The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

As a child, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" was my favourite Narnia book, but I think it was primarily for the image of the painting coming to life. While there's certainly nothing wrong with it, and there is something majestic about this tale of the grand ship (Featuring some new characters at that!), I run hot and cold on this book. I do appreciate that Lewis chose to show different sides of Narnia rather than just ponderously giving us the same thing each time, but on re-reading, I was less than enthusiastic about the journeys taken by the characters.

(And, as much as I don't want to sound like some obnoxious 21st century academic, there is obviously an anglocentric, Christian, male-dominating point-of-view narrating these books which makes them less gripping than more democratic modern day children's fare. Or even, really, Enid Blyton, who still had the beliefs of the era but somehow didn't let them affect her work!) ( )

The Chronicles of Narnia really define my childhood in so many ways. I remember being read to at night before bed as my parents made their way through each of these books and my imagination went running rampant. I absolutely adored each one of these stories, the children and their tumbles into Narnia, the lessons that they learned from Aslan and his people, and the greater implications it had on me as a reader and human being. I adore British literature, and especially children's British literature from the master, C.S. Lewis! ( )

This is the fifth book of The Chronicles of Narnia series. I am enjoying reading this series but it's not my favorite. I didn't find myself immersed in this story. I like aspects of it and found it to be an interesting story. ( )

I've gotten distracted from this series; I need to go back and keep working through it. There's just so much to listen to … Anyhow. Here Peter and Susan have lost the ability to go to Narnia, and can all we nerdy, geeky adults have a moment of silence for how awful that is? Because they have grown up too much, because they have lost the wide-eyed accepting nature of children, they can no longer find the way – and if I'm remembering right, they don't mind so much; they were just a little sad.. I can't believe I wouldn't be having a complete meltdown over the inability to go back.

It's a heartbreaking idea, that loss – and a strange idea, coming from a spiritual man who is most famous for showing children a magical world.

Brief note: the line "It might be giants" made me chuckle. For a couple of reasons. And now "Birdhouse in Your Soul" is going through my head. (Here's the video, for no reason in particular. Enjoy.)

This installment in the Narnia series reminded me of, of all things, the original Battlestar Galactica. A ship (ok, in BG it was a ragtag fugitive fleet) all alone in the big sea (in BG, space), stopping here and there (islands here, planets in BG) for various reasons and having adventures, each adventure all but completely separate from the next and the previous. (Reepicheep is clearly Starbuck. No, he's not, I, just felt I had to say that.)

The early chapter in which the children are captured into slavery was deeply creepy from the perspective of an adult of the 21st century. Caspian is bought by a man "because of his face", and upon being freed and taking charge seems to rather take his time tracking down the others. All I could think while he was throwing his weight around with His Sufficiency was that in a more realistic scenario the odds were good that Lucy and probably Eustace as well would have already suffered things not suitable for a children's novel. What in reality would result in emotional and probably physical scarring and decades of PTSD all ends rather cheerfully, with a bit of retribution for the real baddies, but total forgiveness for a select one or two. Maybe Lewis was right, and Narnia is only suitable for children…

Proof that it's good to have friends in high places: Caspian promptly puts a man in charge just because the man knew his father … despite the fact that the man bought him as a slave without batting an eyelash. Well, hey, the reason the man bought him was because Caspian reminded him of the king. Which … makes things even creepier, actually.

It's great fun to see what a piece of work Eustace is. He's horrendous – worse even than Edmund ever was. (Are all Lewis characters whose names begin with "E" initially horrid?) And it's rather fun that the others don't suffer him gladly. Edmund is more tolerant than some, because he knows what he used to be, and Lucy is kindness itself – but coping with that big a Jonah on a confined ship tells even on them. That's one of the best things about these books, the depiction of self-centered and hateful personalities (with Lewis pulling no punches) being opened up and redeemed. I can think of a few people I'd love to send out on the Dawn Treader in hopes of the same result – but I doubt it would work … And anyway, they're adults, and therefore barred. Actually, they probably never could have gotten into Narnia in the first place (and probably never have, even on the page).

Yes, I definitely have to pick this series back up again. ( )

Mehhh. This series really isn't doing anything for me. I did appreciate that we get to see more of the lands outside Narnia (or are they all part of Narnia? I really don't know) and spend more time with Lucy and Edmond (whose more enjoyable now). But their cousin (whose name I think I already forget, despite listening to this earlier in the day) was annoying and useless. He was nothing more than a whiny brat, but after a quick stint as a dragon, learned his lesson and became at least quiet, if not occasionally helpful and brave. His character arc was so low impact that he could be cut from the story and little would change.

The stakes are also incredibly low. Any time there's some dangerous magical situation, it seems that the kids luck out, or Aslan just shows up and solves all their problems. Their voyage to the ends of the earth was underwhelming because after they find it, the kids leave and we don't actually get to see what it's like.

Then there's a little speech from Aslan about how the kids can't come back to Narnia, but if they learn his true name, they can find that he's always with them in their world, and that someday they'll go to his true realm. I assume that his true name is God and his home is Heaven. I could be wrong, but it all felt very religious (and that would keep with the general religious overtones of the other books).

I don't know - this felt more like little scenes from different worlds, each with their own mini-quest or problem for the kids to solve, than a coherent journey. Oh, Caspian is back and he's less whiny now too, though still not very intriguing. ( )