Ah, heavy hangs the head that wears the Narnian crown. If you're not being kidnapped or bewitched, someone's just flat-out planning to murder you. You'd wonder who'd ever want the job but Caspian basically gets this birthright dumped on his lap and like the Pevensies before him, he accepts the challenge though danger presses in from all sides. If Caspian is like an old school Pevensie, the real Pevensies, roughened around the edges from their return to "the Shadow-lands" (London and school) have become a whole lot like, well...kids. We see a whole new side to the lot as they show up late to the party, out of sorts and rather slow on the uptake. Unfortunately for Caspian, they're his reinforcements. Faith is the name of the game in this book. For Caspian, who has to trust these cranky schoolkids to pull through and for the Pevensies, who are rusty and Aslan-less when they need him the most. In an echo of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe the children's ranks are divided and who falls on which side will be very telling. Good for kids who will graduate to Tolkien's ring trilogy and don't mind extended campaigns and long treks.