I like
this one quite a bit, probably one of my favorites. It just has a lot going for it – a decent
narrative throughline, a nice eye for detail, and a number of engaging
characters, including a villain to rival the White Witch. Overall, I’d give this book a strong thumb’s
up.
One day
while being chased by bullies at school, Eustace and his classmate Jill Pole
are transported to Narnia. When the two
are temporarily separated, Aslan appears to Pole and tells her of their mission
– rescuing the lost Prince Rillian and returning him to Cair Paravel – along
with the signs that will guide them on their quest. The two children are aided by a gloomy
Marsh-wiggle named Puddleglum, but the mission is a difficult one, hampered at
almost every turn by their own mistakes.
While I
like all the Pevensies, I think Eustace and Pole in this book make the most
interesting combination of human kids in the series. While Eustace has certainly changed for the
better since he set off on the Dawn Treader, he can still be contrary and
irritable at times, and Pole is much the same.
As such, their faults get in the way of their quest a lot, and they have
to do a fair amount of backtracking and fixing when they screw up following the
signs due to their quarreling, complaining, or thinking they know best. Both are realistically flawed, and I enjoy
watching them both struggle to be better.
As for
the supporting characters, they’re few but excellent. I get an enormous hoot out of Puddleglum,
ever the resigned pessimist. His doleful
little monologues are great fun, but in addition to the humor, he’s actually a
really great, heroic character as well, doing everything he can to hold to
Aslan’s instructions and help the children despite his running commentary on
all the ways they’re likely to die. And
the Lady of the Green Kirtle really is the best villain the series has after
the White Witch – maybe even better, in my opinion. While the White Witch is certainly more
iconic and more destructive, there’s something seductively sinister about the
Lady of the Green Kirtle. Our heroes’
big scene with her is actually pretty chilling in the way she so gently
undermines everything they think they know.
And just
generally, it’s a good story. There’s a
clear-cut objective laid out near the start of the book, and it’s interesting
to follow the signs and see how they reveal themselves. There are good side trips, such as the
segment with the giants of Harfang, but they have a purpose for the story at
large as well as being entertaining in their own right. Additionally, some of the themes feel a
little more complex than in many of the books.
I’ve
heard that the book is (finally) being turned into a movie as a quasi-reboot of
the film franchise. Obviously, it’s been
too long for Will Poulter to reprise his role as Eustace, but it sounds like
Liam Neeson and some of the other cast might be back, as well as keeping the
general look and feel of the earlier films.
There’s been talk of it as the start of a “new” trilogy, but I’m not
sure how that would work. The Silver Chair, The Magician’s Nephew, and The
Last Battle (the actors who played the Pevensies ought to be a decent age
for the characters by the time they get to that one? There are four books left, but The Silver Chair and The Last Battle are the only two that
fit logically together. Of the remaining
books, The Magician’s Nephew is a lot
better (and less problematic) than The
Horse and His Boy, but it would feel a little weird slotted between the
other two. I’m intrigued but still
slightly puzzled.
Warnings
Scary
moments and some violence.
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