Sign in with Facebook
Patrick's Reviews > Prince Caspian
Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia, #2)
by C.S. Lewis
by C.S. Lewis
Patrick's review
bookshelves: best-books-for-kids, books-i-read-growing-up
Jan 04, 2016
bookshelves: best-books-for-kids, books-i-read-growing-up
Read from January 04 to 13, 2016
I read this aloud to my older boy, age 6.
It's a good book, and he enjoyed it, but didn't ring the bell in the same way Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe did. I think the biggest reason for this, was that it wasn't as accessible to him.
The first issue was the non-linear story. Which has the potential to confuse. Later, Lewis splits the party in a way that divides the action in the story.
But the biggest issue is that the characters lapse into archaic, courtly English when the a bunch of the people are talking at the end of the book. (Because the siblings used to be kings and queens, and they're talking with the nobility of the Telemarines.)
It's not just unfamiliar language to children. It's unfamiliar and archaic language. (Doubly archaic now, as Lewis wrote these 50 years ago.) My boy couldn't follow it at all, as there were 2-4 unfamiliar terms used in every sentence, and context can only stretch so far.) Because of that, Oot couldn't understand whole sections of the climax of the book, when the Telmarines were talking among themselves, and planning on betraying their king. (A vital plot point he couldn't get because it was only made explicit in this dialogue.)
As a result, I had to skim, skip, or summarize big chunks of the book so he could get it. Maybe in a year or two, he would have been fine. (Also, keep in mind that my boy is extremely vocabulary. We've been reading to him since he was six months old. Results with your own child may vary.)
Sexism a little more present here, but not oppressive or malicious. Still, you can't deny that the boys go off to duel and do battle stuff, while the girls hang out with Aslan and go wake the trees.
This book had better characters that the first book of the series. Nikabrik is a great example of a good guy gone bad. Trumpkin and Trufflehunter are great as well.
But Reepicheep is the real star here. Perhaps the best character in all of Narnia, excepting Aslan himself.
Lastly, and mostly as a side note, Lewis really knocked it out of the park in terms of names. Nikabrik is a great name for a venomous black dwarf. Glenstorm the proud centaur. Wimbleweather the dim but kind giant.
And Reepicheep, of course. I don't know if a name has ever fit a character better than "Reepicheep" does....
It's a good book, and he enjoyed it, but didn't ring the bell in the same way Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe did. I think the biggest reason for this, was that it wasn't as accessible to him.
The first issue was the non-linear story. Which has the potential to confuse. Later, Lewis splits the party in a way that divides the action in the story.
But the biggest issue is that the characters lapse into archaic, courtly English when the a bunch of the people are talking at the end of the book. (Because the siblings used to be kings and queens, and they're talking with the nobility of the Telemarines.)
It's not just unfamiliar language to children. It's unfamiliar and archaic language. (Doubly archaic now, as Lewis wrote these 50 years ago.) My boy couldn't follow it at all, as there were 2-4 unfamiliar terms used in every sentence, and context can only stretch so far.) Because of that, Oot couldn't understand whole sections of the climax of the book, when the Telmarines were talking among themselves, and planning on betraying their king. (A vital plot point he couldn't get because it was only made explicit in this dialogue.)
As a result, I had to skim, skip, or summarize big chunks of the book so he could get it. Maybe in a year or two, he would have been fine. (Also, keep in mind that my boy is extremely vocabulary. We've been reading to him since he was six months old. Results with your own child may vary.)
Sexism a little more present here, but not oppressive or malicious. Still, you can't deny that the boys go off to duel and do battle stuff, while the girls hang out with Aslan and go wake the trees.
This book had better characters that the first book of the series. Nikabrik is a great example of a good guy gone bad. Trumpkin and Trufflehunter are great as well.
But Reepicheep is the real star here. Perhaps the best character in all of Narnia, excepting Aslan himself.
Lastly, and mostly as a side note, Lewis really knocked it out of the park in terms of names. Nikabrik is a great name for a venomous black dwarf. Glenstorm the proud centaur. Wimbleweather the dim but kind giant.
And Reepicheep, of course. I don't know if a name has ever fit a character better than "Reepicheep" does....
