The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia)Author: C.S Lewis
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 189
Release Date: January 2nd, 2008 (first published Oct 16th 1950)
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: They open a door and enter a world
NARNIA...the land beyond the wardrobe, the secret country known only to Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy...the place where the adventure begins. Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first, no one believes her when she tells of her adventures in the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund and then Peter and Susan discover the Magic and meet Aslan, the Great Lion, for themselves. In the blink of an eye, their lives are changed forever.Review: Now first off, I refuse to mark this book as #2 in the series because technically, it is #1. It was written first and long before The Magicians Nephew which is often hailed as first in the series. This is like, for me... saying that The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare, is the first book in The Mortal Instruments series because it takes place before City of Bones. Simply not the case.
So, if you are a Chronicles of Narnia virgin, DO NOT reach The Magicians Nephew first, it holds the answers to questions you will only be able to ask once you have read this book.
Now. This book is pure magic. Welcome to England, WWII where the Pevensie siblings are being evacuated from London to a home in the country to live with strangers for their own safety. This is a particularly personal subject for me as this is precisely what happened to my Grandmother and her siblings so the more I read the book, I often imagine her, and what she must have been going through torn away from her parents and sent to a strange house in an unfamiliar place.
So we meet the four Pevensies, in order of age we have Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. It becomes clear, even in the beginning their roles in their group. Peter and Susan are the eldest and so they take on the parental roles that they are all missing. Edmund has classic middle child syndrome.
So we begin our story. Stuck in this scary unfamiliar home full of mystery the children begin to play hide and seek because it's raining outside. In this game, Lucy, the youngest and most naive, finds a hiding spot in an old wardrobe in an empty room. As she backs into the wardrobe she finds herself backing into a forest, and VOILA she's in Narnia!
What is Narnia you ask? A magical land full of witches, fauns, talking beavers, talking foxes, talking evil wolves and most importantly talking lions, Aslan.
Our resident TRUE KING and otherwise a 'myth' to the current people of Narnia. See, The White Witch, crazy kid, decided she wanted to take over Narnia for herself, so when Aslan took off, she took the opportunity and froze the entire kingdom! So it is Always Winter but never Christmas :( how sad. So Narnians have to suffer through this eternal cold while they wait for their King to return.
Oh yes, I should mention this book is obviously full of Christian imagery if you know the Bible any, but if not just a really great magical read.
Turns out Lucy is a human girl! or as they call her 'Daughter of Eve' which is part of a Narnian propechy. That Two sons of Adam and Two daughters of Eve would come to Narnia and bring Aslan back. Huh, 2 sons and 2 daughters? The Pevensies have that!
Oh man, don't you just love when you accidentally stumble into being the core participant of a prophecy you never even knew about?
I need to play more hide and seek!
So Miss Lucy, stumbles back to the lampost that marks her wardrobe location, stumbles out to find that no time has passed at home! She had been gone for hours being nearly kidnapped by a sneaky faun drugging her tea and her siblings hadn't even noticed, now that's messed up.
She tells them what happened but when they go to check, whoops there is no forest in the wardrobe. They think she's lying, or making it up. Then, sneaky middle child Edmund wanders his own way into the wardrobe after following Lucy to check is she has really got nutballs. Surprise Edmund! She was telling the truth. Of course our bitter, selfish, middle child ends up running into the worst person possible, The White Witch. Now she seduces him with sweets and cocoa (Turkish Delight to be exact) and convinces him to bring his siblings to Narnia and she'll make him her heir.
Right about now is where you want to scream SHES GOING TO KILL YOU ALL EDMUND DON'T DO IT! but who is he to listen to you right? Here is where the journey truly begins as both younger siblings lure their older ones into Narnia and they begin their quest to fulfill their prophecy.
Favorite Quotes:
"I hope no one who reads this book has been quite as miserable as Susan and Lucy were that night; but if you have been - if you've been up all night and cried till you have no more tears left in you - you will know that there comes in the end a sort of quietness. You feel as if nothing is ever going to happen again" - Narrator
“He'll be coming and going" he had said. "One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion."
“Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written.” -Aslan
"Always winter, never Christmas" - Mr. Tumnus
Recommendation: I truly believe that every must read this book at least once in their lives. It is full of magic, purpose, imagination and beautiful imagery. It is my favorite book of all time, the first book I truly LOVED and that is certainly saying something as I've read many books. I can read it over and over again and always find something new.
