The Silver Chair is the fourth book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. It is the first book that does not involve the key characters of the Pevensie children; instead their cousin Eustace Scrubb takes a second trip to Narnia, along with a school fellow named Jill Pole. Chronologically The Silver Chair takes place many years after Eustace and Lucy’s visit to Narnia in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader and some read it as the sixth rather than fourth book of the series.

From the start The Silver Chair has a more adult feel to it, the book opens with an explanation of Jill’s distress at school as she is being bullied and this dark and somewhat disturbing tone continues – for the most part – throughout the book. This makes for a real change compared to the previous books in the series which have an almost irritating innocence about them, whilst The Silver Chair boasts awe inspiring descriptions of the views across great summits and twisted and creepy travels through underground caves.

It can not be denied that the book is still very religious, however for those readers who do not find this particularly appetizing it can almost be overlooked on several occasions when Aslan is portrayed as more of a helping hand than a religious entity.

The Silver Chair includes some truly monstrous moments, including a murderous witch and man eating giants, yet these tales are still very tame by today’s standards and although they allude to some rather dark material the book remains a children’s story above all else. It is the first book in the series that stands strong throughout its length, whilst The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe becomes tedious and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is more like a collection of short stories The Silver Chair combines the extended adventure narrative of the first two books with the strength of plot of the third.

A large part of the books’ strength is derived from the absence of some characters; the four children of the original story, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, were particularly dated and insincere, whilst Jill Pole has a certain level of guts and personality. Her distress is written in such a way as to make her easy to relate to and above all human; where the Pevensie children before her have a sickly sweet air about them.

The writing style of the book continues to stink of the date of its publication however, which can make for quite cumbersome reading in places and adds to the infantile nature of the overall piece. Yet where the previous books would have skimmed over some of the terrors of the magical world The Silver Chair becomes almost indulgent at times. Even – albeit unspeakably brief – moments of suspense pepper the pages when, just for an instance, you fear that Jill and Eustace might not make it home after all.

The Silver Chair is still undeniably a children’s story, with an air of religious allegory about it, but, for the first time, Lewis has on offer a slightly darker lion with a little bit of bite.

The third book in the Chronicles of Narnia series is in my opinion the best of all seven books. It tells the story of Lucy and Edmund and their cousin Eustace in his first voyage to Narnia. Whilst visiting during the summer holidays the three children find an entrance to the magical land of Narnia through a painting of a great ship upon strange seas.

Prior to their entrance to Narnia through the painting in the guest room Eustace had mocked Lucy and Edmund about their tales of Narnia; he is a spoilt and cowardly boy who doesn’t believe in Narnia or the great lion that protects it; Aslan.

The children find themselves aboard The Dawn Treader, the ship of Narnia’s boy king Caspian X. Caspian, who was introduced in the second book of the series, is searching for the remainder of his father’s outcast lords, who fled during the rebellion lead by Caspian’s evil uncle. Three years have past since Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy had aided Caspian in re-taking his father’s throne and peace has been established throughout Narnia.

The ship lands at an island where the children and king are captured and sold into slavery; only to discover that the man who bought Caspian is in fact one of his lost lords. Caspian removes the greedy governor of the Lone Islands from power and decrees that Lord Bern, his father’s lost lord, take his place. Lord Bern and Caspian then help to reinstate the laws and ways or Narnia to the Lone Islands, primarily by abolishing the slave trade that flourishes there. Caspian learns that the other missing lords continued their voyage on beyond the Lone Islands.

The next island the ship visits appears to be deserted and Eustace, after wandering off, finds himself face to face with a dragon; Eustace, who has become separated from the rest of the children, witnesses the dragon’s death and then enters the monsters cave to find it full of gold and treasure. Eustace puts on a beautiful gold bracelet and falls asleep in the cave. Upon waking he discovers that over night he has been transformed into a dragon.

Eustace is forced to beg his comrades for help as he discovers he is trapped in his new dragon form. He attempts to explain to his cousins that it is he, Eustace, in the form of a dragon; however he is unable to speak and struggles to write. Finally, once his fellows realise it is him Eustace finds himself determined to make amends for his previously selfish behaviour and helps Caspian and his crew to rebuild damaged parts of the Dawn Treader. Soon Caspian realises that the golden bracelet that was still stuck around Eustace’s arm belonged to another of the missing lords, Octesian; and the group speculate that the dragon Eustace saw earlier probably killed the lord, or that he may have undergone the same fate as Eustace and been turned into a dragon himself. This part of the children’s adventure builds up a large sense of tension and intrigue, however predictable the outcome may be; however it fizzles out all of a sudden as eventually, once Eustace has changed into a more generous and helpful person Aslan appears and helps turn him back into a boy again. Those more accustomed to reading modern fantasy literature would expect some kind of epic quest to befall Eustace in which he would prove his worth, but this simply never comes to fruition. This problem plagues the rest of the book.

On the next island, which they name Deathwater, the children find a pool at the bottom of which lays what appears to be a statue of gold. They learn quickly however that it is in fact the body of a third lord, who had been turned to gold and drowned in the waters. They stop at other islands where Lucy finds herself involved in mysterious sorcery and another island where sinister dreams come true. Along the way the ship is also attacked by a huge sea serpent and they encounter Aslan again.

Lucy’s brief time as a scarceness is another strong area within the book, each encounter on the various islands would serve well as a stand alone story and the individual nature of their telling almost serves this purpose. However, as with the first two books the high expectations for the resolution of the stories are somewhat of a let down as it all happens far too quickly, with a swift visit from Aslan that sweeps all the problems away.