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Prince Caspian.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
| 01/04/2016 | marked as: | read | ||
| 01/04/2016 | marked as: | currently-reading | ||
| 01/04/2016 | page 54 |
|
25.0% | "Oot is digging the second book of the series. Very actively engaged in the story, remembering character's names and details better than I do sometimes...." 8 comments |
| 01/05/2016 | page 102 |
|
47.0% | "Reepicheep is a badass." 8 comments |
| 01/08/2016 | page 150 |
|
69.0% |
"Reading through as an adult, I realized that structurally, this story is vastly more complicated than The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Lewis has a story-in-a-story that spans about a third of the book. Then later on, he splits the boys and Caspian into one group, and girls and Aslan, into another, giving the story a non-linear Chronology. It works. But I don't think that happens in the other books...." 3 comments |
| 01/10/2016 | page 175 |
|
81.0% |
"The scene I remembered most from this book before I started to read it was the one where Nikabrik the dwarf brought in a werewolf and a hag and tried to convince Caspian to call on the White Witch for help. The scene is actually as dark and scary as I remember it, which isn't always the case. It's really good writing. Very dramatic. Really good language." 4 comments |
| 01/11/2016 | page 200 |
|
92.0% | "Reepicheep looses his tail, then all the other mice get ready to cut off their tails too, because they refuse to keep the honor of a tail if their leader doesn't have his. Honestly? It's the best scene in the book. Reepicheep might be the best character in the book. Or maybe that's just me...." 19 comments |
| 01/13/2016 | marked as: | read | ||
Comments (showing 1-19 of 19) (19 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Macklin
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
Jan 12, 2016 04:41PM
Reepicheep is the best!
reply
|
flag
*
I read TLTWTW to my 6 year old last month and started "A Horse and His Boy", but she jut not as interested. Maybe we should move on to this instead.
If he is six try listening to the the Focus on the Family radio theater broadcast version. We take it on all our road trips with the kids. They are teens now and still ask us to listen to them.
Heather wrote: "I read TLTWTW to my 6 year old last month and started "A Horse and His Boy", but she jut not as interested. Maybe we should move on to this instead."You should start with The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. That's the proper beginning for the story.
In my opinion, this is one of the worsht books of Narnia.My favourites are the ones like "A horse and his boy", but anyway this one is quite good.
Waiting to hear which one is your favourite!
I had a similar experience reading these to our kids and think the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is accessible to a younger audience than the rest of the Narnia stories. A couple of years later they were ready for the others. If you start kids on the books at a later age (say between age 8-10), they will likely rip through all of them. But if you start as soon as they are ready for TLTWTW, they are likely to be bored or otherwise put off by the pacing, plot and language of the rest of the series.
I agree with you on Prince Caspian not "ringing the bell". Don't stop though, I think Dawn Treader and Silver Chair are two of the best.... especially on audiobook
I agree with Karl- I read this to my pack of 4, ranging in ages from 3 to 8... losing the younger 3 to boredom induced sleep within pages of each chapter. My 8 year old, followed my reading so closely that she was spontaneously guessing where the story was going throughout the entire thing. I feel like age plays a huge role in the enjoyment of these stories.
I will agree as well -- my 8 year old was not impressed with Prince Caspian as much -- but the Silver Chair was (and is) a favorite.
. . . and Puddleglum is a lot of fun to read aloud.
I wasn't so into this one as a kid (apart from Repicheep). I remember being glad the BBC miniseries condensed this and Voyage into one story. I should re-read and see how I feel as an adult. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Silver Chair were always my favorites.
I love Reepicheep. Perfect mouse name. :)
I have read this to classrooms. Where Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe I'd happily read to 6-7 year olds, Prince Caspian I'd wait until 9-10 years old. Even then it still requires an uncomfortable break to explain some of the plot to many, if not most, of the students.
Need to read the Narnia series again as an adult. When I was a child I got mad about the bible references...
I wish I was extremely vocabulary
Of all the Narnia books, Prince Caspian is my favorite. I wore apart my copy by re-reading it when I was a kid and had to buy another copy. So, for clarity, I'm biased.The only thing I wanted to say is about the "sexism". Sure, there's some there ... The book was written in 1951, however, and I think it's impressive how progressive it was at the time.
I remember the scene when the kids show up an rescue Trumpkin; when they have the archery contest and Susan beats him soundly. Then he tells Lucy that his scar isn't something for "little girls" to see, but catches himself: (quoting from memory here so it may be wrong) "... What am I saying? I suppose you're as fine a surgeon as your sister is an archer or your brother a swordsman..."
This book made it clear that women can be strong and heroes in their own way. I know that it cast them in certain "types" of roles (i.e. not swordswomen), but considering the era it was written in ... I wonder what we'll look back on in 50 years and be unbelievable that we had those stereotypes ingrained in our psyches.
Reepicheep was such a great character, little appearance but what a mark it has!
I just finished reading this to my 6 year old. He seemed to understand most of it, though I think he missed some of the smaller details. I agree that the language is archaic and I found it hard to read aloud at a nice cadence. Do you have any other book recommendations for that age?
