Monday, February 5, 2018

The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis

The Silver Chair (c) 1953 by C. S. Lewis
I just finished another really good book in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.

The Silver Chair, possibly my favorite in the series, follows the adventures of Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb as they enter Narnia to help find Prince Rilian, the son of Eustace's old pal, Caspian. Eustace had been in Narnia before with his cousins, Edmund and Lucy.

Jill is upset at the beginning of the story because she's been bullied, and Eustace tries to cheer her up. While they're talking, the bullies come along, and in their escape, Eustace and Jill find themselves in Aslan's Country. Not Narnia, yet. That's across the ocean.

Well, things start going wrong right off. Because she strays too near the edge of a cliff (on purpose) and then panics, accidentally knocking Eustace over the edge when he tries to help her, Aslan has to step in to save Eustace by blowing him to safety across the ocean. And Eustace is not there to hear the four signs that Aslan tells Jill to tell him. Since he's not there to hear the signs himself, there are miscommunications and lost chances once Jill is blown to Narnia as well, and they meet up. But hope is not lost, and they meet up with Puddleglum, a faithful Narnian Marshwiggle who helps them.

I really enjoyed the story, both when I was little, and recently. I liked the adventure of it, with not a dull moment to Jill and Eustace, I liked the underlying idea that even when we mess up, we can still get back on track, and I liked the moral that doing good does pay off.

The Silver Chair is a great story, and I highly recommend it to all ages of readers who enjoy adventure and fantasy!

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