Prince Caspian (1951)

my personal fav of the book series ( )

Missed these when I was younger.
Catching up on some 'classics' - started with this so I could watch the movie.
Good reading.
Read in 2006 ( )

I think I say that every Narnia book is a runner up for my favourite. Actually, that's how I feel: I love them all so much. Prince Caspian introduces my favourite characters of the series: Caspian and Reepicheep. I can't put my finger on exactly why I love it so much. I guess it has aspects of a kind of "King Arthur returns" story -- only, in Narnia, which I love even more. The Pevensies have to do some camping and adventuring, and things aren't easy, and there are references to Greek mythology (Bacchus) and to things that were vaguely mentioned in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (again, Bacchus, and the fauns dancing, etc).

The writing is, again, warm and intimate, just the right amount of knowing and understanding. Oddly enough, I don't think I would accept this kind of narrator from a more modern writer. It's so intimate, so like C. S. Lewis has sat you down next to him (or if you're a child, on his knee) and started to tell you a story -- perhaps a little condescending, but you can accept it from him. That's how I found it.

Also, I might just never have 'got it', but I can't really see which Biblical story this is an allegory of, if it is at all. Were all the Narnia books allegories? ( )

Prince Caspian was, at one point, my favourite of the books. (The ones that have never enjoyed that status are The Magician's Nephew, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle.) I don't know where it comes now -- there are some gorgeous bits, like the dancing of the trees. There's nothing about Calormen, which is a bonus, and there's plenty of talking animals and touches from classic mythology.

(I know I keep talking about Tolkien and Lewis together, but it really is fascinating to see how they do similar things differently and how their similar backgrounds produce two stories that are so similar and so different at once. E.g. there's plenty of Christianity in Tolkien, without his work being overtly, intentionally allegorical.) ( )

Great series, loved these as a kid. ( )