The Chronicles of Narnia (Books 1-7)

by C.S. Lewis

book data

33,123 ratings, 4.31 average rating, 2,582 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		51%
4		31%
3		13%
2		2%
1		0%

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published

September 20th 2001 (first published 1954) by HarperCollins

binding

Paperback, 767 pages

characters

Susan, Aslan, Peter, Edmund, ...more

isbn

0066238501 (isbn13: 9780066238500)

description

The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis, is one of the very few sets of books that should be read three times: in childhood, early adulthood, and late...more

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09/05/08

Choupette rated it:

bookshelves: children-s-young-adults-, classics, fantasy

Read in June, 2009

recommends it for: Young Children (very much stressing the young here)

It's hard for me to review these books, because they are sentimental favourites, even though I was never really into them in a big way as a kid. I have no idea if this is a normal practice or not, but in my family we stick things on the walls of the toilet. Among the faded lists of French verbs that take prepositions, organic chemistry summaries, times table charts, and the poignant, torn, ugly pieces of primary-school artwork is a poster-map of Narnia. I have no idea where it came from and what...more

Like this review? yes (14 people liked it)

20 comments

04/20/07

Mansoor Qureshi added it

Read in November, 2004

The Magician's Nephew is easily the best story of the Chronicles. First of all, it's the least overtly religious. There is a creation-of-the-world element, but it's not our world so it seems more fantastic than religious. Not only is there a veil over the religiosity, there's so much creativity in this story: the magical rings, the in-between place, the Deplorable Word, the founding of Narnia.

Starting with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, the religiosity becomes noticeable, ...more

Like this review? yes (9 people liked it)

7 comments

04/18/07

Mer rated it:

(review of isbn 0060847131)

bookshelves: childhood

Read in January, 1985

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1...

(Click the above link to read professor Carol Zaleski's interesting take of the seething religious/political furor surrounding these classics.)

I pined for Narnia in the most broken, sad way when I was a little girl.

Obviously, I had no knowledge of any Christian subtext when I first read "Da Chroni *WHUT* cles". I remember devouring them in much the same way that children are now tearing through the Harry Pot...more

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

5 comments

04/10/08

Julie rated it:

bookshelves: children-s, fantasy

Read in November, 2006

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I finally got around to reading these all the way through. I'm pretty sure I read through book 4 when I was much younger, but really, it was a different experience reading them as a twenty-something. I vividly remember the moment several years ago when my mother and I were watching a televised version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe... and suddenly made the connection that the whole thing was a giant allegory with Aslan as Jesus. We just looked at each other going, gee, this is sounding ...more I finally got around to reading these all the way through. I'm pretty sure I read through book 4 when I was much younger, but really, it was a different experience reading them as a twenty-something. I vividly remember the moment several years ago when my mother and I were watching a televised version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe... and suddenly made the connection that the whole thing was a giant allegory with Aslan as Jesus. We just looked at each other going, gee, this is sounding very familiar all of a sudden. Well, if you think that particular book smacks you across the face with Christian metaphors (and obviously as a small child I didn't pick up on this at all), wait til you hit some of the later books (especially The Last Battle).

The end of the series completely shocked me. I understand the whole thing was a Christian allegory to begin with, but HOLY COW. I will try not to spoil it here, but... it's vaguely creepy to see how enthusiastic they are, and also horrible to think that Susan is now left behind. I did read that Susan's fate is meant to be an example, that rather than showing that she is now damned/unable to someday go to New Narnia, her fate is left open—if she repents and returns to believing in Aslan, and asks him for forgiveness, she will be able to join her family. Still creepy and shocking though.

You can also see in A Horse and His Boy how harshly Lewis contrasts the Calormenes with the Narnians. The Calormenes are repeatedly referred to as "dark," "smelling of garlic and onions," with "curved swords..." he even says their poetry is far inferior to the Narnians'. The picture he is trying to paint here is painfully obvious, as all the Calormenes' culture reflects that of the Middle East (whereas the Narnians are obviously very similar to medieval England). It's a seriously bigoted world view, one that I'm sure was more acceptable at the time the books were written, but now is rather jarring to read.

I did enjoy reading these books. I'd thought them awfully dry the first time through—stuffy English children in a fairly entertaining magical land, etc... The difference this time was, I watched the 2005 movie first. The movie completely blew me away, and while reading the first book (and even the succeeding books which involve the Pevensie children) I was able to imagine those warm, courageous and yet flawed children in place of the stuffy English ones, and it added a wonderful new dimension to the story. It was enough to carry me through the boks I didn't like as much, and made me enjoy my favorites even more (those would be The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Horse and His Boy).

