This book is by FAR my favorite Narnia book!!! There is just about a new adventure in EVERY chapter!!! ( )

Strongest entry in the series. ( )

Shortly after the events of the novel Price Caspian, Lucy and Edmond find themselves drawn back to Narnia with their intolerable cousin, Eustace. Three years have passed, and Caspian X is still on the throne. Well, he's on a boat when they arrive, but figuratively, he's still on the throne.

He has vowed to find the seven Lost Lords, and has embarked on a ship called the Dawn Trader to do it. He,the Pevensies, Eustace Scrubb, and some familiar characters from PC, including everybody's favorite swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep, embark on the journey together, which is rife with peril and replete with adventure.

Part of Lewis' Caspian Triad (followed by The Silver Chair), which is further part of the Chronicles of Narnia, this book belongs on the shelf of those who like Lewis' other work, or are looking for family-friendly (though somewhat religiously allegorical) literature to read their kids at night. Recommended for fans of more youth-oriented, religion-inspired, classic fantasy. ( )

it is a bit dragging in the beginning but it gets more exciting as it goes on. ( )

This is a great adventer with Prince Caspian and friends .Sailing to find his fathers friends set out to sea by his evil uncle out finds more then there looking for. ( )

Do you think something is wrong in your life? Think again because I fell through a painting and went back in time. My name is Eustace I am now on the Dawn Treader the boat the rescued me. We have visited many different islands made friends and gone through perilous battles. we fought a sea surpent that nearly noked over our mast. It was a close call. We also once went on a island with invisible people. we saw stuff moving but nothing was there. If you want to know what other things happen to me you need to read this book. ( )

This may be one of my favorite stories of the Chronicles of Narnia. On this adventure, the two youngest children, Edmund and Lucy, are spending time with ther cousin, who isn’t the nicest kid (and doesn’t believe in Narnia), only to find themselves taking him on the adventure of his life.

What I enjoyed most about this story is that incorporated old and new characters and scenery to tell the story of the children as they take a trip on the Dawn Treader with Caspian, in search of lost family on mysterious islands.

I’m not sure where the adventures are leading but as the books get better I can only imagine what the final two hold. Hopefully I will be able to complete them by the end of the week and the mystery will be solved.

Another epic adventure in the world of Narnia. Much fun to read, although not as 'complete' as the previous two. The grandiosity (the edge of the world, fallen stars...) makes me wonder whether the remaining books will seem mundane.

As in Prince Caspian, I enjoyed the occasional drops of dry humor. ( )

I've been very slowly reading the Narnia books out loud to Mr Bear. He's probably a bit too young for them still (I get lots of questions, which I do actually like, unless they're about PlayStation Lego games), so I think it's probably just pure self-indulgence on my part, as they are childhood favourites of mine.

This one has the two youngest Pevensies, Lucy and Edmund, returning to Narnia with their strangely-brought up cousin, Eustace. Eustace doesn't read adventure books, so has no idea what is to become of him! They land in the sea next to the 'Dawn Treader', a ship sailed by King Caspian (Prince Caspian, last book around), get hauled on board and set sail to the far east of Narnia, possibly towards Aslan's Land.

There are all sorts of delightful adventures on the way. I particularly liked revisiting the Dufflepuds, a bizarre race who are insistent that they've been "uglified" by a wizard. I liked them as a kid, I still like them as an adult.

The final chapter, however, as they approach Aslan's Land and the human children return home, laid on the religious metaphors with a trowel. Next time I read this out (to Miss Boo, maybe), I'll just summarise that last chapter, I think. ( )

The third of The Chronicles of Narnia in the order in which they were published (and, at the moment, my preferred order), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader begins with what may be one of the best opening lines in all of literature: “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” This Eustace, a very “modern,” “grown-up,” selfish and peevish little bully, happens to be related to our old friends the Pevensies from the previous books. The two youngest children, Edmund and Lucy, are vacationing with the Scrubbs when our story begins. The three of them are drawn together into a painting of a ship in Lucy’s bedroom, and find themselves in Narnia aboard the ship of another old friend—Prince, now King, Caspian—who is on a voyage east to find what became of seven Telmarine lords whom his uncle Miraz sent away years before. But the mouse Reepicheep has a yet greater ambition, to sail to the very end of the world, to Aslan’s country, and meet whatever adventure awaits them there.

