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REVIEWS: Chronicles of Narnia
Imagine being small once again. Imagine having an equally small friend. And then imagine a large old house with secret walls and dark attics that are off-limits to you. What else would you do but go exploring?
Now bundle all your childhood curiosities and secret hiding places and wonderful aromas and creepy memories with a good bit of magic. And that’s how you end up in Narnia, home of the Naiads and the Dryads, Centaurs and the Eagles, dwarfs and people of the toadstools and many other fairy folk.
And if you were thinking that The Chronicles of Narnia are only about as long as the film, think again. The stories actually spread out over a series of seven books by C. S. Lewis. The Magician’s Nephew is where it all begins, when Digory is forced to move in with his (rather mental) Uncle Andrew in his big old house with the forbidden attic. For you see, Digory’s mother is terminally ill, and he has nowhere else to go. Miserable and lonely, he meets Polly, the little girl next-door, and together, the two children set out to explore the secret passages in the old house.
But nasty as he is, Uncle Andrew experimentally sends Polly into the ‘Other Place’ and only Digory can bring her back. In the rather crazy series of events that follow, the children end up in Narnia, along with their uncle and a host of other characters including the wicked Queen Jadis.
But Narnia is a new-born land (just a few hours old, really), where King Aslan, The Lion is breathing fresh life into everything. Only a magic apple tree borne by an apple from a distant land can save Narnia from Jadis’s evil. Digory and Polly thus fly off on a flying horse on a treacherous journey to fetch the Apple. Do they succeed in their mission? Only the book will tell.
Suffice it to say that Digory does return with Polly with a Magic Apple from Narnia which revives his ailing mother completely! He plants the apple’s crust in his backyard, which grows up into a fine apple tree itself.
Years later, when a storm strikes down his dear old apple tree, he doesn’t have the heart to dispose it off. Thus, he has its wood chopped up and made into a wooden wardrobe that he keeps in his giant old house in the countryside.
Many years later, four children - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy - are made to go and live in a countryside house with an old Professor. And this is where we step into The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. You can well imagine what the children discover - yes, the Old Wardrobe made out of Wood that came from a Tree borne by a Magic Apple from Narnia! Well, since its wood came from a Tree borne by a Magic Apple, the wardrobe itself is magic - it is a gateway to Narnia! And here is how the second set of adventures begins. Through the Wardrobe and into Narnia go the four children, and discover an ancient magical prophecy that will destroy Jadis’s evil powers forever. But they must rescue Edmund from the Queen’s clutches and bear title to their four thrones at the Cair Paravel (you will only discover what that is if you read) - and not without a battle, a sacrifice and a death.
In Book 3, The Horse and His Boy, we don’t meet any leading characters from our world, although the adult Queen Lucy, Queen Susan, and King Edmund do make their appearances. In Book 4, Prince Caspian, the four children return to Narnia to help a young prince reclaim his rightful throne from the evil king, Miraz.
In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Book 5, Susan and Peter are really too old to visit Narnia. But Edmund and Lucy along with their bratty little cousin, Eustace end up sharing many adventures with Caspian and also travel to the End of the World.
In The Silver Chair, Book 6, Eustace (he has turned over a new leaf by now) and his friend, Jill Pole helps Prince Rilian, son of Caspian, escape the clutches of another evil witch with the help of the Marsh-wiggle, Puddleglum and the Narnians. And in case you’re wondering how come Caspian has a son already well, the clock in Narnia is very different from our’s. But you’ll have to read it to understand.
Finally, in The Last Battle, the Narnians wage a grave battle against the army of Tash. It is also here that Aslan asks Peter to close the door on the Old World and leads the good creatures into the real Narnia.
Quaint, fast-paced, profound and dexterously witty, The Chronicles have a little bit of Hans Christian Anderson and a stroke of Enid Blyton — but with a touch of pure magic, mysterious symbolism and reflective morality. Every book contains a preview into the following story along with literature assistance. It is impossible to put them down!
Mehreen F. Ali
Available at Paramount Books, Jamalistan shopping Centre, Karachi
Ph: 5833915
Email: parabooks@cyber.net.pk
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