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| The Chronicles of Narnia | 
 enlarge | Author: C.s. Lewis
Creator: Pauline Baynes
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book
List Price: $32.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  131 reviews
Sales Rank: 5854
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 784
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.7
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 2.3
ISBN: 0060598247
EAN: 9780060598242
ASIN: 0060598247
Publication Date: November 1, 2004
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| Customer Reviews:
 Superb. October 28, 2005
16 out of 18 found this review helpful
When I was 8, my mother read all of the Chronicles of Narnia books to me before bedtime. I loved them, read them over and over in elementary school, and promptly forgot about them for about 10 years. Recently, I got a the "all in one edition" as a gift, and fell back into Narnia's grasp. The books are not complicated, and may turn off some people because of that simplicity. But therein lies, in my view, the greatest strength of the story. I won't bother to rehash the plots, because it is likely that you already know them. The allegorical themes touch on the essence of who Jesus Christ is, and what it means to be a follower of Him. I know some will stop reading right now and declare this review crap because of the mention of God, but these books are more than worth your time.
A non-Christian's perspective: WONDERFUL BOOKS! November 18, 2005
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
I am Jewish, and I saw that other reviewers thought the Christian imagery of the books would turn off non-Christians. I just wanted to say that I have loved these books ever since discovering them as a pre-teen. I think at first it went "over my head" that Aslan's story was depicting Jesus' crucifixion, and I just enjoyed the tales. Then upon re-reading later, I recognized the Christianity in the stories--but it didn't matter. Many classics of literature depict religious perspectives that even people of the same religion may not necessarily agree with--look at, for example, "The Scarlet Letter." By then I was well-read enough to respect the Christian symbology and view it objectively.
Further, many of us love things like Greek myths that clearly originated in other religious systems--but we can appreciate them and see the lessons in them without "believing" in those religions, per se. In fact, I pointed out to my kids that characters from other belief systems--Greek mythological characters, etc.--were incorporated into the story. Aslan's "side"--consisting of all of the "good guys" and heroes--was very diverse--animals, people, various other creatures . . . while it was the villain, the White Witch, who wanted to eliminate differences. Though she had a host of different creatures working for her, she wanted everyone to think like her; she made it a perpetual winter to keep people unhappy and dependent on her, and turned to stone anyone who resisted her. Thus, while the good folks just wanted to live in peace with each other, the evil ones were the ones who would not be content unless everyone was under their control. I explained to my kids that this was a message, too, about the politics of the time when Lewis was writing, so the books became a history lesson as well--especially since the kids had to go to the country to avoid the WW2 bombings in London.
I am expecting my 4th child within a couple of weeks; my oldest boys (ages 15 & 8) both love these books and movies/cartoons made from them (we have some older videotapes they watched over and over again.) If you are not a Christian, or your view of the crucifixion story differs from the philosophy presented in the books, the obvious thing is to TALK to your kids about your beliefs while still showing them that we can respect and appreciate CS Lewis' view without necessarily agreeing with it. This is an important lesson I believe every child should learn--beyond mere tolerance, it's the ability to appreciate beauty and find commonalities even where there are big differences. If we could all impart that to our kids at an early age, instead of teaching them enmity toward people who are different, what a much better world this would be, right?
I haven't read this particular volume, and assume it's unabridged; if it is indeed complete, then it's definitely worth the price (though an 800 page volume may be unwieldy to young readers or adults reading a bedtime story.) They are wonderful fuel for the imagination, capturing all of the childhood "must-haves": a secret world, swords and magic, battles and fantastic creatures and high adventure. Meanwhile, there is enough humour and "warts & all" realism of the children depicted to keep the stories from being "sappy"--even with the positive morals and values being encouraged at the same time.
Narnia Beginning to End February 21, 2005
15 out of 19 found this review helpful
C.S Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia" is an extraodinary series, no question about it. This seven book set of fantasy novels is full of adventure, wonder, depth and allegory, and is a great read again and again, no matter what your age.
There are many countries to explore within these books. There's the england-like Narnia with it's talking animals and creatures of Greek mythology, the Arabia-like Calormen with its verbose warriors and horrible gods, the bleak Ettinsmoor with its bumbling giants, the eastern seas with its breathtaking wonders, the western wilds and its enchanted garden, the high, balmy Archenland, and the fantastic Aslan's country. There are lots of characters to meet too. The fauns, the centaurs, unicorns, pegasus, dragons, werewolves, witches, many a talking beast and of course Aslan himself, the great wild Lion, Narnia's savior. There are kings to be crowned, feasts to be eaten, battles to be fought and lessons to be learned. A marvellous place to read about, absolutely.