In nature, this story is episodic, but to bind it together Lewis provides not only a great and glorious quest, but also two of the greatest characters in all of the Chronicles: Eustace, and Reepicheep. Both provide some comic relief near the beginning of the book—Eustace’s journal entries are particularly hilarious, as are his repeated demands to speak to the British consul—but both are characters of great depth. Reepicheep, like several of the characters in the preceding Prince Caspian, is a creature of faith. He wants nothing more than to go to Aslan’s country, and none of the dangers and fears along the way can conquer that desire. He is fearless, wise, and brave, even if he is only two feet high! Eustace is, to put it kindly, a beast, but he is so selfish he thinks instead that everyone around him are beasts. Only when he becomes one externally does he realize what he is like on the interior. I love the subtle and realistic way in which Lewis shows his reformation:

It would be nice, and fairly nearly true, to say that “from that time on Eustace was a different boy.” To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun.

Actually, all the characters are beautifully drawn. I am amazed at how much Lucy grows as a person in each additional book, and Edmund too. Caspian is more well-rounded here than he was in the last volume, and becomes more so at the end when he is unable to gain what his heart most desires. For him and the others, this is a voyage that will truly prove "life-changing."

Of course, the adventures they encounter are varied and fascinating as well, and only become more beautiful and exciting the further east they go. As a child I was incredibly excited by the episode in which Caspian frees the Lone Islands from tyranny and a brutal slave trade, and today I find I still am. And who can forget Eustace’s experiences on Dragon Island? Or Deathwater Island with its terrible power and beauty? Or the invisible, “uglified,” always-agreeing dufflepuds? (The last was one of my sister’s favorite sections of the book, and we both laughed many times over lines like “And what I say is, when chaps are visible, why, they can see each other.”) Or the horrors of the Dark Island, or the wonders of Ramandu’s Island? Then there are the wonders of that last sea, where the water is sweet, covered in lilies, and bathed in light. And, finally, a glimpse of Aslan’s country itself.

I know many Narnia fans consider this their favorite Chronicle, almost as many as accord The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that title. But for some reason the Caspian books were always my least favorites when I was a child, and I haven’t quite “rediscovered” this book the way I did with Prince Caspian. Still, this is a beautiful sea voyage story with deep themes, lovable characters, and exciting adventures. Highly recommended. ( )

Academics and literary authors (Tolkien amongst them) have often dismissed the Narnia books as nonsense - but regardless of their literary merit, they remain amongst my favourite books of all time. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was the book I read under the covers with a flashlight when I should have been sleeping. I read it everyear - it is beautiful, escapist fiction. Ignore the occasional sexism and Christian symbolism and pretend to be six again. I read it every year. ( )

The Lion the witch and the wardrobe gets a lot of attention, but this lesser one is just as good and deserves more recognition from the general public. ( )

The best so far (I've now read 3 out of the 7). This one seemed much more fully formed with a good plot and ancillary characters more fully formed. ( )

Easily the best book in the Narnia series. I read them in grade school, and this one and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe are the only two that stuck in my memory over the years. ( )

This book always felt rather disconnected to me. Oh wells. ( )

Reminiscent of the Odyssey. ( )

I think " The Voyage of The Dawn Treader " is a very good book and I really liked it because as you progress through the story you find new lands and DIFFERENT adventures. It is probably the best of all the books. I would probably give it a 10 out of 10 because it is just so exciting and thats may reveiw on " The Voyage of The Dawn Treader ".

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favorite of the Narnia books when I was a kid for two reasons: it's a seafaring adventure (however nominally), and it's, well, actually an adventure, with exploration of unknown worlds. I read it when I was about eleven or twelve years old, not long after being introduced to Homer's Odyssey thanks to the Wishbone program on PBS (I think - might've been a prose version that I read in school), and one of the big things about both books that I enjoyed was the strange and enchanting and maybe even dangerous places that the heroes came across.

But as much as I liked the Odyssey parts of the book, and I really really liked them, I didn't care much for the characters themselves. I always felt that everyone treated Eustace horridly and that he had every right to be distrustful of Caspian and the others, and every right to be homesick. One of the big problems I had with the Narnia series when I was eleven persists in bugging me now, fourteen years later: everyone who has been to Narnia expects everyone else to automatically know and respect that Narnia is real and Aslan is real (and wonderful) even though there's absolutely no reason for these others to believe.

