I discovered The Chronicles of Narnia when I was six years old halfway through my first year of school. I had discovered the joys of our school library and I still remember the day and the exact shelf where I found The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It was the lowest shelf, the one that rested on the ground and I had to crouch down to wiggle the book out from amongst its peers. By the time I'd finished first grade I'd read them all and searched high and low for any book series that could be a More...

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, with the Witch More...

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

(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 Potter series. Lewis's lavish descriptions of fauns More...

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?

I read "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" when I was very young, and barely remember it. I never read the other books in the series. So now, as an adult, I'm reading the entire "Chronicles of Narnia." After a bit of Internet research, I decided to read them in order of publication, rather than the overall story's chronological order. I'll post individual reviews for each book, and slightly shorter opinions here.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: The first in "The Chronicles of Narnia" is More...

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 aroun More...

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 confound the qualit 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 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 obviousl 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 More...

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 the movie came out I took my f More...

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...

As a pre-teen/young teen I decided not to read these because they had to0 much magic. Yes, people-who-know-me, reel in shock! These weren't Christian enough for me! But now I love them... cue the quotes...

"But it is not, as some people think, an allegory" (“Letter to Sophia Storr,” in The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, vol 3, 1113).

"You are mistaken when you think that everything in the books ‘represents’ something in this world. Things do that in The Pilgrim’s Progress but I’m not writing in More...

I got hooked on this series in junior high school and never got over it. The Narnia series has it all. Stories of good versus evil, adventure, betrayal and redemption that both children and adults will enjoy. Although placed in the order of chronological events, I still tend to read them in the published order, mostly because that was how I read them originally. However, that is a matter of personal preference, and having them all in one single collection allows that leeway. All the books are cl More...

I really loved this series. What I liked most about it was how CS Lewis describes each character and their personalities. At some point in the series, you see yourself as the character's friend and not just a reader. My favorite character was Lucy. Why I like Lucy so much is because she is so faithful to Narnia and Aslan, and she never gives up on them. The first few books of this series are just an introduction to Narnia and to the main characters. In each book, the main characters Peter, Susan More...

When I first grabbed the book, my thought was, "Oh my! There's a whole lot to read." As you can see, I have watched the Chronicles of Narnia movies 1 to 3 (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of The Dawn Treader) before reading the book itself, and it was so thick!. So when I came across the 1st book, I was puzzled. I thought, "oh, so The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was not the first book." Which made me felt silly. Then I read on.

The Magician's Nephew was a del More...

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

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.

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

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

Having just discovered this I thought I might as well review this separately from the actual novels. This being the audio book version that I own.

I enjoy this audio book and compared to others I have heard it is of a decent quality. The positive of it is that I can of course carry it with me on an mp3 player and listen to it in the car or outside the house, enjoying the story of Narnia without the necessity of delving into a book or watching a film.

The sound effects and voice acting are general More...

Reviews of individual Narnia books, with plot spoilers:

The Magician's Nephew

Whiny little boy meets bad-ass little girl. Whiny boy takes girl through his creepy uncle's magic pool, and ends up in a few magical worlds. Things happen, and the Lion Who Was Jesus creates some new world. Cue BOOMNARNIA!!!! Things happen, magical evil queen comes to Narnia, finds magical tree with magical gold/silver/titanium/something apples. Kids defeat her, and uncle walks around saying MUMPHLE PUMPHY SHUMPH because More...

Who must a person be, to create a world where children, adults and aged people can live in? When I finished reading these series, I realized I might as well keep the books always at hand on my shelf, because I would reach out and read them constantly throughout the rest of my life.
And I guess that the best thing these books have taught me is that it's so easy to outgrow faith like you outgrow clothes once you leave your childhood behind. These stories, more than anything, encouraged me to keep More...

I received this book as a gift several years ago, and I've always wanted to read it, so why did it taken me so long to pick it up? Well for a start, it's quite big, as it contains all 7 books in the Narnia series, including 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe' and 'Prince Caspian'. The second reason is that I assumed that being a children's classic, it would be difficult to read, in the same way that I found 'Lord of the Rings' difficult.
Well, I decided it was a perfect book to take on holiday More...

I was in college the first time I read all the Chronicles of Narnia. Eight years later, I was ecstatic to get the whole set for free through the Goodreads first reader program. (Thanks to Harper Collins.) This time around I enjoyed them quite a bit more and understood the symbolism a little better. Rating on story alone I probably would give them three or four stars. But because all the stories are so deep in meaning and strike a chord with Christians everywhere, I've bumped the series up to AMA More...

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...

I have loved these books my whole life. They are frequently misread, I think, by people who insist that everything in Narnia has to "equal" something in our world (Aslan=Jesus, Calormens=Muslims, Tash=Satan, etc.) While Lewis is clearly writing about God, as I read it, he is imagining how the Christian God might reveal himself in another world rather than allegorizing our own. Aslan is not "Jesus," but rather the earthly aspect of God as he reveals himself in Narnia. The Calormens are not Muslim More...