Prince Caspian (1951)

It’s hard to say for sure, but from a plot standpoint, this might be my favorite of the Narnia books in my reread thus far (like I said, though, can’t be sure – I have so much more exposure to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that it’s hard to gauge it accurately compared to the others.)  The story goes some interesting places, and there’s some good stuff for the Pevensies as well as the major Narnian characters introduced here (premise spoilers.)

A year after the events of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are called back to Narnia.  They find themselves in a Narnia that’s nearly foreign to the land they knew – centuries have passed, and their time as kings and queens there now falls somewhere between history and legend.  They’ve been called by the young Prince Caspian, who is on the run from his usurper uncle with an eye for Caspian’s blood.  The four children do what they can to aid Caspian, and the Narnians who’ve rallied behind him, in ridding Narnia of the cruel ruler and proving that the old magic, and Aslan, is still with them.

I couldn’t remember this book very well in comparison to the movie, and there were a few bits that I was pleasantly surprised to discover weren’t wholly invented by the film, such as the anachronistic amusement of using Edmund’s flashlight in Narnia (although the movie plays with that a lot more) and the kids being thwarted by how much Narnia’s physical geography has changed in the centuries since they’ve been there.  As I expected, though, there’s not nearly as much about how the Pevensies feel being regarded as kids when they used to be the kings and queens of this place – as such, they fall far more easily into their old roles and are treated as such (this isn’t technically a fault of the book, since it came first, but I still like that side of the movie and miss it here.)

But there’s plenty of other good stuff to be had.  Narnians in hiding, believed by many Telmarines to be mythic, is a cool idea, and while Caspian’s backstory is incredibly Hamlet-esque in a kid-friendly way, it’s presented pretty well.  Also, more effort is made into showing the difficulties of Caspian and the Narnians being at war with Miraz – none of this “one day of battle and the whole thing’s sorted” business.  And even though it would have been more interesting to me to see the kids trying to reconcile who they used to be in Narnia with who they are now, I do like the notion of how just physically being in Narnia starts to work on them, making them fitter and more regal the longer they’re there.

The cast of supporting and background Narnians rounds out the story nicely.  Trumpkin, Trufflehunter, and Reepicheep are the obvious standouts, but I also appreciate the comic touches from Wimbleweather and Bulgy Bear, and Nikabrik’s inclusion makes matters a little less clear-cut than “all Narnians good, all non-Caspian Telmarines bad” – the scene with the Hag and the Were-Wolf is quite chilling.

Warnings

Scary moments, battle violence, and thematic elements.