L'última batalla (1956)

i feel, therefore i am ( )

Love the simplicity of these stories and yet they are filled with complexity. Patrick Stewart did a great job narrating this one, especially his high, squeaky voices!!! Sorry that it is over once again.... ( )

Love the simplicity of these stories and yet they are filled with complexity. Patrick Stewart did a great job narrating this one, especially his high, squeaky voices!!! Sorry that it is over once again.... ( )

This book makes me uneasy, quite frankly.

Look, I'll give Lewis props for a rather unexpected ending to the series. It's bold, mature and the exact opposite (in some ways) of the "everyone lives" philosophy of Russell T Davies or JK Rowling. Completely destabilising Narnia is something that feels visceral to anyone who fell in love with the books as a child. And I did enjoy, somewhat, the comic allegory of the faux Aslan.

But... pardon the pun, Jesus Christ this is skeevy. For the most part, the series as Christian allegory could be wilfully ignored if you wanted to just enjoy the texture of the books and their creation of a world. Not so much here, quite frankly. Even aside from Lewis' infamous "screw you" to Susan for, you know, being interested in sex and make-up, the book is rather blatant in what it wants to push on to children.

As I mentioned in my "Silver Chair" review, I'm not inherently against this. After all, it worked for such luminaries as Dante and Evelyn Waugh. But there's a clear difference here, I feel, and - while I can still appreciate the allegory even from my anti-religious bias - this simply doesn't feel like a fitting end to the Narnia series. Instead, it feels like an overly aggressive Sunday School teacher who's tired of just sitting around and telling kind stories. I completely understand Lewis' passion, from his point of view, to try and show the true terror of losing his world to a more secular one. It's just a pity that rather than simply writing essays about the perceived problem, he had to incorporate it so thoroughly into the final book of a much beloved children's series.

In spite of my beliefs, and the fact that Philip Pullman and his ilk have eradicated our generation's need for Narnia, I still treasure these books from my childhood, and always will. It's just a pity, that's all it is. ( )

Boxed Set, book 7