Overall, I'd recommend them (they're a super-quick read too, you could probably finish one in a single day if you tried), but only after viewing the 2005 film first. :D Can't wait til movie #2!(less)

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03/28/08

Elena rated it:

bookshelves: middle-grade

Read in March, 2008

I read the entire series, one right after another, eight times in a row when I got them for Christmas in fourth grade. Obviously I loved them then. Just finished reading them again to Eric, my 8-year-old, and loved them maybe just as must as I did as a 10-year-old. Eric couldn't stop giggling through the last pages of Horse and His Boy, which we had to reread when we finished the rest, since it was his favorite. We're starting Prince Caspian again, too--another favorite. I realized this go arou...more

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04/19/08

Jaclyn Hamlin rated it:

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: absolutely EVERYONE!

I can't even begin to count how many times I've read "The Chronicles of Narnia." The truly amazing thing about these books is that each time you read them, they magically become more complex, more meaningful and more beautiful. I first read "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" when I was about seven or eight years old and I did not get it at all. Sure, I followed the story, but the deeper meaning was completely lost on me. Someone later told me that it was a Christian s...more I can't even begin to count how many times I've read "The Chronicles of Narnia." The truly amazing thing about these books is that each time you read them, they magically become more complex, more meaningful and more beautiful. I first read "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" when I was about seven or eight years old and I did not get it at all. Sure, I followed the story, but the deeper meaning was completely lost on me. Someone later told me that it was a Christian story and when I read the book again as a young teenager, I picked up on that element of it. In the many times I've read the books as an adult, I've come to find that the underlying meaning - not just of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe," but of the other books as well - becomes gradually clearer until you can't believe you didn't see it all along. The books are like Narnia itself, unfolding like an onion, layer upon layer, Narnia upon Narnia, but each layer is bigger and better than the one above it.

In order of the events that unfold in the story (but not in the order that the books were published), the Chronicles of Narnia include:

"The Magician's Nephew" - the Narnian creation story. Two children living in London are magically transported to other worlds and witness the dawn of Narnia. The story incorporates such familiar elements as a Tree of Knowledge and the fall of man.

"The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, four children living in England during World War II, stumble through a magic wardrobe and discover the land of Narnia, which has been ruled for hundreds of years by an evil White Witch who has cast a spell over the land so that it is always winter but never Christmas. With the help of Aslan, the great Lion, they seek to free Narnia. This is the most obvious Christian parable, as Aslan represents Jesus and the story parallels the Resurrection story.

"The Horse and His Boy" - Takes place during the Golden Age of Narnia, although most of the events unfold elsewhere, in the southern lands of Calormen and Archenland. Shasta, a Calormene fisherman's son, runs away when he hears his father negotiating to sell him into slavery. Together with two talking horses and a noble Calormene girl running away from an arranged marriage, he tries to get to Narnia. The book is a meditation on faith and the concept that God helps those who help themselves. It's also my favorite of the seven books.

"Prince Caspian" - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy return to Narnia to help young Prince Caspian recapture the throne of Narnia from his evil uncle Miraz. Not the most overtly religious of the stories.

"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" - Edmund, Lucy, and their obnoxious cousin Eustace, join Caspian, now King of Narnia, on a quest to find seven banished lords who had served his father. It doesn't seem all that religious until the end of the book, which encourages people to seek God in their own lives.

"The Silver Chair" - Eustace, whose personality has dramatically improved thanks to his time in Narnia, returns with his school friend Jill to search for Prince Rilian, Caspian's son who went missing ten (Narnian) years earlier.

"The Last Battle" - Eustace and Jill return again to Narnia to assist King Tirian, the last King of Narnia, in his final stand. The book is a parable of the End of Days, with chaos, confusion, war, unbelief and the worship of false gods. Tirian, Eustace, Jill and their friends can only hope that Aslan returns to Narnia to deliver them.

Read them, then read them again and again and again. You won't be sorry.
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11/02/07

fbuser571271748 rated it:

I went back and actually read the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time last year. (My parents read them to me when I was a kid). This is an amazing story, from one of the best English minds of the twentieth century. As a whole, this story was every bit as good as I had remembered.

That being said, however, I ran into some real problems reading this story as an adult in the 21st century. Starting with The Horse and His Boy, and culminating in The Last Battle, the issue of "Calo...more I went back and actually read the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time last year. (My parents read them to me when I was a kid). This is an amazing story, from one of the best English minds of the twentieth century. As a whole, this story was every bit as good as I had remembered.

