The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe by CS Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia: Book 2)

10/10

Heralded as one of the most enchanting and well written stories of our time The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe was the first published story about the magical land of Narnia.

Set in London in the Blitz in 1950 four children are sent out of the city and into the country while the war effort is fought by their parents. Staying with an old and mysterious professor the youngest Lucy finds herself falling through a wardrobe and stepping out into the magical world of Narnia. A land blanketed with snow and ice, inhabited by mystical and magical creatures Narnia has fallen under the spell of the White Witch, the self proclaimed queen of the land.

Lucy meets a faun by the name of Mr Tumnus and the pair become instant friends over tea. Unable to betray Lucy to the white witch the fawn returns Lucy to the wardrobe and makes her promise not to tell anyone about what she has seen. Upon her return she tells her sister and two brothers who refuse to believe her seemingly tall story.

Several days later Lucy returns to Narnia and is secretly followed by her spiteful brother Edmund. Losing Lucy in the snow, Edmund is found by the white witch who treats him kindly and makes him promise to return with his brother and two sisters with the promise of making him king and all the Turkish delight he can eat.

Several days later all four children find themselves forced into the wardrobe and into Narnia. They are met by Mr and Mrs Beaver who take them to meet Aslan, the great lion, who will assist the children in defeating the white witch and restoring peace to the land of Narnia.

For years the story of Wardrobe has been criticized and studied for its supposed religious allegory, stating that the tale of Aslan is the story of Jesus. Lewis always defended this stating that it was never written with any religious alignment or values set in his mind. If people choose to draw that conclusion from it they can.

Lewis has an outstanding ability to be able to write just enough to give the reader a description of the setting, scene and characters and leave the rest to your imagination. This is a technique that is hard to master and he always manages to pull it off seamlessly. This is one of the best things about his writing technique and makes Wardrobe a lot of fun to read and interpret.

Arguably one of the finest stories in English literature from the 20th Century C.S Lewis cemented himself as a master story teller and perfected a novel that would survive the test of time and still entertain and educate children and adults everywhere to this day.
Alaisdair Dewar, 10/10

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in C.S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles and was first published in the U.K. in 1950.

Lucy steps into the Professor's wardrobe - but steps out again into a snowy forest. She's stumbled upon the magical world of Narnia, a land of unicorns, centaurs, fauns ... and the wicked White Witch, who terrorises all. Lucy soon realises that Narnia, and in particular Aslan, the great Lion, need her help if the country's creatures are ever going to be free again.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the most memorable book amongst the entire Narnia Chronicles. When someone is asked about CS Lewis this is the book that immediately springs to mind. Lewis’s Christian beliefs are in the book but I do not feel that this is overplayed. There is plenty of humour and courage and these inhabitants of Narnia will stay with the reader for a long, long time.

The is terrific fantasy for the young adult, young readers of both genders will be able to see a part of themselves in one of the four children. An essential read for the young fantasy reader.
Floresiensis, 9.5/10

"We've fallen on our feet and no mistake. This is going to be perfectly splendid. That old chap will let us do anything we like," said Peter to Susan, Edmund and Lucy. The old professor certainly did seem to live in a world of his own, so the children set about finding their own entertainment in the huge old house set miles from anywhere in the heart of the country. First there was the thrilling business of exploring the house - long corridors, endless spare bedrooms, series of rooms lined with books, and one very bleak enormous room that had nothing in it but a very large wardrobe. This, thought Lucy, was worth examining. As she was pushing her way through the rows of coats hanging up inside, she felt something soft and powdery and extremely cold. Then she noticed something cold and soft falling on her, and she found she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air. Lucy had arrived in the strange, magical land of Narnia.