The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis will be well known to many. A magical world of classic fantasy written for children, but enjoyable to any age group.
I am rereading the entire series and sharing succinct spoiler-free reviews. If you want some background to Narnia – it’s all in the first book review.
The reading order is open to debate. However, it’s being done in (Narnian) chronological order – and not the date they were published: The Magician’s Nephew (1955), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), The Horse and His Boy (1954), Prince Caspian (1951), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952), The Silver Chair (1953) and The Last Battle (1956).
Review Number: 20 (4 in Narnia series)
Review Date: 10 September 2020
Title: Prince Caspian
Author: C. S. Lewis
Country: United Kingdom
Publication Date: 1951
Genre: Fantasy
“This wasn’t a garden,” said Susan presently. “It was a castle…“
It’s funny how our memories play tricks on us. Some things are diminished in size, while others enlarged into something more powerful.
In this fine tale the four children from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are summoned and return to Narnia.
I always recalled the opening scenes of Prince Caspian as more evocative as they walked through the ruins of a place that clearly once contained immense grandeur. Lewis still weaves an engaging intro, but it is not quite the same for me this time around. That fault is all mine.
As the plot develops, the clever youngsters soon find out that while a year has passed in their home of England, an incredible 1,300 years have passed in Narnia.
It’s interesting in how they have to deal with this passage of time. A modern writer would make them have panic attacks or some other tiresome drama that took 20 pages to get through. People in the 1950s were far tougher, flexible and pragmatic.
Anyway, the children have been called upon to help this noble prince and the battle for his crown. It’s quite a serious story at times. Death, betrayal and corruption are evident. The talking animals and mythical creatures are subject to repression, and a war looms.
But this grave mood is probably not a problem to intelligent readers. Children don’t want or expect stories of constant sweetness and fluffy antics. Think of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books or Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series (some were for a younger audience) – both are brilliant, and both had moments of solemnity.
While this is a concise review, don’t be fooled as the story has a lot of depth considering it is for children.
I’m not going to reveal the end, but let’s just say that Lewis provides a fitting conclusion to this epic fantasy with wise comments on age and how life inevitably changes.
“It must have got lost when we blundered back into that other place – England, I mean.”