Silver Chair (1953) is a children’s fantasy novel, the fourth in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. The reformed Eustace, along with his classmate Jill, are summoned to Narnia to rescue the now-aged King Caspian’s only son.

The Silver Chair is a solid adventure, and, with its structure and content (giants, caverns, witches and such), is reminiscent of traditional fairy tales. On the downside, the story turns on a couple of rather predictable twists (they may be predictable even to children, at least to children who have, as Lewis might say, “read the right sort of books”), and there really isn’t much of a climax.

Lewis always has moral themes going on, but here, they’re particularly good. Eustace and Jill have to learn hard lessons in accountability and personal responsibility. The related theme of faithful obedience in the face of death is powerfully done: Eustace and Jill struggle the whole time, in sharp contrast to Prince Rilian, whose faith is summed up when he says, “Aslan will be our good lord, whether he means us to live or die. And all’s one, for that.” Lewis also continues to take shots at “modern” values by setting up his “Experiment House” school and then blasting it mercilessly; this assault is unapologetically obvious.

The characters are well done here: Eustace continues his struggle toward maturity. Jill, in contrast to the always positive but not particularly capable Lucy, is (and becomes) a competent and practical character. Puddleglum, the wettest of all blankets, is a nice supporting character (thankfully Lewis doesn’t overdo it with him). And Rilian’s simple but unshakeable faith is impressive.

The Silver Chair is a solid entry in the series, even if the moral themes pack more punch than the story itself.

RECOMMENDED

THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER by C. S. Lewis

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952) is a children’s fantasy novel, the third in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. Here, Edmund and Lucy, along with their insufferable cousin Eustace, are pulled into Narnia to aid Caspian in his search for seven missing Narnian lords.

There isn’t much of an overarching plot here as there are in Lewis’s prior novels; it’s much more episodic, as the Dawn Treader sails to one island after another, and to one adventure after another. And this is why the novel works so well: Lewis has given himself complete narrative freedom to do whatever he wants, and he uses the full measure of his wondrous imagination. The unexpected is here in a way unlike the previous stories, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has throughout it the full and free spirit of fantasy adventure.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a more charming read than either of Lewis’s previous books in the series, and the primary reason is that Lewis, as narrator, has gotten himself rather more playfully involved, making humorous observations here and witty comments there, in a way reminiscent of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Lewis’s characters’ dialogue is also sharp and clever, certainly more so than in previous books. My general impression is that with this book, Lewis really got a handle on his Narnian storytelling.

As is usual for him, Lewis has a number of moral themes at work here: most obviously, he addresses greed on a number of occasions – greed for wealth, for status, and for beauty. Through Eustace, Lewis extols the virtues of being well-mannered and considerate of others, but he also attacks the notion that “modern values” are inherently superior.

Christian themes are not as prominent here as in some other works (except, of course, Christian virtue), but they can be found in some depth in Reepicheep’s quest for Aslan’s Country – his quest, as it were, for afterlife and the Kingdom of God. And this is an area of the story where Lewis excels. He does a fine job of balancing childish wonderment and mature gravity in his characters as they approach the end of the world, and Lewis’s fleeting glimpses of what might lie beyond fire the spirit and the imagination.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is an outstanding adventure novel; it might be my favorite book in the series.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

***Bonus***

The audio version of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is performed by Derek Jacobi, and he absolutely crushes it. He does a simply masterful job. Jacobi does a wonderful range of voices, and he juggles them without a hiccup. He fills the story with life and energy, and sweeps the listener up in it. This is one of the best performances of an audio book I’ve ever heard, and it’s highly recommended.

PRINCE CASPIAN by C. S. Lewis

Prince Caspian, or, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951) is a children’s fantasy novel, the second in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. Here, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are drawn back to Narnia, where hundreds of years have passed, and must work to overthrow a usurper and put the rightful king on the throne.

The story itself is rather straightforward: the Pevensies are in Narnia to do a job and get out. It’s all business, and the spirit of adventure the reader finds in the best books of the series is mostly absent here; it doesn’t help that the story follows the same basic structure as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, only without most of that book’s epic feel and emotional power. And yet the world of magical characters and Lewis’s own wit and sprinkling of profound Christian principles carry the story and make it an enjoyable read in spite of its flaws.

A prominent theme in Prince Caspian is the virtue of faith and belief; some of the children experience degrees of doubt in Aslan, and many of the Narnians have lost faith in him altogether. Other themes include chivalry and, as is always the case with Aslan, grace.

Prince Caspian suffers from some storytelling issues. The novel starts with the Pevensie children, follows them briefly, and then jumps to Prince Caspian’s backstory, which takes up nearly half the novel. When the story returns to the Pevensies, they spend most of their time doing little more trudging through the woods. Prince Caspian almost certainly would have worked better if Lewis had written the whole thing from the point of view of Caspian himself (along the lines of what he did with Tirian in The Last Battle), although this would only further highlight the fact that the Pevensies have very little to do throughout most of the novel (and half of what they do is squabble).

On the whole, Prince Caspian is probably the weakest book in the Chronicles of Narnia, but even so, it’s still worthwhile.

RECOMMENDED

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE by C. S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) is a children’s fantasy novel, the first and best-known in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. During World War II, four siblings are sent from London to a house in the country, where they are drawn into a magical world ruled by an evil witch.

Here, Lewis introduces the reader to a charming fantasy world populated with creatures drawn from Norse and Greek mythology. This kind of world will be instantly familiar to fantasy readers of all ages, as Lewis, one of the cornerstones of the modern high fantasy genre, has inspired a great deal of imitation (and, let’s be honest, some outright cribbing).

Lewis’s narration is perfect for the children’s genre: it is full of quaint homey details and little assurances to the reader (he also speeds through what would otherwise be graphic or horrific scenes). Additionally, Lewis does a nice job giving all four siblings the broad strokes of distinct personalities in such a short book.

While The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is not an allegory in the strict sense of the word, it does contain a great deal of strong and rather unmistakable Christian imagery. The most apparent such imagery centers around Aslan, who is an obvious Christ figure, and whose fate parallels Christ’s Passion. Indeed, while Aslan debuts rather late in the book, he dominates the story, which is, at its core, all about what Aslan is doing rather than what the children are doing.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a delightful read and a wonderful initiation to the world of Narnia. Yes, The Magician’s Nephew comes first chronologically, but it is here that Lewis makes his introductions.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED