It's an entertaining adventure, but doesn't have much depth. ( )

Book six of The Chronicles of Narnia. An entertaining read. I think C.S. Lewis wrote it as a mirror of God's assignments for us. We are sent out to do things, are punished for things, and we easily and soon forget God's good Words of wisdom. But in the end, God works through us and He is victorious always. Even if a which has bewitched a prince and he is blind to the lies he has been fed... and giants try to eat you on your tough journey. ( )

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. ( )

At least Eustice is more tolerable in this book. ( )

The author of "The Silver Chair" is Clive Staples Lewis (C.S Lewis)

The book is about 2 children which go into another dimention and are set on a quest to set a price free from his curse.

The main characters are Eustace and Polly. Eustace is a boy who used to be grouchy mean and bossy but when he first entered Narnia before this time he became a lot nicer and less bossy and less grouchy. Polly is a girl that goes to the same school a Eustace and one day Eustace tells Polly about Narnia and they end up going there that day.

The story is set in a magical land that only cirtain people go there for a reason like the quest Eustace and Polly go on. There are many diiferent creatures that can be quite dangerous in this land and they ecounter pleanty of them duing their journey. It is about Eustace and Polly trying to stop an evil magic that has cursed a high price. Every night he turns into a giant snake.

In the fashion of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Silver Chair is a fast-paced adventure story with the sense of impending doom and close-call escapes. Unlike the first book, though, there is no great battle in which Aslan himself defeats the evil. Instead, it is through the unity of the four that gathers their combined strength, as well as the sacrifice of one, that enables them to overcome the evil enchantress.



Like the previous five Narnias, The Silver Chair is a Christian Allegory, and second only to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in references. From the four signs Jill is given, to meeting the beautiful Lady of the Green Kirtle with the lilting voice and musical laughter, to the piercing of Aslan’s paw that resurrects and rejuvenates King Caspian, the reader is shown the nature of a called life with a purpose given by the Omniscient, Omnipresent Ruler of all.



The Silver Chair is by far my favorite Narnian tale. It is perhaps the best written of the six I’ve read so far, and is the most exciting and inspiring of all thus far.

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What the hell this book makes me hate C.S. Lewis and all the Narnia fans who insist that Narnia is one of the most fantastic series ever and OMG I have to read it. No no no!

I read this as a kid, when I was eleven or twelve, but I remembered very little of it when I decided to reread the series this last year. I suppose it was awfully boring for me, or something, though as I was reading The Silver Chair the second time through, my memory was jarred and I could predict plot points ahead of them occurring. But the point is that apparently, I didn't care for this book at all thirteen years ago, and if anything, I've grown to like it less.

I don't want to say that I hate this book because of the Christian themes/allegory. That's not why I don't like it, though the fact that it is one makes the not-liking thing worse. What I don't like about it is that Aslan is an utter jerkface bastard to the kids and yet Jill and Eustace and all the Narnia fans behave as though he's this wonderful, kind, caring lion-god-thing.

Poor Jill gets the short end of the stick all the frigging time. She's expected to be able to predict what Aslan wants of her, or something like that, even though she never knew who he was before, and she never had any reason to believe that there's an actual place like Narnia with an actual lion-god-thing-Aslan there. She gets into trouble right at the very beginning for listening to her instincts and not jumping right into potential danger. And then, later in the story, when she's acting like the fallible human that she is, she gets guilt-tripped! I wouldn't be surprised for Aslan to have shown up and been all "Jill you're a whore get the eff out of my sight" because she was sleepy and exhausted and forgot to repeat the Signs one night. Of course, those stupid Signs weren't even possible for the kids to be able to follow, yet Aslan expects them to do the impossible? They did the best they could with what they had, and they get reamed for it!

No, I hate this book because it treats Aslan like this benevolent figure while he's actually a jerkface bastard. I hate it even more because as a Christian allegory, it suggests that the reader can never do anything good enough for Jesus/God and he hates us (or else he's condescending to forgive us for not being perfect, wtf?!).

On the positive side, the Narnia described in the book is pretty neat, with cool imagery and a fun adventure story. But that can't save the awful plot and characterizations, sorry. ( )

Puddlegum's pessimism provides quite a bit of comedy that is missing in the other works in this series. The underground slaves take on which environment is proper is a great twist to the series. The destruction of the chair and the witch goes by way too fast however. ( )

One of my favorite books in the Narnia series. The main character is imprisoned in a silver chair and only realizes he's imprisoned for one hour a day. Great metaphors about being in bondage but not realizing it. ( )

PLOT SPOILER!!!

1. Funny at parts. At first i did not think I could get past the "negative input" of Puddleglum, but after a while I began to see it as some thing that would make me laugh when the journey became difficult.
2. As ALWAYS Aslan makes you feel so wonderful when you read any thing about him. At the end of the story I was just as glad to see him as Jill and Eustace were.
3. Did any one else cry when they read this, or any of the other stories for that matter? well I did when Caspian Died, I was not expecting that and I am glad that he got to see his son before he did but come one! did he HAVE to die so quickly? and that brings me to my next point
4. EVERY book I have read so far has taken FOREVER to get to the CLIMAX or the part where you truly get to see the WITCH in action, or the "bad guy" and it always seems to happen so fast. The whole part about the "silver chair" was only a couple of sentences long. and then all the sudden they kill the witch. (a lot like "Prince Caspian", it all happened so fast, and easy) I am guessing that C. S Lewis was not concerned with the Witch or HOW she came or went, but rather the journey that the kids take to get to that point and the lessons they learn.
5. so why did he call it the silver chair, (?) he should have called it "The Quest for Prince Rilian"
6. I don't know... I had been zipping through all the other books eagerly awaiting the day that I would read about "the Silver Chair" thinking that it was a magical chair and that the majority of the story would revolve around this bizarre and alluring chair... I was a bit disappointed! ( )

Prince Rilian is the next in a series of chivalrous and utterly uninteresting Narnian royalty. The book is not really about him, though, as Scrubb, Pole and Puddleglum are the real heroes. The books about the Pevensies have a distinctly different tone, since they're about siblings. In the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, you love Lucy immediately because she is the little sister. In this book the protagonists have an opportunity to get to know each other, and so the reader has a chance to get to know them, as well. And unlike in The Horse and His Boy, the characters are vaguely realistic (a fatalistic guardian and his two school-aged charges) instead of exotic. ( )

The Silver Chair tells of a quest by Eustace and his classmate Jill, who are summoned to Narnia to track down Prince Caspian's son. They, along with a very morose Marsh-wiggle named Puddleglum, travel north of Narnia, led only by a few cryptic clues given by Aslan. It has a slow start, compared to some of the other books, but really interesting once the story becomes more involved ( )

Andrea Barelle
July 12, 2008
Book Review
EDCI 4120/5120
Summer, 2008

Lewis, C.S. (1953). The Silver Chair. New York; HarperCollins Publishers

GRADE LEVELS: 7-12

CATEGORY: FICTION; FANTASY

READ-ALOUDS: pages 6-9 (calling Aslan); 52-54; 113-115; 133-135 (in the castle); 177-178; 205- 208.

SUMMARY: This is the fourth book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. The story begins with Eustace and his friend Jill. They are at school where bullying goes unpunished and they are unhappy. They ask for Aslan’s help and are transported to Aslan’s country. There Jill gets too close to the edge of a cliff and when Eustace goes to pull her back her falls off. Aslan appears and saves him. He then tells the children that they are to go and find a Narnian prince named Rilian. Aslan gives Jill four signs and tells her that she must use them to guide her and Eustace. Aslan blows them into Narnia and their quest begins. They are told that Prince Rilian has been gone along time as he was searching for the green serpent that killed his mother. They start their journey north and meet up with Puddleglum, who accompanies them on their journey. They encounter great hardship and at one point fail to follow one of the clues Aslan gave to them. They get ack on track and contine underground to the sunless sea where they travel for days. They finally meet up with a young, un-named man. He tells them that he is troubled because a lady fprces him to be bound to a silver chair every night and if he is released he will kill everyone in sight and turn into a green serpent. They all decide to watch his torment and in doing so the young man threatens them and then begs them to release him in Aslan’s name. They do so, recognizing this as one of the clues or signs given to them by Aslan. The young man thanks them and then is revealed to be Prince Rilian. He starts to destroy the chair when the Lady of the Green Kirtle returns and is revealed to be Rilian’s mother’s killer. She is defeated and the people of the land are released from her spell. They all return home to Narnia and King Caspian returns to see his son one last time before he dies. The book ends with King Caspian being changed back into a young man and going with Jill and Eustace back to their own world. The bullies are taken care of by Caspian and Aslan, the children are able to sneak back into school, and Caspian and Aslan return through the portal.


