The Silver Chair is the last book of the Caspian Triad. In this volume, Eustace Scrubb and his classmate Jill Pole get sucked back into Narnia. They befriend a Marsh-wiggle named Puddleglum, and partake on an adventure to find the lost prince Rilian.

The gang ends up discovering that Rilian is being detained by the Emerald Witch, who may or may not be Jadis, the White Witch.

All in all, this book is a must read for readers of the other Narnia books. While it is not the most literary of the seven, it does fit nicely within the series, segueing nicely to the next chronological book, The Last Battle. ( )

If one reads The Chronicles of Narnia in publication order (as, really, one ought), then The Silver Chair occupies the middle position, and it is indeed a turning point of sorts. It is the first Chronicle in which the Pevensie children do not appear, although one or two other old friends do. It is also the only one that opens with an encounter with Aslan. And finally, it is the second of three books in a row that are set primarily outside the environs of the Narnian kingdom. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Caspian and his crew sailed for the utter east; in The Horse and His Boy, a rag-tag group of slaves and runaways will escape to Narnia from the southern country of Calormen; and in this volume, two children and a Marshwiggle are sent by Aslan to seek a lost prince in the remote north. These are the young Eustace, with whom we have a prior acquaintance, his schoolmate Jill, and the dour Puddleglum.

I hesitated in writing this review, because one of the things Lewis does so beautifully in this particular book is surprise the reader. It was a joy to read it aloud to my little sister and watch her face as the puzzle pieces began to come together; even the disclosure of Eustace’s name during the opening pages delighted her. I shall try to avoid major spoilers throughout, but newcomers are advised that they will probably enjoy the book most without any introduction whatsoever.

The Silver Chair is considered by many fans to be one of the darkest Chronicles, and from the cruelties of Experiment House (Eustace and Jill’s forward-thinking, undisciplined, and—Lewis mentions pointedly—co-educational school) to the bleakness of the lands north of Narnia, a sort of gloom seems to settle over the author’s usually cheerful world. However, it may also be the funniest of the seven books. Some of the satire dealing with Experiment House will go over youngsters’ heads—my favorite bit describes how the Head, when found unsuitable for any other position, is finally put in Parliament—but the conversation between Glimfeather the owl and the deaf dwarf Trumpkin is guaranteed to set anyone howling. Nevertheless, Puddleglum is the character who really makes the book. Always looking for the worst in situations, he is the cause of much unintentional comedy, but he has a good heart as well. Lewis was a master at creating three-dimensional people where other authors would resort to simple caricature.

Similarly, Jill’s struggles, her insecurities, and her constant forgetfulness regarding the Signs make her a flawed and sympathetic protagonist. One could definitely look for spiritual significance here, especially during the exciting and moving standoff at the climax of the book. These things are not always meant to parallel our world, though. There seems to be a popular assumption that C. S. Lewis wrote these books as allegories, and that is simply untrue, as his own writings on the subject attest.

One thing that did surprise me upon reading the book again was how long a denouement it has, about five chapters’ worth in all. But it doesn’t drag at all, and as a matter of fact, some of the book’s most memorable passages appear there. While reading, I actually found myself crying at the death of a fictional character, something I rarely do; this also provoked quite a bit of teasing from the aforementioned little sister.

Dark, funny, instructive, and moving, The Silver Chair is yet another Chronicle I treasure, and a literary experience I love to share. ( )

An entertaining adventure with a few classic plot twists, such as prince Rilian being spellbound when he actually was normal and vice versa. I still enjoy how everything is told and made so clear, as opposed to "adult" literacy. The beginning of the adventure (up to the underground section) was a bit too straight-forward, inconsequential. ( )

The next to last chapter in the Chronicles of Narnia. This round Lewis brings Eustace back for his own adventure where he brings his school friend Jill along for a Narnian adventure. Eustace and Jill must rescue a prince who has been under an evil spell by a witch.

This was a fun little adventure, thinking that Eustace may or may not be able to handle his own adventure, especially after his skepticisim during the previous story, but his character development has improved over the course of the couple of stories.

This is all leading up to the final chapter, see how all the characters come together for the ending.

This one is even better than the last! The endings have gotten less abrupt and the characters seem to be more fully rounded, although I do miss the original children. The story behind the silver chair was creative. ( )