That being said, however, I ran into some real problems reading this story as an adult in the 21st century. Starting with The Horse and His Boy, and culminating in The Last Battle, the issue of "Calormen" as obviously modeled on the Arab world, and their belief in the vengeful god "Tosh" as obviously modeled on the Muslim faith, is very serious indeed. I've read defenses of this--for instance, the fact that C.S. Lewis was a scholar of Medieval literature, which steeped him in a time dominated by fear of the Ottoman Empire and the ever-present threat of its overrunning Europe. Frankly, this just doesn't do it for me. At the end of the day, this story has to be read as imperfect fiction, but still with an unparalelled scope of imagination.

The other issue, of course is gender. There's the word of Father Christmas to Lucy in the first novel--"Battles are nasty afffairs when women fight"--which was totally glossed over in the recent film. And then there's the issue of Susan not being deemed worthy of living in the New Narnia, in effect, because she has become enamored with the trappings of being a mature female. This is also problematic, and there's no way around it. C.S. Lewis, like many other celebrated authors of the 20th century (Take Hemingway, for crying out loud!) seems to have some issues with integrating feminine power into his worldview, let alone his fiction.

Again, however, I think that for children, Lewis' power of storytelling and imagination far outweighs his dated (even for his own time) perspective on NonWestern cultures and femininity. The important thing is not to "censor" his work for our children, or deprive them of this wonderful story, but rather to add it to their mental tapestry, knowing its flaws, and the need for fantasy springing from other worldviews to supplement it.

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08/16/07

Jarod rated it:

A mostly well-written, very imaginative, thoroughly enjoyable read. The narration is warm and witty, the protagonists are well developed and likable but not perfect (written perfectly, but with flaws that give the stories depth), and the settings are vivid and fantastic (remember those loony one-footed invisible things that hop around? and the ending, when the boat sails over that undersea city and then into the clouds at the edge of the world?).

I'm always annoyed when people confou...more

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07/05/07

Carl rated it:

recommends it for: Fans of Fantasy, Tolkien, and MacDonald

I read this entire series multiple times when I was younger, I think near the end of elementary school or during Jr Hi, and actually got sick of it after too many reads and had to wait to rediscover it later on-- several times, in fact. The books are nice and short, yet each is a quality fantasy story, loaded, of course, with Lewis' exploration-in-fiction of man's relationship to diety and the world. Tolkien was always my favorite, but Lewis has his own particular approach to the fantastic whi...more I read this entire series multiple times when I was younger, I think near the end of elementary school or during Jr Hi, and actually got sick of it after too many reads and had to wait to rediscover it later on-- several times, in fact. The books are nice and short, yet each is a quality fantasy story, loaded, of course, with Lewis' exploration-in-fiction of man's relationship to diety and the world. Tolkien was always my favorite, but Lewis has his own particular approach to the fantastic which is just a beautiful-- it's a shame that Tolkien didn't go for the Narnia books, though I can understand why he didn't. For two such close friends, and with such similar tastes in material, they ended up speaking very different fictional languages. Lewis, of course, was a big fan of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion, but Tolkien was so much more militantly purist that it is no suprise that Lewis would find in Tolkien's work that "joy" which he found in the Norse myths. Lewis' Narnia, however, was more in the service of the fantastic as percieved by moderns, blending and borrowing to create a whole of the present moment, rather than pursuing the more reconstructionsist cohesion of Tolkien. Lewis, of course, remained more faithful to George MacDonald than Tolkien, and that shows: Narnia is a fantasy of the Victorians pulled into the Modern period. If I were to try to recover Tolkien's own perspective on the contrast, I would perhaps say that Narnia and MacDonald's creations were fantasies of a more effeminate, decadent age in which the "horns of Elfland" are a bit more shrill and prettified, in contrast to Middle Earth's masculine hardness and depth-- but typically my own perception of Narnia is much more positive, and I enjoyed these books very much. Maybe not really allegory, though I've heard them described as such (I think by Tolkien), but I can see how one would get that impression-- the world feels much more unabashedly fictional, in comparison to Middle Earth or most "gritty" fantasy that is out there today. This is not necessarily a bad thing, I think-- sometimes the more fictional the context, the brighter the human truths within that fiction.
Out of the series, I would have to say that my favorites are The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (how can you not love such a straightforward title! It spoils nothing, and yet is as pertinent as you can get), the Magician's nephew, and the Last Battle-- the last two because I like beginnings and ends, I think. The structure of the series itself is nice-- first you are pulled in by the plight and plot of children and world in the first book, then this is developed into a love affair with that world in the next few books, with the world itself becoming a character, then, having fallen in love, you behold the birth of your beloved in the Magician's Nephew, and finally, experience her death and redemption in the final book.

