Book Review: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Magical tale for all ages

Cons: A little slow at times

The Bottom Line:

Trip to Narnia

Fighting winter and a witch

Great introduction

My First Trip to Narnia, and Still My Favorite in the Series

Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy have been sent to live with a professor in the country during the London air-raids. While exploring the large house, Lucy finds that the wardrobe in the spare room transports her to the magical land of Narnia. The country is under the spell of a terrible witch who has made it always winter but never Christmas. At first, her siblings don't believe her, but soon they, too, find themselves in this new country. With danger around every turn, they must survive treachery to join Aslan the lion in the fight to free Narnia and break the spell.

I read this book for the first time in third grade, and it holds up just as well today. The pace of the writing is a bit slow, but the adventure is sure to hook readers. Lewis creates a wonderful fanciful world that is lots of fun to visit. This is the first I read and still my favorite. There's something about this book that captures the wonder of finding a new, magical world that the other books don't have.

Lewis also created just the right spell for his land to horrify kids and to a lesser extend adults. The idea of always having winter and all it brings but never getting to celebrate Christmas is too awful to mention.

A brief word about book order. When I read this book, it was considered the first in the series. Now, some people have put the books in chronological order, making it the second. While I feel that reading them in the original order is the best approach, it really doesn't matter that much. Nothing about the other books is spoiled here since this was the first one written, but not much about this book is spoiled if you read them in the order events occur.

Narnia is one of several classic kids' series about mythical countries and is still my favorite. It's perfect for anyone wanting to leave our world behind for a touch of fantasy.  So grab The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and enjoy today.