Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve Find Adventure and More

Author's Rating:

Pros: the best way to experience Narnia for the first time

Cons: some religious overtones

The Bottom Line: 
Although not my favorite Narnia book, this is still one of the finest children's fantasy books ever written. Read it, no matter your age.

Author's Review
In olden times a child huddled under the covers at bedtime reading a magical tale about a majestic lion, a strikingly beautiful witch, two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve, and a land of perpetual winter called Narnia. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and its tales of hidden passages between worlds has been fascinating children all over the world just like our heroine for more than 50 years.

In modern times a sick adult huddled under the covers in the morning reading a magical tale about a majestic lion, a strikingly beautiful witch, two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve, and a land of perpetual winter called Narnia and felt immensely better. Such is the magic of this story. It appeals to all ages, everyone with even just a glimmer of imagination or a mere hint of the need for escapism. Like the juice of the fireflowers that grow in the mountains of the sun, a mere drop of Narnia can cure the ill. It can breathe life into even those made of the coldest stone.

It started ordinarily enough, with four ordinary looking children in an ordinary country estate outside of London. Or so it seemed. When a steady rain kept them indoors, they explored the old house they found themselves living in, ending up in a game of hide or seek just as any normal children might do under just such circumstances. Lucy, the youngest, hid in an ordinary looking wardrobe. And so the adventures began. For it was not an ordinary wardrobe. No, it was a door, a gateway to a magical land where it was always winter, a world filled with talking animals, mystical creatures, and a white witch ruling over all she surveyed. It was a pathway to Narnia, and once she stepped through that door she would never be the same, nor would any of us who came along for the ride.

After a satisfying adventure spent mostly with the delightful faun Mr. Tumnus, Lucy returned to regale her brothers and sister with tales of Narnia. She was scoffed at, ridiculed. But then brother Edmund followed Lucy into the wardrobe, hoping to tease her further, and found himself in the winter wonderland and keeping company with the White Witch and her endless supply of Turkish Delight. This set off a series of events that led to the other siblings' entrance to Narnia and an eventual battle against the White Witch.

At heart this is a tale of wonder, of discovery. It makes you examine all you hold to be true and look at it from a different perspective entirely. It leads you to seek the hidden truth, to look behind the surface. Inside the most beautiful among us can beat a heart of evil. What appears to be an ordinary wardrobe may in fact be a magical gateway to some place else entirely. A feared creature such as a lion can be the most intelligent, most humane among us. It is also a tale of redemption, of how someone can chose the wrong path then right themselves later, and one of sacrifice where one person willingly gives up their life for the good of another, someone that perhaps doesn't deserve it.

As in all Lewis books there are undertones of religion and Christianity but they can easily be brushed aside if you don't want think about them. They are well integrated into the stories, only important if you want to see them. Lessons of redemption and sacrifice float throughout the book, but you do not need to tie them to religion unless you so desire. Even the unmistakeable crucifixition and rebirth, the one truly overt, hard-to-ignore religious image, is so well integrated into the story that you can push it back and treat it merely as an act of sacrifice and part of the magic.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the first of seven books in the original publication ordering of C.S. Lewis' classic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. It introduces us to a land that will host great adventures, to characters that become part of our consciousness, to a style of prose that is at once witty and accessible, filled with little throwaway remarks that don't fully hit you till later and detailed word pictures that really make these stories and charaters come to life.

This is not my favorite of the Narnia books, in fact, if pressed to order the books in my own personal ranking system, I would probably list it near the bottom. But it is still a wonderful book, and in my mind the only way to properly introduce yourself to the world of Narnia. Read this book first. Read it now if you have not yet done so. Then sit down and read the rest of the series in its original publication order. Do not read The Magician's Nephew first, for it holds the answers to many secrets held within the pages of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Secrets you are best off not knowing until later. Read them in this order and no other, at least the first time:

* The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
* Prince Caspian
* The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
* The Silver Chair
* The Horse and His Boy
* The Magician's Nephew
* The Last Battle

There is much magic in this series, enough to warm the heart of the most curmudgeonly and fire up the imagination of the most uninspired mind. Go forth on your own adventure - discover Narnia in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and beyond.