Herbie Brennan (1940–2024)

Full disclosure: Read these for free when the essays were available on the publisher's site.

Mixed bag.
Some essays are interesting.
Personally, quite fond of Edmund essay, and the ones about food, the little things, about being good, and the one about the gap.

Some essays - no, just no.
Light and Darkness essay actually managed to annoy the hell out of me. If I wanted a history lecture, I would have picked up a history book or memoir or maybe even hunt down a history scholar or three.
The one about Calormen was quite exasperating. There is no true way to know what was on the author's mind when he was writing. Unless you can communicate with the dead, of course. (and even then...)

One of the gripes I have is that these essays, most if not all of them, are written by women. Yes, I'm glad these are given voice. But is there not a single writer-person of male persuasion willing to admit to their admiration of Narnia?

So as I said - mixed bag.
I would only recommend this to a seasoned Narnia fan.… (more)