So this part of the post is going to be me telling you guys my story with this series because, like I said, we go back. I was first exposed to this series in elementary school because one of my teachers was in love with this series and he read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to my entire class and it was the best thing ever because we all loved it. It was also the year that the movie for that book came out and everyone in my class went to go see it and we were all talking about it and, honestly, that was probably my first real taste of a fandom without me even knowing it. My teacher also took to calling me Lucy, one of the main characters, but more on that later. Basically, this year, ten years after I read the first book, I decided to complete the series and I did and here are my thoughts,
This series is unique for many reasons but I think the one that stands out to me the most is that it doesn't follow a set of characters for the whole thing, rather the world and just as you would expect in a person's life, people come and go and come back and it's hard to say goodbye, but you also have the hope of it not really being goodbye. This series is also a huge allusion Christianity as a whole. Some times it's there more than others, but I think that because it isn't blatantly stated more people will be able to relate to it more.
I'm going to talk about the writing style now and with that means I'll be talking about characters and the actions scenes. So, C.S. Lewis has a very, let's say minimalistic writing style. He only gives you the bare minimum in terms of deception and some people may see that as just having a poor writing style. I can't agree with that. I think that there is a reason for the lack of the description. See, with the characters specifically, it allows the readers to see a person from their lives in the story. I can testify to this because in my elementary class my teacher gave me the nickname Lucy, one of the characters in the series, and I didn't know it a the time but it is one of the best compliments I have ever gotten. I just thought that he was getting Lisa and Lucy mixed up but now I realize that Lucy and I have, or at least had, some very similar characteristics. We were roughly the same age and believed in magic. We were kind and brave. I think that everyone is able to relate someone to a character and create their experience. Same goes for the action. I remember an epic action scene and, in all honestly, it wasn't that impressive, but in my mind it was. Again, more on that later. Or, maybe Lewis really didn't know how to write and I'm just reading too much into it. Also, a quick note on Susan, I think that see faces a good amount of criticism, but I think that she does represent a fair amount of people who loose their way and, while I do see why people criticize her, I think that acknowledging that this series was written way long ago and that it is important to realize that what Susan does is realistic. But enough on that because I don't want to give it all away.
The movies. We need to talk about them. So the thing that I like about the movies is that they fill in the blanks that Lewis leaves. They are epic, high fantasy movies that are also high quality. They really do justice to the books and they just remind me of my childhood.
The books have such a strong, positive message that I can't help but admire. It's such a powerful feeling at the end that leaves you feeling sad, but happy and complete. This is one of my all time favorite series. 5 out of 5 stars.
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