Throughout the stories are these beautiful, evocative illustrations and maps by Pauline Baynes, which enchance Lewis' description of Narnia, making it come even more alive.
Lewis was a devoted Christian, and his faith shines through in all his written works, particularly within Narnia. Both the wonders and temptation of the Garden of Eden is captured perfectly in "The Magician's Nephew". In "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe", we see the joys, sorrows and purpose of the savior, Aslan the Lion (who is similar to our savior Jesus Christ). "A Horse And His Boy", by way of Shasta's adventures in Calormen, plays out Proverbs 16v9: "In his heart man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps". As he heads towards Narnia, the great Lion guides him to his destination, even if he doesn't know it. In "Prince Caspian" we see people who refuse to believe in Aslan, dismissing it as myths just because his appearance was so long ago, in the same way that many people dismiss Jesus and his miracles because all we have 2000 years on are his stories and teachings. In "Voyage of the Dawn Treader", among other things, we see the ever critical Eustace turned into a dragon, and only then does he see how horrid he has been. With Aslan's help, he is stripped of his scales and bathed in water, very similar to the Christian baptism and the cleansing of sins through Christ. In "The Silver Chair", we follow as the temptations and tribulations of Jill and Eustace looking for Prince Rillian, uncannily similar to the doubts and troubles of Christians struggling agaist the world. And in "The Last Battle", we see the apocalypse, the end of the world, based roughly around the Biblical book of Revelation. It's always nice to read book that work on a couple of levels.
Personally, I'd go for the box set over this ominbus.
For one, the books in the box set are seperate so more than one person can be reading the series at the same time (good if you have more than one child wanting to read the series), and the thinner books are far easier to handle than a great big thick one, particularly if you're reading on the train, like I often do. Plus, if you disagree with the order (which is chronological in this edtion), you can shuffle it around in a box set, which you can't do with a single book.
Still, whatever way you want to purchase it, it's a great fantasy series, a great allegory, with great illustrations and great writing. Highly, highly recommended.
Ian Myles Slater on: All Seven at One Blow? December 21, 2005
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
In a review of Paul F. Ford's "Companion to Narnia," I described the "Chronicles" as the seven fantasy novels into which Lewis poured vividly recreated borrowings from the literature he himself loved. There are Talking Animals (non-human intelligences fascinated him from childhood, and contributed to his interest in science fiction). There are elements from Classical and Norse Myths, Medieval Romances, and Renaissance Epics. There are themes from Victorian and Edwardian writers, like William Morris and E. Nesbit (both socialists; so much for any notion of Lewis the arch-reactionary), and scenes from H. Rider Haggard's Lost-World adventures (and perhaps glimpses of his soul-devouring immortal beauties), concepts from George MacDonald's Fairy Tales for Adults and Children, and images from Arthur Rackham's illustrations of Wagner. "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" seems to combine William Morris with the medieval Irish "The Voyage of St. Brendan," containing a mixture of idealized politics, vivid realistic details, and moral explications of strange events on increasingly exotic islands.
It is a world in which Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm would have had to invent Oral History instead of Folklore: the adventures of "The Brave Little Tailor" ("Das tapfere Schneiderlein") of the grand boast (see title of review) *almost* might have taken place in some forgotten Narnian borderland. A world in which Bacchus is somehow a (probably tipsy) ally of Father Christmas; and, as Lewis first intended, it is perfectly natural for a Faun to be walking through the winter woods with an armload of brown-paper parcels, carrying an umbrella, wearing a woolen muffler, and trying to keep his tail out of the snow.
And, oh yes, charging in as if on its own, a version of basic Christian stories and doctrines, mostly in the form of Aslan the Lion, Son of the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. (Or "over the Sea," and further variants -- Lewis was not overly concerned about consistent nomenclature, or hyphenation, among other lapses in method to which his old friend Tolkien took exception.) You can call it allegory or symbolism; but the books are not *strict* allegories, in the "Pilgrim's Progress" mode. (Well, except for a few sections which *can* be read that way; again, consistency isn't the strongest point.)
It is Aslan who looks out from the jacket of this HarperCollins one-volume edition of all seven (at one blow, so to speak). To the exclusion of a dense cast of humans ("Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve"), Talking Beasts, Centaurs and Nymphs, Dwarfs and Underland Gnomes, surface-visiting Mer-People and deep-dwelling Sea People, Dragons, Giants, Dryads, Maenads, and many others. Plus some less immediately recognizable (but memorable) beings, Lewis's own creations, notably the Marshwiggles. (Or should that be "Marsh-wiggles"?