If Eustace has been told all his life by his mother (one of the authority figures in his life whom he trusts) that the Pevensies are strange children and to be avoided, and if Eustace has never had reason to believe otherwise, why on earth shouldn't he believe that they're just playing a grand game of make believe when they talk about Narnia? I don't know but from the outset of Dawn Treader, I always have much greater sympathy for him than for Lucy or Edmund, and it bothers me that they seem to have absolutely no sympathy for him once they've all landed on the ship. The poor kid has suddenly had his entire perspective on the universe changed, of course he's going to react badly. And, besides, he's already not a very nice kid, even if he's a sympathetic character.

Other than my opinions on Eustace growing stronger with the recent reread, I found my overall preference for this book out of the series growing more distinct as well. I thought the moralities of the islands a bit simplistic and heavy-handed, but other than stupid Aslan poking his head in, this is still the least wearisome of the Narnia books and the most exciting. It's also the best one for sparking an imagination and for the lack of allegory (not to say Lewis didn't stick allegory in wherever he could, it's just not as bad as in the other books).

If I keep any of the Narnia books in my library, it will be this one, though I'm not sure I can bear to read about the way the Pevensies and Caspian treated Eustace again - this last time, my irritation was almost too much to enjoy the book at all. ( )

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was an interesting adventure, but it lacked a lot of the sense of movement and urgency the previous Narnia books have had. I felt the story dragging in parts, like a ship run aground on one or two occasions, and I had to force myself through to the finish. Even so, there were parts where I said, “Oh! I remember reading that before,” which have stuck with me from the time my mom read them to me when I was little (she swears she read them all to us, but I don’t remember it). And, since this book was third in publication, I can see why so many people haven’t read the whole series. But it ends well, and everyone likes a good ending. I give Dawn Treader 3 out of 5 stars.

click for full review: http://thekoolaidmom.wordpress.com/20... ( )

The Magician's Nephew stole my heart like no other, but The Voyage of the Dawn Treader comes fairly close. I am a big fan of traveling and exploring the unknown (astronomy has always been my favorite subject), and this is what some of my beloved Narnian friends do in the fifth installment of the Chronicles. ( )

This book is my least favourite of the Narnia series - Edmund and Lucy are the only two Pevensy children that are still young enough to return to Narnia - this time they are staying with their obnoxious cousin, Eustace, when they are dragged through a painting into Narnia where they join Prince Caspian on a ship that is sailing to the east looking for seven missing Narnian Lords and find the end of the world, or Aslan's country.

On this voyage, the children will meet dragons, slavers and nightmares, as well as strange one-legged creatures called the Dufflepuds. Lucy will be very brave, and Eustace will learn to become a better person.

Why don't I like this one as much? Is hard to explain - I found it very disjointed - almost as if it was a series of short stories all linked by a cruise. It was much darker than the previous stories - and very strong religious message - the ending more so than any other part - but if you are the one person who hasn't read the series I won't spoil it.

Less a little kiddies story - more an older child, young adult. ( )

Wonderful book. I started slowly re-reading the series this past year - just before the first movie came out, of course. First time I've read these books since junior high, I think. Wondered if they would still be as wonderful as they were 15-20 years ago, and if I would actually pick up on all the imagery and allegory I missed as a child. Answers are, pleasingly, yes and yes. The Odyssey-like path of this book does present the same slight structural problems that all stories of this nature seem to have - a sense of it being a series of mostly disconnected episodes, the plot being extremely limited in the ways and extent to which it can dynamically build on itself, etc. - but at the same time, I really enjoyed how the islands and encounters got slightly more abstract and trippy the closer they got to The End Of The World. Quite enjoyable. ( )

As a child, this was my favorite of the Narnia series: a wide-ranging quest story, sending the characters beyond the boundaries of Narnia into the unknowns of the Lone Islands. There were adventures, daring, laughs and scares enough to go around. As an adult, coming back to the story, my position has changed a bit. It's still a very good story, but like most quest tales, it feels episodic, never really leading up to any particular climax; in fact, although it concludes with some beautiful imagery, the last few chapters really tailspin into a simple travelogue with no real plot. I found, this time, I wanted more: I wanted to follow Reepicheep into the sea beyond the end of the world, I wanted to visit Caspian on his sad return back to Ramandu's island, and his marriage to the wizard's daughter. Lewis leaves us hanging with a handful of great scenarios he only hints at, instead returning us - with stunning brevity - to the mundane world of reality and the end of the book.

