Thursday, April 24, 2008

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

I'm finding myself very pleasantly surprised that I threw caution to the wind and started my planned reading of the Narnia series. I don't know what exactly was holding me back, I just never seemed to be in the mood for it. But I'm really enjoying them now! As most of you know, there's two different ways to read these books now...You can of course read them in their traditional order in which they were published or you can read them in this new order that someone decided that they should be put in (don't know who). I bought my copies in a boxset that have numbers on the side of them that puts them in the new order, but I'm reading them in the original publication order, so it all gets a bit confusing as Prince Caspian is actually the second book published in the series, but the spine says "book 4". I liked it well enough as book 2! As Prince Caspian opens, Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund are about to board their train to go off to school when they are suddenly sucked back into Narnia. There they meet a dwarf who tells of a prince by the name of Caspian who is the nephew of Miraz, the current king of Narnia. It has been hundreds if not a thousand years since Peter and his siblings have last been in Narnia and all of the creatures that once inhabited it have seemingly disappeared, but Caspian still believes in them and wants to hear stories of them, but Miraz will have none of it! Caspian is only next in line as king because he has no direct heir. One day, Caspian learns that Miraz will soon have a son and that he will be king of Narnia. Knowing this and knowing that Miraz would have his head on a plate for believing in the old ways of Narnia, he flees and finds the old creatures of Narnia along his travels. He's given Susan's horn along the way that has the power to summon help when needed and with that, old Narnia awakens and a battle for the future of Narnia begins. I really enjoyed this second volume of Narnia and I'm thrilled to see what's to come in the rest of the books. What an amazing series and a nice surprise during this Once Upon a Time Challenge! Speaking of the OUaT Challenge, After the first month, I've got 8 books down already! Much better than what I've originally planned. Although it's obvious that I can't stick to a list as 5 of them have been "bonus reads" and only 3 have actually been books that I signed up for. I guess I'm too much of a whimsical reader. But here's what I've read so far: 1. The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint 2. Gifts by Ursula le Guin 3. The Book of Flying by Keith Miller 4. Tamsin by Peter Beagle 5. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis 6. Fables Volume 1: Legends in Exile by BIll Willingham 7. The Raven by John Lawson 8. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

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