Karl's Reading List

Published in an omnibus edition with the full Chronicles of Narnia series: " The Magician's Nephew "; " 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" , by Harper Collins Publishers: Hammersmith, London, 2010. Originally published 1956. The final book in the Narnia series, The Last Battle appropriates covers the events leading up to and surrounding the end of Narnia itself. The last king of Narnia, Tirian, and his close friend, the unicorn Jewel, enlist the help of Eustace and Jill to do battle against a "false Aslan" and an army of Calormenes. The book is different from the remainder of the Narnia series (aside from The Horse and His Boy ) in that it begins in Narnia, following Narnians, with no one from 'our' world arriving until quite a way in to the book. Even when they do ...

Published in an omnibus edition with the full Chronicles of Narnia series: " The Magician's Nephew "; " 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" , by Harper Collins Publishers: Hammersmith, London, 2010. Originally published 1952. Out of the three books adapted into movies by Walden Media, Voyage of the Dawn Treader as a book is the most different from its film adaptation. It does hit the majority of the same beats, but the movie combines various parts of the adventure, streamlines some elements (as movies must do when adapting a book) and makes a few subtle changes to certain elements (the appearance of Aslan as a lamb is removed, for example). Elise and I enjoyed debating which parts we preferred from the  book or movie. Overall, I think I prefer the book, especially the opening sentence, wh...

Published in an omnibus edition with the full Chronicles of Narnia series: " The Magician's Nephew "; " 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" , by Harper Collins Publishers: Hammersmith, London, 2010. Originally published 1951. Prince Caspian is probably my least-favourite book in the Narnia series. It does a lot of 'place-setting' by returning the Pevensies to Narnia, introducing Caspian and his line, setting up the next return to Narnia, showing us that each return will happen in a different manner and showing how time passes differently between Narnia and our world (in order of publication this is the first time we realise that!). And yet in the big scheme of things - and particularly in terms of the storyline for the Pevensies - not a lot actually happens in Prince Caspian : ...