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The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe

The Lion, The Witch And The WardrobeTitle: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Author: C.S. Lewis
Series: Chronicles of Narnia #1
Genre: Classic, Fantasy, Middle Grade
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 189
Reason Read: Just Because
Rating:

Also in this series: The Magician's Nephew, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Last Battle
My Thoughts

I’ve known the story of THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE for a while because I saw a TV adaptation of the book when I was young. This was, however, my first time ever reading the story. I had always liked the story and I really enjoyed reading it.

I thought the ending was kind of abrupt. One moment the Pevensies were in Narnia, the next moment they weren’t and the story was over. I had always thought the abruptness might be a symptom of the adaptation not being able to fit more of the story into the required amount of time. As I read the book, I realized how faithful the adaptation was to the storyline.

My two favorite characters were Lucy and Aslan. I think it’s obvious why Aslan’s one of them. Lucy’s one of them because I relate to her the most. She and I are both the youngest in our families, seen as small (her in stature, me in manner) but fierce, wear our hearts on our sleeves, think of others, and are especially fond of animals.

The thing I loved the most was the allegory aspects of the story. Aslan’s sacrifice was easy to correlate with Christian belief and it filled me with empathy for the suffering Aslan / Christ endured. I also noticed the wording surrounding the Deep Magic regarding Edmund’s treachery. Lewis termed the Deep Magic as “law” and when the White Witch and Aslan discussed what to do about Edmund, the White Witch said the law stated that anyone treacherous belonged to her. It immediately brought to mind an image of Satan and Christ bargaining over a wayward soul.

Update: The second time I read this series, I read it in publication order instead of chronological order. I think publication order is the right way to read this series as it helped me better understand and appreciate each book.

During my second read, I noticed that Lilith, Adam’s first wife in Jewish lore, was mentioned as part of the White Witch’s heritage. I actually love the Lilith lore and I love reading stories that include her in them.

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The Magician’s Nephew

The Magician’s NephewTitle: The Magician's Nephew
Author: C.S. Lewis
Series: Chronicles of Narnia #6
Genre: Classic, Fantasy, Middle Grade
Format: Paperback
Pages: 221
Reason Read: Buddy Read
Rating:

Also in this series: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Last Battle
My Thoughts

While I enjoyed reading THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW once the characters arrived in Narnia, I thought it was a bit boring and slow. I did enjoy reading about Aslan for the first time and I thought it was neat to read about the birth of Narnia and learn where the wardrobe came from.

2022 Reread

I didn’t remember much from my previous read 14 years ago, but I knew THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW followed the Professor as a young boy during the creation of Narnia. As I started rereading it, I realized that I’d forgotten or missed a lot of the story that first time through.

When I first read this story back in 2007, I didn’t know there was a published order and a chronological one. I made the mistake of reading this book first and I thought it was slow and boring. I also didn’t really get much out of it other than the origin of Narnia, the White Witch, and the wardrobe.

I wasn’t sure if reading the books in published order would make that much of a difference or not. However, I’m now a believer that everyone should read this series in published order. I enjoyed THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW so much more with the background of all that had already happened in the previous books. I also got more out of the allegory this time around.

The allegory’s my favorite part of the overarching story. I love trying to find meaning and connections with Christianity while reading each book. The allegory in this story aligns so much with my own beliefs that it made it a joy to read and it’s now one of my favorite books in the series.

The obvious connection to Christianity in this story is the creation, the Garden of Eden, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. I also thought it was interesting that Lewis alluded to the worlds without number that God has created in the Wood Between the Worlds.

I think this quote from this book sums up my reading experience quite nicely:

What you see and what you hear depends on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.

Anyway, after reading this story, I find myself looking forward to reading THE LAST BATTLE for the first time since I started the Narniathon.