{Note; the Aslan cover was also used for the trade paperback version of this omnibus, so I didn't make a distinction on first reviewing the volume; I have since noticed that recent printings of the trade paperback have a movie-tie-in cover, with the White Witch -- attractive, but rather less appropriate for the whole series.}
Narnia is only one of the lands visited in the course of the stories, although it has a central place, and, with its neighbor and ally Archenland, is the only region for which we are given anything approaching a history to be in a Chronicle. One running all the way from Creation (actually before!) to Apocalypse -- "Urzeit und Endzeit," in the German phrase -- especially in the "official," rather than the publication, order of the books.
The author wrote the seven novels in short chapters, suitable for reading aloud (he compared it to the discipline of writing sonnets), and many younger children have encountered them in this way; but the books themselves were also intended to be looked at. Indeed, Lewis insisted on picking the illustrator, settling on the young woman who had brilliantly illuminated Tolkien's "Farmer Giles of Ham" a few years before. (And, despite a pose as a crusty old bachelor, he soon found himself too enchanted by her to raise objections to her work when he really wanted to; he didn't like her excessively plain children, or, worse, her lions...)
However, many tween- and teenagers, and a lot of adults, have found Narnia enjoyable reading on their own. The Christian element is so unobtrusive that many readers have failed to notice it until it was pointed out, although I continue to be surprised by the fact. Even if "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" didn't contain enough clues from the Gospels, surely "The Magician's Nephew" had enough from Genesis (if not so much from Milton, who dominated Lewis' 1943 science fiction novel, "Perelandra") to set off alarms. Then again, how many people really, really noticed, or above all cared, that "The Lion King" is "Hamlet with Animals"?
Well, I recognized the doctrinal side early on, although I didn't think much about it for years. Not until I encountered some of the theology that Lewis was drawing on, buried in R.W. Southern's "The Making of the Middle Ages," and recognized with a start that the odd soteriology in Narnia might be pre-Anselmian, not Lewis's original simplification-for-children. (A matter worth attention only to those who don't need it explained, I assure you!) I will return below to a consideration of the contents, and what issues, if any, they pose.
As for packaging, alongside single volumes in hardcover, mass-market, and trade paperbacks, and boxed sets of these, there seem to be two omnibus editions of the "Chronicles of Narnia" currently available. One is this 778-page monolith (including an essay by the author) from 2004, and the other is "The Complete Chronicles of Narnia" published in 1998, which is a "mere" 528 pages. And I am not quite sure which of the possible markets for the stories either of the omnibuses is aimed at; although having seven titles neatly bundled together does sound good, and one thick book probably looks far less "childish" -- indeed, without the jacket, the 2004 edition looks more like a college history text, and a rather dull one at that. Which perhaps goes along with the present "Editorial Review" description of this edition as "for adults" -- in a sense of "adult" (very concerned with being thought "grown up") of which Lewis disapproved!
The 2004 version is mainly a straightforward compilation of the currently standard texts, established in 1994 on the basis of the Geoffrey Bles editions of the 1950s, unfortunately discarding the revisions that Lewis had made for the early American editions, along with their poorly-rendered art and some typographical errors. Black-and-white art includes full-page frontispieces or illustrated title pages, maps, and small chapter head illustrations; those illustrations by Pauline Baynes which are included are restored to their original clarity.
Baynes' own color art for the stories, in the form of dust-jackets, is omitted, which is understandable. More serious is the silent disappearance of the great many Baynes illustrations from *within* the chapters; with no reason (good or bad) offered. (Presumably it is to save space.) For those who like Baynes' work (at least on the whole -- Lewis was right about it having strengths and weaknesses) this is a minus. It would have been nice (not to say more truthful) if the omission was more clearly acknowledged, if only for those who don't know that they exist. Of course, some who know them may not miss them!
The 1998 "Complete" version, based on the same state of the text, achieved its compression of the apparent length by the use of double columns. Colored borders, and colored renditions of ALL of Pauline Baynes' original black-and-white illustrations, make that edition visually attractive. I am not sure that the eye-appeal would stand up well to prolonged reading. And, frankly, I am not sure than even the 1998 volume is small enough to be child-friendly. Of course, that is assuming that someone wants to let a younger child handle its bright (others might say gaudy) pages.