Okay, I had at least two or three other paragraphs, but apparently there is a 4000 character limit on these reviews-- which sucks! I'll try and spread out my CS Lewis comments over a few other reviews.(less)

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07/02/07

AJ Griffin rated it:

recommends it for: christians, people who love lions

When the Lion/Witch/Wardrobe movie came out a while ago, some dude accosted me and said "Dude, the fucking right wing media is trying to say that the Narnia books are all about fucking Christianity!!!"

No shit. I figured that out when I was 9.

But who cares? If you can't enjoy these books at all, there is no child alive inside of you. And if you've got no child inside you, you're not very much fun at all, are you?

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08/28/08

Amanda rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in January, 2004

recommends it for: children and adults with imagination and patience for juvenile fiction

I read this entire series on my lunch breaks while I was working as a framer at Hobby Lobby. I don't know that I would've read them at any other time in my adult life simply because they are a bit slow and too juvenile in parts, but altogether these are definately worth the read. They are very easy to read and very creatively done. It's easy to see the author's genius throughout the series. And I wish badly that I had read these as a child when my mind was more open. I know I would have loved th...more

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11/06/08

Rena rated it:

Every book a masterpiece--I enjoy them again and again...and the Christian symbols are part of what makes it great.

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08/28/07

Joy rated it:

Read in January, 1976

recommends it for: all ages

okay.... so I read this in high school but it remains my favorite all time books. CS Lewis is brillant in his symbolism regarding the characters.

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03/28/08

Ruth rated it:

I love how you can see Aslan as Jesus giving up his life for us. And the greater power or deaper magic that brings him back to life

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10/03/08

Mandi rated it:

recommended to Mandi by: I think some teacher when I was younger.
recommends it for: Everyone must read this at least once in your lifetime.

These books are brilliant. I've read them all in order and also different ones at various and random times.

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08/18/08

Luann rated it:

These books are AMAZING! They are a beautiful metaphor for the biblical story of Jesus's sacrifice for us.

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07/11/08

Lindsay rated it:

(review of isbn 0060598247)

Read in July, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Fair Warning:
I am reading (in some cases, rereading) this as an adult, one who is most decidedly Not Christian, and somewhat against religious children's books. If that doesn't describe you, your mileage will obviously vary. The following is very very long, as I sum up each book. Spoilers aplenty.

After seeing the new Prince Caspian movie this summer, I decided that, as a fan of both classic children’s literature and fantasy literature, I should really take another lo...more

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05/30/08

Terence rated it:

(review of isbn 0020442807)

bookshelves: sf-fantasy

Read in January, 1978

recommends it for: YAs & nostalgic adults who aren't too cynical (yet)

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

It's been over 10 years (at least, probably more) since the last time I read The Chronicles of Narnia. I've always felt a little bad about giving the entire series only 2 stars; I must have been in a particularly snarky mood the day I added it to my GR shelf. I think it definitely deserves at least 3 stars. They don't have the depth and complexity of his friend Tolkien's work but then Narnia was not quite the focus of Lewis' life as Middle Earth was Tolkien's. And, even if one can't accept the r...more

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06/27/07

Tina rated it:

(review of isbn 0060847131)

bookshelves: fantasy-books

Read in January, 1981

recommends it for: all

CS Lewis' Chronicles are a God-send in my world. Although I have listed 1981 as having read them... I have to say that I am constantly re-reading them. Different books for different moods/issues I'm having. I have found they rejuvenate my spirit and my faith. The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle have been read the fewest amount of times-2 each; I think this is because I found no common link with either of them. Voyage of the Dawn Treader has been my favorite, however Puddleglum from The Sil...more

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05/11/07

Ivy rated it:

(review of isbn 0060847131)

bookshelves: kiddie_lit, times_100_best, topshelf

Read in January, 1973

recommends it for: children of all ages

After reading the reviews here I'm glad to know I wasn't the only kid searching for a way into Narnia.

I first read and fell in love with the series in the fourth grade. I read them over and over and over. Sometimes in series order, sometimes in chronological order. At some point I started saving them for Christmas break. I would read them every year at Christmas break. My family, all non-readers, thought this was a bizarre quirk of mine but they tolerated it.

When...more

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quotes from this book

"It is as hard to explain how this sunlit land was different from the old Narnia as it would be to tell you how the fruits of that country taste. Perhaps you will get some idea of it if you think like this. You may have been in a room in which there was a window that looked out on a lovely bay of the sea or a green valley that wound away among mountains. And in the wall of that room opposite to the window there may have been a looking-glass. And as you turned away from the window you suddenly caught sight of that sea or that valley, all over again, in the looking glass. And the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real ones: yet at the same time they were somehow different - deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story: in a story you have never heard but very much want to know. The difference between the old Narnia and the new Narnia was like that. The new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more." More quotes...