The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis

Book Synopsis:

NARNIA...where owls are wise, where some of the giants like to snack on humans, where a prince is put under an evil spell...and where the adventure begins.

Eustace and Jill escape from the bullies at school through a strange door in the wall, which, for once, is unlocked. It leads to the open moor...or does it? Once again Aslan has a task for the children, and Narnia needs them. Through dangers untold and caverns deep and dark, they pursue the quest that brings them face to face with the evil Witch. She must be defeated if Prince Rillian is to be saved.

My Review:

4.5/5 stars. This was my favorite of the series so far! I enjoyed the new characters, there was more action and excitement, and I loved the allegorical elements even more than the original, for their subtlety. The first half was a little too slow-paced, but once it picked up it stayed engaging the whole time. I also really how triumphant the ending was.

The main two new characters in this book were Jill and Puddlegum. Jill didn't have too much depth, but I liked her enough. Puddlegum was fun and made me laugh a lot. I wasn't sure what to think of him at first, but he grew on me. Prince Rillian is new but not very prominent. His introduction was interesting, though; I felt bad for him, how he was trapped as a mind-slave for ten years.

Speaking of him being a mind-slave, that leads into the allegories I liked. The Queen of the Underland was basically Satan—like the White Witch in TLTWTW—and her mind controlling showed how the devil gets in our head and makes us believe lies. She tried to tell the characters that the world above didn't exist, and neither did Aslan, just like how Satan tries to make people think God is against us.

The other big yet subtle allegory was with Jill and "the signs." Aslan giving her instructions, and then her forgetting about them many times throughout the story, is like memorizing Scripture. God gives us instructions to remember, but we often forget it and try to go our own way.

It took me a bit to get into this book. I liked the opening, but then the rest of the first half was pretty slow and not as interesting. However, once they reached Harfang House, the pace really picked up. I also appreciated that this book had actual stakes and action and tension, especially compared to the last one where I felt like nothing happened. The characters had to escape, run away, and be sneaky. They faced real danger.

The ending was nice. It was very hopeful and exciting. It didn't set up a sequel as much as the previous books, but I'm curious to see if Jill gets a bigger role going forward. I'm reading the series in release order, so I know the next two books are flashback stories, but I wonder if Jill will make an appearance in The Last Battle.

Content:

Language: a**

Sexual Content: None

Violence/Gore: There are giants that eat humans; death; some gross descriptions of creatures; blood

Drugs/Alcohol: A mention of smoking tobacco; kids drink wine