During the German blitz of London in WWII, four siblings are sent to the English countryside for safekeeping by an eccentric professor and his stodgy servants. Left with nothing to do besides play and get into trouble, Lucy, the youngest, gets into a wardrobe and finds a passageway to the magical world of Narnia. It is there that she meets a certain Mr. Tumnus, a nice enough chap who just happens to be a "Faun", or what I would call a satyr. At first Tumnus seems to be very friendly and invites Lucy back to his home for tea. It is there that he reveals that he is supposed to capture any humans he finds and report them to the White Witch, the self-appointed ruler of Narnia who has entrapped the land in endless winter. When he goes against the Witch's orders he is taken prisoner and taken to her castle. Lucy, along with Susan, Peter, and Edmund, set out to rescue the Faun, and in the process becomes agents of prophecy who may have the power to overthrow the wicked White Witch. They're not alone. Aslan, the god-like lion that created Narnia, has also returned to lead the fight against the black magic that threatens to extinguish all goodness. But the kids never counted on one of their own blood turning against them.

Since they came out around the same time and the two authors were such good friends, one cannot help but compare the Narnia books to the Lord of the Rings sequence. And let me tell you, Lewis's work seems pale in comparison to Tolkien's. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe never quite makes it to epic status. There are too few characters, the world seems landlocked and hyperfocused, and you never get the sense that the book is part of a larger tapestry. Instead of world-building for all eternity, Lewis did just enough to frame his story. Nothing more. Nothing less. I just don't feel that the work has a solid mythology behind it.

I also didn't feel very connected to the characters. They all seemed distant, cold, and at times very snobbish, in a way that only the English can be. Instead of warm-blooded real life characters, the four kids were more like anonymous cut-outs from fairy tales. Yes, Edmund was a little backstabber, and Lucy was the curious one, but beyond that, I never got a feel for who these people really were.

I will say this. I liked the book ok. It was a nice diversion, but I just never connected fully with it. I definitely do not rate it as a classic. It seemed more like a work produced in the 19th century than the 20th, and perhaps that was Lewis's intention. It just didn't work for me. I will definitely continue to read the series though.
During the German blitz of London in WWII, four siblings are sent to the English countryside for safekeeping by an eccentric professor and his stodgy servants. Left with nothing to do besides play and get into trouble, Lucy, the youngest, gets into a wardrobe and finds a passageway to the magical world of Narnia. It is there that she meets a certain Mr. Tumnus, a nice enough chap who just happens to be a "Faun", or what I would call a satyr. At first Tumnus seems to be very friendly and invites Lucy back to his home for tea. It is there that he reveals that he is supposed to capture any humans he finds and report them to the White Witch, the self-appointed ruler of Narnia who has entrapped the land in endless winter. When he goes against the Witch's orders he is taken prisoner and taken to her castle. Lucy, along with Susan, Peter, and Edmund, set out to rescue the Faun, and in the process becomes agents of prophecy who may have the power to overthrow the wicked White Witch. They're not alone. Aslan, the god-like lion that created Narnia, has also returned to lead the fight against the black magic that threatens to extinguish all goodness. But the kids never counted on one of their own blood turning against them. Since they came out around the same time and the two authors were such good friends, one cannot help but compare the Narnia books to the Lord of the Rings sequence. And let me tell you, Lewis's work seems pale in comparison to Tolkien's. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe never quite makes it to epic status. There are too few characters, the world seems landlocked and hyperfocused, and you never get the sense that the book is part of a larger tapestry. Instead of world-building for all eternity, Lewis did just enough to frame his story. Nothing more. Nothing less. I just don't feel that the work has a solid mythology behind it. I also didn't feel very connected to the characters. They all seemed distant, cold, and at times very snobbish, in a way that only the English can be. Instead of warm-blooded real life characters, the four kids were more like anonymous cut-outs from fairy tales. Yes, Edmund was a little backstabber, and Lucy was the curious one, but beyond that, I never got a feel for who these people really were. I will say this. I liked the book ok. It was a nice diversion, but I just never connected fully with it. I definitely do not rate it as a classic. It seemed more like a work produced in the 19th century than the 20th, and perhaps that was Lewis's intention. It just didn't work for me. I will definitely continue to read the series though.