Chronicles of Narnia 3 & 4 - The Horse and His Boy & Prince Caspian
The Horse and His Boy
Narnia… where horses talk and hermits like company, where evil men turn into donkeys, where boys go into battle… and where the adventure begins.
During the Golden Age of Narnia, when Peter is High King, a boy named Shasta discovers he is not the son of Arsheesh, the Calormene fisherman, and decides to run far away to the North - to Narnia. When he is mistaken for another runaway, Shasta is led to discover who he really is and even finds his real father.
I really am running out of things to say about these books. Really, aside from specifics, most of what I've already said about the first two apply to this one as well. I did feel that this one had a little more suspense, and seemed marginally better written, but only marginally. Much of it was still pretty lame. And I know this is partly a product of when he was writing, but I always find it just ever so slightly distressing when a writer - especially one with a known western/Christian bias - writes about what is obviously a more middle-eastern society, and portrays them as backwards, unlearned people. And writers of this sort of vintage especially do it all the time. I was at least relieved when it didn't become explicitly stated that the Narnians (the Christians) were better people than the Calormenes (the polytheistic heathens*), but it was implied all over the place, with their war-mongering, slave-holding, tyrannical, superstitious, etc. tendencies, while the Narnians were portrayed as being the free, gentle northerners. Not really a fan of that, but like I said, I can sort of make certain allowances for the time in which it was written. Just as well that Disney skipped making this movie, though, I think.
And now it's time for… Spot the Religious Symbolism! There were two that I spotted for sure, and one maybe. First, there was Aslan's discussion with Shasta while they walked toward Narnia. With Shasta complaining about all the crap he's been through, and Aslan telling him to suck it up, it was very reminiscent of Job. Particularly when Shasta asked Aslan who he was, and Aslan replied, "'Myself,' said the Voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook." Very Job-esque. The second one was in the explanation of what happened to King Lune's son Cor. Sending him off in a boat to be rescued by someone along the shore was a little reminiscent of how Moses avoided getting himself killed as a baby. Certain turns of phrase drew the parallels really well, but I'm afraid I can't find them anymore.
And the third one is a maybe. At one point, Aslan takes a swipe at Aravis's back, and when she asks him why later, he explains that each scratch represented a lash that Aravis's servant had received for losing Aravis. I don't have a specific bible story to reference, but it sounds very parable-like. So it might be one, or it might not. I'm not sure.
* Please read the intended sarcasm here.
Prince Caspian
Narnia… the land between the lamp-post and the castle of Cair Paravel, where animals talk, where magical things happen… and where the adventure begins.
Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are returning to boarding school when they are summoned from the dreary train station (by Susan's own magic horn) to return to the land of Narnia - the land where they had ruled as kings and queens and where their help is desperately needed.
Again, similar responses to the writing in general as for the first three books.
Specific things to note:
In The Magician's Nephew, it seemed that when Aslan created Narnia, he was in fact creating a new world. And in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, it also seemed that the world of Narnia consisted of nothing but Narnia, with no indication that there was anything else in this world. However, starting with The Horse and His Boy, suddenly Narnia is merely one country in some alternate world. And although having actual humans in Narnia was almost unheard of in those first two books, there are people all over the place from Book 3 on. So seriously, what's up with that? I do wish that Lewis had really thought some of these things through before he started writing this series, so he could be consistent from one book to the next (Although, as I recall from Book 1, he's not always that good about being consistent within the same book, so consistency over multiple books may be a bit too much to ask of the man).
Secondly, there's kind of some character assassination that goes on in this book. At one point, Lucy sees Aslan and believe he wants them to follow him. The others, however, don't see him, decide she's either delusional or making it up, and decide to go a different way, which of course doesn't work out well. I can kind of see this. The way they tried to go seemed like a better way than the one Lucy was advocating, and I can see how they might think she just thought she saw Aslan, or that she did see a lion, but that it might not necessarily be THE lion. Fine. However, when their chosen route doesn't work out, even Peter acknowledges that maybe, possibly Lucy might have been on to something when he congratulates her on not saying "told you so."
However. That night, Lucy wakes up in the middle of the night, and sees Aslan again. This time she actually talks to him, and he says that she really needs to follow him, and ideally get the others to as well, even though they might not be able to see him. This is where everyone suddenly gets stupid. Lucy goes back to their camp, wakes everyone up, and relates the above conversation. Now, despite the fact that it was stated explicitly in L,W&W that Lucy is not prone to either delusions or making stuff up, and despite the fact that not once in all four books up to this point have we the readers seen any evidence whatsoever that Lucy is anything but a remarkably level-headed child who has not once led the rest of them stray, despite these things, they all (except Edmund, who is apparently the only one with any recollection of any of their shared past) decide she's being childish and annoying. Susan especially, just becomes this huge condescending bitch about the whole thing, despite being probably the nicest of the four of them most of the time. WTF? Seriously, that whole chapter was just irritating, because they were all being so utterly and uncharacteristically stupid. I'm sure Lewis was going for dramatic tension or something, but seriously. You have to write characters' behaviour in a way that makes sense based on what you've already written about their history and character. This kind of inanity is just plain stupid.
My other complaint actually has nothing really to do with the writing, but rather with the drawing. You see, on the back cover of each of the books, there's a map of Narnia and surrounding countries (in whatever the heck world this actually is). Cair Paravel, where the four kids lived as kings and queens, when they arrive in this book, many many years after they left before, is on an island. It wasn't on an island before, but it's conceivable that it could be by this point, because it used to be on a peninsula. Except that whatever numbskull drew the map didn't bother to draw it thusly. Cair Paravel, in the map, is indeed by the coast, but not on anything resembling a peninsula. I don't ask for 100% perfect accuracy in fantasy maps, but something as basic as putting a major landmark on a peninsula if it's supposed to be on one? That is something I do ask for. So shame on whoever drew this map.
Next up: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader