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A review by librarian_nic
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.25
I loved the Lion Witch and the Wardrobe from childhood. Having never listened to the books before, it was nice to understand the origin story of how Jadis invaded the country and how Narnia was created. After Voyage of the Dawn Treader, truthfully I lost interest… yet Icould not stop listening in order to know what came next.
Cringeworthy moments: descriptions of Calormen and their culture. It was a clear bias to Christian culture versus ‘barbarism’, praising God over Allah. Comparison of the cultures also played on pale /white is good and brown/dark skin is evil. *SHUDDER.* Yes, I know the books were written in the 50s with an entirely different understanding of world cultures but good lord.
HOWEVER: Lewis did momentarily redeem himself in my eyes in the last book by talking about having faith in one’s god was enough to welcome someone into Aslan’s country (that’s how I read it at least).
Also, what the heck was that ending in the Last Battle?! It was lovely to have characters reunited, but the lack of action after so much build up drew me right out of the story.
Cringeworthy moments: descriptions of Calormen and their culture. It was a clear bias to Christian culture versus ‘barbarism’, praising God over Allah. Comparison of the cultures also played on pale /white is good and brown/dark skin is evil. *SHUDDER.* Yes, I know the books were written in the 50s with an entirely different understanding of world cultures but good lord.
HOWEVER: Lewis did momentarily redeem himself in my eyes in the last book by talking about having faith in one’s god was enough to welcome someone into Aslan’s country (that’s how I read it at least).
Also, what the heck was that ending in the Last Battle?! It was lovely to have characters reunited, but the lack of action after so much build up drew me right out of the story.