If one insists on "colorized" art, it is available in other, "deluxe" editions of the individual titles, as well, some with Pauline Baynes' own dust-jacket art used for the covers, and no sign of textbook-ish columns of type. These seem to me to be more truly "user-friendly." And there are editions with the black-and-white art left as it was (although rather badly reproduced in some instances). I got the 1970s printings of the Puffin (Penguin) paperbacks partly for the relatively clean reproduction of the art, and have returned to them many times over the years. Comparing editions may be the only safe test.
The adult planning on reading aloud to one or more younger children from either of these omnibus editions may also want to ponder the difficulty of making clear that there are seven distinct stories, and that one of them has been completed, even though there is a lot of the book left. In addition, whether one is reading silently or aloud, the option of following the original order instead of the chronological one is a bit more difficult when the latter is almost imposed by the binding. (They are here ordered as: "The Magician's Nephew" [1955]; "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" [1950]; "The Horse and His Boy" [1954] "Prince Caspian" (1951]; "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" [1952]; "The Silver Chair" [1953]; and "The Last Battle" [1956]. "The Horse and His Boy" was actually written just before "The Silver Chair," and, not surprisingly, they share some shifts in Lewis' point of view; also with "Magician's Nephew" and "Last Battle," which themselves share information not found in the now intervening books, where it would have been relevant.)
Of course, if you are considering it for children, the first thing to consider at all is whether to embark on such a reading.
Now, leaving aside those who just don't enjoy them, there are rival choruses of hostility to the Narnia books: from those who object to ANY injection of Christianity, and from those who find its Christian message too lukewarm, disguised, and horribly ecumenical. And then there are those who think that it is actively pagan, or Satanic; proving, I suppose, that some things really are in the eyes and hearts of readers. (Those seriously interested in disputing Lewis as a theologian -- a legitimate concern -- focus their attention on his explicit statements in readily-available books like "Mere Christianity," although even there his striving to be "Broad Church," and his consciousness of history, make him an easy target for those who want narrower definitions.)
One odd note among the objections is the claim that Lewis celebrated war and violence in the stories. A veteran of World War I in the trenches (and almost all of his friends were dead by the end of it), Lewis makes it clear enough he thinks fighting a grim and unpleasant business, but -- writing post-1945, after making a first attempt in 1939 -- sometimes a necessary one.
More plausible is the charge of sexism -- which in fact is there, although it moderates in the course of the series. (Particularly if one follows the writing-and-publication order, rather than the internal chronology; "The Silver Chair," "The Horse and His Boy," "The Magician's Nephew," and "The Last Battle" are rather different on this point from the earlier-written volumes among which they have been dispersed.) And the charge could be applied to almost all the literature of the past. In Narnia it is subtle enough that I doubt any child is going to be indoctrinated by it -- particularly since Lewis made an effort to portray overtly sexist males (not that he would have called them that!) as either foolish or unpleasant, and usually both. Many of his unconscious assumptions and expressions seem a bit archaic, but anyone wanting a book that teaches girls to be properly "girlish" had better look elsewhere!
Some regard Lewis's portrayal of the Calormene Empire, the Kingdom of Narnia's hostile neighbor, as racist, or anti-Muslim, or both. This deserves an essay in itself; suffice it to say that he went to some lengths to make it as pagan (rather than Muslim) as possible, although it does seem to reflect old European fears of the Ottoman Empire. Of course, if one insists on the resemblance, it should be said that two of Lewis's most attractive human characters are Calormenes; in a series in which human beings are only one of a multitude of rational species, and respect for intelligent beings of *any* shape is a primary lesson.
The complete set hard bound, in order, excellent February 6, 2005
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
This complete collection of the Chronicles of Narnia includes all the stories put together in the order in which C. S. Lewis meant them to be read instead of the order in which they were published. For example The Magician's Nephew was written several years after The Chronicles of Narnia was started but was meant to be read first. In this collection it is placed first as Mr. Lewis meant it to be read. In addition it includes a short essay from C. S. Lewis on the subject of Writing for Children. This is a massive work of almost 800 pages.
Most readers will be at least somewhat familiar with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as it has been in several smaller children's books and even some television specials, but it is only the beginning of the Chronicles of Narnia. The complete chronicles include The Magician's Nephew, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle.
This is a high quality hardbound book that will survive the typical abuse of children when reading it. If you liked The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe you will love the complete collection. The Chronicles of Narnia, one of the all-time classics of children literature, is a highly recommended read and this publication of it should be considered for all public libraries and private collections.
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