Life’s been really hectic lately, as evidenced by my lack of posting here. Hopefully things will ease up soon and I can get back to my regularly scheduled blatherings… 🙂
In the meantime, I finally got around to finishing C.S. Lewis’s The Horse and His Boy (Book 3 in the Narnia series) last night. I was pretty underwhelmed with the first two books in the series since they felt more like long vignettes than novels. The characters just seemed to be swept along without really doing very much. Horse was much better in this regard, with the protagonists taking an active role in their fates. The religious symbology was either gone or subtle enough that I didn’t pick up on it (of course, a Bible scholar I am surely not). The ending was predictable but relatively pleasing.
However, liking them more than The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is really damning with faint praise. I’m still failing to see what all the fuss is about. As children’s books, Horse works. I can certainly imagine reading it to a child, but there just isn’t a lot here to hold the attention of an adult.
In fact…I think I need to put the series back on the shelf for a while. I need to read something with a bit of meat before I start seeing the Narnia books as a chore I need to get through.
Of the Narnia books, my favorite was Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and my least favorite was Horse and his Boy. Horse seemed more forced than the rest of the series, and I really didn’t get much out of it.
Still, I am something of a fan of the series, so I’m going to recommend you stick with it at least until Voyage. IMHO, Prince Caspian was better than Lion, and Voyage is better than Caspian.
For what that’s worth. 🙂
I enjoyed the Narnia books when I was younger–probably because I ignored the religious symbology altogether. Except for “The Last Battle” which was really obvious. My favorite has to be “The Silver Chair” with the melancholy mash-wiggle Puddleglum.
Anyways, interesting to read someone’s take on the series via chronological order. I read it by published order so maybe my view is tainted by reading the stronger books before the weaker ones.