Finally when the ship has passed all these islands it finds itself in an immense darkness; this part of the book is undoubtedly the most intriguing and potentially scary encounter the children face. Lewis writes with a darkness and suspense that rivals many an accomplished horror author, yet the children simply flee the darkness rather than probing further into its depths. Once again readers are robbed of the adventure and resolution they would expect.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is by far the best of all the Narnia books, the third in the series; it is sometimes published as the fifth book due to the chronological order of the tales. The nature of the disparate and broken up stories lends itself very well to the moralistic and metaphorical edge of Lewis’ writing and provides the author with an opportunity to truly showcase his talent for descriptive writing and tension building. As a writer Lewis has a fantastic ability to write, it is understandable why he is so popular, however it is hard to judge if it is the fault of the writer or of the content that leaves the ending somewhat lacking. It may be that Lewis has a problem with writing endings, as many writers do, or it may be that the devout nature of his writing simply does not allow for much elaboration on the resolution front; Aslan, as a metaphor for God and Jesus, resolves the children’s problems and it may only be the cynical modern reader who needs more to satisfy themselves.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C. S Lewis

First published in 1950 this fantasy series tells the story of four children: siblings Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy who find their way into a magical snow covered kingdom called Narnia, where animals speak and trees’ dance.

Lucy is the first to find her way into Narnia, stumbling across it while playing with her brothers and sister. There she meets Mr Tumnus; a fawn, half goat, half man; who tells her about the evil white witch who currently rules Narnia. It is she who has doomed the place to an everlasting winter, where it is bitterly cold and Christmas never comes. Tumnus tells her of a prophecy whereby the evil queen will only be beaten when four humans – “two Sons’ of Adam and two Daughters’ of Eve” – arrive in Narnia.

Lucy’s siblings do not believe her when she tells them of this wonderful place, found only by pushing past ancient and moth ridden coats at the back of a wardrobe. It is not until after Edmund has found his way into Narnia and been tempted with Turkish delight by the evil queen and finally all four children entering the wood together, do they realise that Lucy was not lying.

Upon her third visit to the magical country Lucy discovers that her friend Mr. Tumnus has been taken by the white queen and turned to stone for hiding the fact that he met a Daughter of Eve in the forest. It transpires that the white witch turns her captives to stone, so that her castle is filled with once living statues. The children are horrified by this and determined to find and rescue Tumnus that is all save Edmund who has been tricked by the witch. The other three children then find themselves in the company of a great lion named Aslan, who they will help to overthrow the queen and bring back spring to Narnia.

For anyone who did not know, of whom I imagine there are few, the Narnia books are notoriously a Christian allegory for the fall of man, original sin and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. If you didn’t know that when you picked up the book, you would certainly know it by the end. Although no direct comparisons are ever made the book is somehow still relentlessly devout and the religious aspect of the story can be a little off putting for the atheists among us.

You can hardly name this as a flaw of the book however, as it accomplishes exactly what Lewis set out to upon writing it; and without this allegory the book would lack its biggest strength: the plot. The entire Narnia series is entirely rooted in its plot, which pulls you into the pages and winds you into fabric of the fable. Miraculously Lewis manages to keep you turning page after page after page, totally in spite of the fact that for the first two thirds of the book almost nothing seems to happen. The children simply spend their time discovering Narnia and learning the prophecies surrounding themselves and Aslan and then travelling to meet him. It is not until the final third of the book that the battle between Aslan and the white queen finally begins. Even this bout of action is short lived as before you know it Lucy and Susan are accompanying Aslan as he sacrifices himself on the great Stone Table at the hands of the queen.

His resurrection and actions after this point seem also to speed by with little of mention occurring. He frees his prisoners and together he and the children defeat the evil queen and her warriors, but there is no drama or tension in the words. They seem more like acts being recounted rather than genuine experiences. Lucy finds Tumnus as a statue in the witch’s’ great castle, and Aslan breathes upon him and he is reawakened; but you aren’t even treated to that moment in the book, it simply happens somewhere off stage, explained away in a sentence or two as the narrative ploughs forward. It is in instances like this that you feel as though very little has happened; it can almost leave you feeling a little cheated in the end.

The lack of action does not affect the skilful, precise and engaging writing style of Lewis however, and it is this aspect of the book that keeps the reader interested. After a while Lewis’ writing can become a little grating, particularly when the children of the book are involved. He has an unfortunate habit of patronizing his readers by taking a step away from the narrative and addressing the audience directly, rather than utilizing the experiences of the characters to build the reader’s understanding. This style of writing also dates the book incredibly, the conversations between the characters seems forced whilst their speech is un-natural and leaves the characters appearing stunted and unbelievable.

The complete lack of characterisation is the books biggest flaw; the absence of any singular personalities making it almost impossible to emotionally engage with the narrative. Thus, upon Aslan’s death when Lucy and Susan are beside themselves with grief and wonder all at once you can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable, as though you are intruding upon their tragedy. Surely this is not what Lewis had intended, rather you get the impression that he hoped to make the story of Christ a far more emotive experience with his books but it simply falls short.

All of this leaves you feeling a little unsatisfied upon the books’ closure, and it is only the vague intrigue brought by the words of the children’s fosterer, the Professor. Yet you will probably find yourself having enjoyed the story upon completion; the way it draws you in is strange and mysterious and yet complete and ingenious.