There are also some problematic aspects with the whole tone of the book. Lewis' essential moral in "Dawn Treader" seems to be that we should "be happy with our lot," because it is dissatisfaction that just keeps coming back again and again to bite at the characters. Eustace becomes a dragon when everyone's just about had enough of his moaninng; one of Caspian's lost lords falls prey to the lure of gold; the Dufflepuds are unhappy with their physical forms; Caspian himself nearly forsakes his kingdom to sail to Aslan's country. There's even a telling little moment when Caspian faces down a white slaver, who claims that such transactions are "progress." Caspian's response? That in Narnia, progress is not seen as necessarily a good thing. (And that's C.S. Lewis, a traditionalist if ever there was one, speaking straight through his characters.) But the problem is that if everyone did just what they were supposed to, there would be no excitement in this world, no wonder or adventure. Lewis comes close to admitting that with Lucy's despair at being unable to return to Narnia, but no...even that is seen as something she must accept. It's a bit of a weird message to send kids: don't get bigger than your boots, Johnny, or else.

All that said, it's still a stirring adventure story, and it has some of Lewis' finest prose: his description of the end of the world is breathtaking, and there's a lovely little set piece when Lucy discovers the wizard's book on the island of the Duffers. As I have been listening to the unabridged audiobook, I should point out that Sir Derek Jacobi's narration is, as one might expect, everything you could ever wish for. Occasionally his high-pitched Reepicheep is a little trying, but the variety of voices and vocal levels he employs is really admirable, and he has a wonderfully kind and gentle narrative tone - rather like a kindly uncle. It's a wonderful listening experience overall. ( )

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my favorite book of the series. There isn't any Big Evil, just some greedy bureaucrats, storms, sea monsters and not-so-intelligent dwarves. Aslan of course lends a hand at crucial moments, but Reepicheep is really the conscience of this particular journey. It feels as if Lewis had a lot of fun making up strange islands and beasts, and the voyage propels the narrative forward. ( )

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

Lewis, C.S. (1952). The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. New York; HarperCollins Publishers

GRADE LEVELS: 7-12

CATEGORY: FICTION; FANTASY

READ-ALOUDS: pages 10-13 (getting pulled into the picture); 82-85 (Eustace); 131-133; 200-201; 245-248 (Aslan as a sheep)

SUMMARY: This book continues the journey of the two younger Penvensie children, Edmund and Lucy. They are summoned back to Narnia to once again help Prince Caspian, who is now the king. They fall into a picture of a ship that has come to life along with their cousin Eustace. Edmund and Lucy help Caspian find several Lords that Caspian had promised Aslan he would find. They set sail on the Dawn Treader and embark on the adventure to fulfill their mission. They eventually find the Lords and learn a few lessons in the process. At the end of the book Caspian says he is going to leave Narnia and head to the World’s End. The people are angry and beg him to stay. He says that he must go, but Aslan steps in and tells Caspian that Lucy, Edmund, Reepicheep and Eustace will be going instead. They leave and Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace come to a new land where Aslan tells Lucy and Edmund that they will never be able to return to Narnia and that they should learn to know him by another name in their own world. The book ends with Aslan sending the children home.
THEMES: The themes in this book seem to resemble those of the other books in the series, but this book deals more with loyalty to your word. Caspian gave his word to Aslan that he would find the Lords and he does. The lessons of courage and chivalry still remain as seen with Eustace and his encounter at the cave of the dragon. He has to show that he is honorable so that Aslan may be able to change him back from a dragon. Lucy, Edmund, and Caspian also show their courage and loyalty as they go out in search of the Lords and bring peace and order back to many of the islands.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What lessons does Eustace learn in Narnia?
2. Why can’t Caspian go on to the uttermost East?
3. What is the significance of Aslan being a lamb and what biblical references are being made?

READER RESPONSE: Since I have loved all the other books in this series so far I did find myself loving this one, too. I loved being able to clearly see the correlation between these books and Christian teachings. I liked watching the last two Penvensie children grow up and be able to move on into the adult world. I think that students would like this book if it was read in succession to the others. This whole series of books has been great. I really liked watching all the characters grow and change. I liked that Caspian finally gets married and that order is once again restored to more lands. It is a fairly easy book to read and I know that students would have a good time with it. This book really shows its relation to the bible and that might be of some concern to some people, but if handled correctly, those themes could be addressed very well. ( )