Book Review - 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S Lewis - Book Four: 'Prince Caspian'

‘The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian’ by CS Lewis

‘Troubled times have come again to Narnia. The Telmarines have conquered the country and are persecuting the true-born Narnians. Prince Caspian, seeing the evil done by his usurping uncle, King Miraz, and with his army heavily outnumbered, in desperation blows The Great Horn of Narnia. Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, heroes from the distant past, find themselves once more in the kingdom, but with an almost impossible task ahead of them – to save Narnia.’

The story begins with a brief reminder of how the four children – Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy – had ‘found themselves in… Narnia’, and how they’d reigned for years as ‘Kings and Queens… but when they came back… and found themselves in England again, it all seemed to have taken no time at all.’

One year on in our world and we find them at a railway station with their luggage, ‘on their way back to school.’

Suddenly they experience a strange pulling sensation and find they’re no longer at the station but ‘standing in a woody place’.

Lucy is the first to speak – ‘“Do you think we can possibly have got back to Narnia?”’

But it’s not clear where they are.

As the day wears on, realising they have to try and find something to eat, they explore the surrounding area and, after much exertion, stumble across apple trees in what was once ‘“an orchard – long, long ago, before the place went wild and the wood grew up.”’

Then they spy a stone wall, ‘very old, and broken down in places, with moss and wallflowers growing on it…’

After breaking some of the tree branches, they step through an arch, and find themselves ‘in a wide open place with walls all around… no trees, only level grass and daisies, and ivy, and grey walls. It was a bright, secret quiet place…’

Spending the night there around a campfire, it is Peter who leads his siblings into realising where they are as he’s already worked it out.

They are amongst the ruins of what was once their great castle, Cair Paravel.

After much discussion and some exploring, they find the gifts they’d been given when they’d first been in Narnia.

But Susan’s horn isn’t there.

It takes her a moment to remember that she’d taken it with her when they’d gone hunting on their ‘“last day of all… It must have got lost when we blundered back into that other place – England, I mean.”’

As the story progresses, we’re introduced to Prince Caspian who lives ‘in a great castle in the centre of Narnia with his uncle, Miraz, the King of Narnia, and his aunt… His father and mother were dead…’

We find out how he learns of Old Narnia, ‘“… when all the animals could talk, and there were… Naiads and Dryads… Dwarfs. And… Fauns… and the Kings and Queens of Narnia… Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy… and… Aslan…”’

Discovering his life is in danger, Caspian escapes from the castle and is thrust into a situation which proves Old Narnia is still very real, equally dangerous and benevolent.

The story follows the children as they make their way to Caspian who’s having to fight for his place as the rightful King.

Lewis shows us, through the children, just how different once-familiar Narnia has become as over 1000 Narnian years has passed since they were Kings and Queens.

He neatly explains the difference in how time passes between Narnia and our world, with no whiff of info-dumping at all.

Even though we’re in a fantasy world, the children remain as likeable and relatable as ever with the realistic touch of getting annoyed with one another as siblings do.

The other characters are fleshed out with just enough detail to make them distinctive, each with their own voice.

The story moves at a steady pace without feeling rushed.

There’s more of a spiritually magical feel to this story, but I didn’t feel it was ‘in-your-face’ at all as it flowed naturally and was very much part of the story that had begun when Narnia was newly made.

Without being overly emotional or sentimental, there are a couple of poignant moments in the book that hint at things to come.

I enjoyed this more than I remembered doing so first time around.

Now that I’ve passed the halfway point, I’m very much looking forward to how the series plays out.