The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

They open a door and enter a world.

Narnia…the land beyond the wardrobe, the secret country known only to Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy…the place where the adventure begins.

Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor’s mysterious old house. At first, no one believes her when she tells of her adventures in the land of Narnia.
But soon Edmund and then Peter and Susan discover the Magic and meet Aslan, the Great Lion, for themselves. In the blink of an eye, their lives are changed forever.
A fully illustrated version of the most popular book in The Chronicles of Narnia, with glowing full page artwork and an abridged text for easier reading.

See the Goodreads page here

When I was a kid, I adored the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It’s probably one of my favourite new worlds. Wouldn’t Narnia be the coolest place ever? But reading it now, it’s not nearly as good as I remember.

The beginning was really rushed in my opinion. They were only at the house for a few days before Lucy was straight into that wardrobe, and meeting Mr Tumnus less than a page after that. I like characters to be introduced to me before I’m expected to follow their story. I didn’t know those four at all. I couldn’t feel sorry for Lucy when no one believed her, because I didn’t like her. I couldn’t distrust Edmund, because I didn’t like him either. It’s not that I DISliked them. I just didn’t know them at all. I felt like I was missing the first chapter from my copy of the book. Which I wasn’t, of course, but it sure read like I was. The White Witch is still as fabulous as I remember though, thankfully!

This rushed feeling carried on for the entire book. We weren’t introduced to anyone very well! And don’t get me started on that big final battle. Or the death of that guy at the important place (hopefully you know who I mean if you’ve read it). They weren’t explained AT ALL. The lead up to the death was, but then they skimmed over the actual event. And the big battle was over in a few sentences. I want my big, dramatic ending. I want to be on the edge of my seat, not knowing how it’s going to end. Yes, it can’t be too brutal, because it’s for kids. But that doesn’t mean it can be skipped like it’s unimportant!

Yes, it’s a children’s book. I need to keep reminding myself of that when I read it. It’s not aimed for someone as critical as me. It’s aimed for someone young, who isn’t going to notice the problems I did. But I still feel like parts should have been explained better. Kids want to escape into a fantasy world. But the real world still needs to be explained! I gave this a really low rating, only 2 stars. Which was probably a bit harsh. But after adoring the movies so much, I expected a lot more from this.