Book: The Voyage of The Dawn Treader, part 5, The Chronicles of Narnia
Author: C.S.Lewis
Ratings: 10/10
First of all, I’ll begin by saying that this is the best book of the Narnia series, though I have at times preferred the second and the third parts a bit more. And not only is this the best book of the Chronicles of Narnia, but I would go further and rate it as one of the best adventure books, at least I have ever read.
For those who have not read the earlier parts of the Chronicles... I would recommend you to stop this review right here and read the earlier parts first. Or if you still want to read on, I’ll give a short summary of what happens in the earlier parts.
Narnia is a completely different world from ours created by Aslan, the Lion (who is a Christ-like figure) and the inhabitants of Narnia are Talking Animals, Dwarves, fauns, dryads, hamadryads and sometimes humans (see The Magician’s Nephew). Four children from our world (Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund) had stumbled into Narnia once and became the kings and queens of the land, after helping Aslan defeat the Evil Witch (see The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe). They ruled over Narnia for many decades after which they returned to their own world, ie, the one where we all live, only to find that not even an hour of our time had passed. After a year, they again returned to Narnia and saw that hundreds of years had passed in Narnia which was now war torn. The kids help Caspian, the true King of Narnia regain his throne. Something like King Arthur coming out of the past to Modern Britain.
However, The Voyage of The Dawn Treader begins with two of the kids (Edmund and Lucy) coming to stay with their irritating cousin, Eustace. Somehow they stumble back into Narnia, but this time they fall into the sea. Meantime in Narnia, Caspian had started a journey to find out what had happened to the seven friends of his fathers who alone had remained loyal to him and were exiled by his evil Uncle (see Prince Caspian). Edmund, Lucy and Eustace joined Caspian is his journeys with a lot of reluctance of Eustace’s part. What follows is a series of adventures for the crew as they journey to The Lone Islands and the lands beyond before reaching the ’’utter east’’ where ’’the waves go sweet’’.
Also making an appearance in this book is Reepicheek, the Talking Mouse who aims to reach Aslan’s country in the farthest East.
The special highlights of this book, in my opinion are
Dragons.
Retired Stars
Aslan’s country
The Land of Dreams
The Lone Isles (have been mentioned often but never visited earlier)
The absence of Peter and Susan
Eustace’s inclusion among ’’Friends of Narnia’’
Edmund and Lucy being told that they will never return to Narnia.
Aslan telling the kids that they can find him in their world as well.
I’m sure that anyone who enjoys fantasy fiction will love this book. You just can’t consider The Chronicles of Narnia as children’s books. The characters, in this book, have been developed really well. Underlying all the adventures, the book also contains messages of hope, and patience and friendship. One theme which is carried throughout the book is no matter how hard things might seem, if you keep on trying and don’t give up, in the end you will succeed. All in all, I will rate this to be a book which must be read by everyone who likes reading.