(SPOILERS) Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis

Book Synopsis:

The Dawn Treader is the first ship Narnia has seen in centuries. King Caspian has built it for his voyage to find the seven lords, good men whom his evil uncle Miraz banished when he usurped the throne. The journey takes Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin Eustace to the Eastern Islands, beyond the Silver Sea, toward Aslan's country at the End of the World.

My Review:

3.75/5 stars. This was my least favorite of the Narnia series so far. It didn't hold my attention as much. and there were some really weird elements. There were still aspects of it I enjoyed, though, like the character development and the bittersweet ending. The beginning was good and really funny, but then it lost that and the pacing was pretty slow throughout the book.

I'll talk about Eustace first. The opening few paragraphs talking about him and his life were hilarious. But then once he started talking and doing things, he was insufferable. He was so annoying and sulky all time. It led to some great character development though. After his stint as a dragon, he was a tolerable person who actually contributed to the group. I liked him by the end of the book.

Speaking of Eustace being a dragon, that leads into one of my criticisms. There were some really strange and slightly questionable parts of this book, especially considering it's a kids' book. The biggest things were the dragon cannibalism, where Eustace as a dragon eats the dead dragon, and then the scene when he turns back into a human. His layers of skin getting peeled off one by one was almost like body horror for a children's book. It was gross to read about.

Another weird aspect was the star people mythology. This is more of a personal confusion and not a huge complaint, but I thought that part was weird. In general, the Narnia books have a lot of weird mythology unrelated to the allegory.

My biggest problem with this book was the length. It's already short, but about a fourth of it could have been cut without losing the main plot. The narration kept going off on so many tangents that detracted from the story, like the whole chapter that just talked about the people who lived in the ocean.

I liked how this book ended. Most of the book didn't have a lot of allegorical elements, but then that came into play at the end, with Reepicheep going to "Aslan's Country," or Heaven. I also liked the part where Aslan told Edmund and Lucy that he was leading them to someone by a different name in their world, Jesus. I'm curious to see what will happen in the next books now that none of the original kids can return to Narnia.

Content:

Language: *ss

Sexual Content: A scene where Aslan is dressing a naked Eustace (but not in an intimate way and with no description)

Violence/Gore: People are sold into slavery; dragon cannibalism; layers of skin being peeled off

Drugs/Alcohol: The kids drink wine