The strongest of the three "Chronicles of Narnia" books I've read so far, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" opens with a wonderful first line: "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." Eustace, a cousin to the four Pevensie children, who the first two books focused on, is the designated asshole in this entry, taking up the mantle carried by Edmund in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and Susan in "Prince Caspian."

I've complained about this trope in my other reviews, but I don't have as much of a problem with it this time around because Eustace is so wonderfully bitchy. With the way he talks about his cousins Edmund and Lucy, as well as the Narnians on board the Dawn Treader, particularly in his diary entries, Eustace comes across as a younger, slightly less gay Noel Coward. It's actually a bit of a loss for us, the readers, when he's eventually reformed, just as Edmund and Susan were in the earlier books, and stops being deliciously catty was a result.

Most of "Voyage" is comprised of a series of set pieces that demonstrate what a lively imagination C.S. Lewis had: the kidnapping by slave traders, Eustace's transformation into a dragon and back into a boy, the pool that turns whatever touches it to gold, the sea people, and the edge of the world. This is both "Voyage"'s strength and its weakness: the scenes are inventive, but the overall story is not terribly cohesive. Rather than threading the pieces together artfully, Lewis tells more of a this-happened-then-that-happened story.

The writing, especially the dialogue, remains strong, and is even a bit better than in the first two books. (There's a funny line early on in the book when the then-bitchy Eustace disappears and Reepicheep, who's none too fond of him, immediately vows to avenge his murder -- apparently hoping he were, in fact, murdered.)

OK, on to "The Silver Chair."