THEMES: The theme in this book is about faith. Aslan sends Jill and Eustace to find Rilian and entrusts them clues or signs that will help them. They have to believe in Aslan and trust that they will be okay. They do falter from their trust in him when things get really tough and at one point they forgo the signs and trust their own judgment. They quickly learn that they were wrong and immediately change direction. From that point on they trust in Aslan’s signs and it brings them to their true destination. They are rewarded for their trust and their noble deeds. Other themes that could be addressed are that of courage and chivalry.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What do the four signs represent?
2. Who does the enchantress represent? Which character from a previous book is she thought to be?
3. It is possible to have blind trust in this day and age? Why or why not?

READER RESPONSE: Another really good book in the series. I really liked this one as well, but not as much as the first three. This one was a little flat for me, but it still maintained my interest and it brought even more closure to the past story of the Dawn Treader. I liked the character interactions and the new theme of trust. They really had to rely on Aslan’s words and signs to get them through and I like the character development with that. I think this would be another great book for students to read. All students could find something to relate to in this story and I think they would find the mysteries with each character intriguing. Also it is another easy read. ( )

Sweet and quirky as always—but a little shallow. ( )

This is perhaps my favorite of Narnian stories. Yes, the story is filled with lessons, as are all of the Narnian books. But the addition of Puddleglum, the Marsh-wiggle, allows the reader to become more immersed in the world and to let the blatant morals slide through a bit more unobtrusively.

I appreciated Jill as a female character, strong in her own right, but with some softness of all children. For those readers who want to debate the idea that Lewis may be a sexist, I would point to Jill’s existence in his Narnian realm. Not only is Jill an individual with no direct ties to the other cast of characters, she is in my regards the star of this story. She knows when to speak up, when to be silent, but she also has flaws as all humans do. Lewis, in my opinion, highlights these, but does not dwell on them, much as he does with the character of Eustace.

Why is The Silver Chair my favorite of the series? Because the story moves in ways that make me cherish a world that is not my own, yet at the same times, makes me hold my own a bit tighter. Yes, the idea of a world filled with magic and creatures of all kinds, deep love, strong magic is an enticing one, where you can ride on the breath of a lion and children can be heroes… but the cookbooks with Man and Marsh-wiggle notes, the eating of a talking beast, and imprisonment of the mind through a chair make me sure that while a vacation to Narnia might be nice, I think I’m happy with my Joy of Cooking, Starbucks and a burger. ( )

Crying is all right while it lasts. But sooner or later you have to stop and then you still have to decide what to do.

Appropriate. Since this one’s all about depression and mental illness. Well, obviously I don’t know that for a fact but that’s what it feels like to me. And I wouldn't use the words "all about" after all, there are other themes.

We open on someone we’ve never seen or heard of before, which is a bold move when this is the book that absolutely no Pevensies will appear in. Jill is crying behind the gym because she’s being bullied by her classmates. Oh, no wonder the miserable middle schooler I was when I picked this up, sided with her right away. The Experiment House does sound utterly awful, but my school probably could’ve given it a run for its money*. Although it is an interesting gap of culture, generation and social class that the author calls this a progressive school, and I’d just thought of it as routine, and in my world, maybe even kind of conservative.

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At first, Eustace being the central character of this book put me off, but I quickly grew fond of Jill as an intelligent female lead character and accepted Eustace as well. The quest element is strong in this book, and once again Lewis tops himself. It feels as if he was reading Tolkien. Like St. Peter, our heroes muff up everything they are told to do, but still succeed in their quest.

So here’s a sentence I read completely out of context which I found amusing: “What had stopped Jill when she got as far as the say of “I say” was of course simply a fine big snowball that came sailing through the dance from a Dwarf on the far side and got her fair and square in the mouth.” It makes more sense in context, but seems to tell a story all on its own. ( )

good plot to it ( )

Another great book in the Narnia series, while not one of my most favorite it is none the less a great book and if you have't had the chance to read it then do so and don't forget the about the rest of the series either. ( )

The obviousness of everything in The Silver Chair is annoying. First, the quest is given at the beginning and is boring: search for the prince, have some adventures, bring him back. The moral is also pushed so much harder than in previous books. Aslan gives the children four Signs (or commands). The children repeatedly forget them and do not follow them when they should. Bad things happen as a result. Follow the directions of authority, particularly those of Jesus, or pay the consequences!

(Full review at my blog) ( )

We start this one off at the school Eustace goes to, where this girl Jill is being bullied. For what it’s worth, apparently the kids at this school all call each other by their last names, so she is Pole and he is Scrubb. It’s never explained why this is the case, maybe it’s some British school thing I am unacquainted with since I never went to school there...

To read the rest of my review, please visit:
http://dorolerium.wordpress.com/2008/... ( )