The Chronicles of Narnia / The Magician's Nephew / The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe [Boxset]

Narnia. I love the way that name rolls off the tongue. The names in this series deserve special mention, simply for the emotions and images they invoke. Maybe I'm just biased because I love names like that, but I adore this series. There are so many reasons why. The major one being Aslan. His appearances throughout the series give an almost tangible feeling of majesty and greatness. The...more

Narnia. I love the way that name rolls off the tongue. The names in this series deserve special mention, simply for the emotions and images they invoke. Maybe I'm just biased because I love names like that, but I adore this series. There are so many reasons why. The major one being Aslan. His appearances throughout the series give an almost tangible feeling of majesty and greatness. The characters feel warm and protected, and a little fearful, and it's done well enough that the reader can feel it too. The only reason this isn't five stars, is that I was slightly disappointed with how suddenly the children from the first book were forgotten, but I suppose they up for it in the end.   hide

I really enjoyed the Chronicles of Narnia. The one thing that stood out for me was the strong Christian symbolism in the story. The sacrificing of Aslan’s life in place of Edmund’s treachery is quite similar to the Christian story of Jesus sacrificing his life for our sin. The beating of Aslan as he walked to the alter (the beating of Jesus before the crucifixion), the approach of...more

I really enjoyed the Chronicles of Narnia. The one thing that stood out for me was the strong Christian symbolism in the story. The sacrificing of Aslan’s life in place of Edmund’s treachery is quite similar to the Christian story of Jesus sacrificing his life for our sin. The beating of Aslan as he walked to the alter (the beating of Jesus before the crucifixion), the approach of Susan and Lucy to his body just before dawn (the approach of the woman to Jesus’ tomb just before dawn), the splitting of the stone table (the splitting of the curtain in the Temple as Jesus died?), and the rebirth of Aslan are symbols that represent the story of Jesus. In fact, C.S. Lewis’ decision to represent the character of Aslan as a lion was probably no accident either: in Revelation 5:5, the writer refers to Jesus as the Lion from Judah’s tribe, the root of David. At the end of The Voyage of the Dawntreader, the fifth book in the Narnia series, Aslan appears as a small lamb, and after the lamb slowly changes to his lion form, he says to the children that in their world (i.e., our world), he is known by a different name. A great piece of work.   hide

These books should be read aloud to children, over and over again. They teach, they entertain and they build imagination(how important is the tail to a valiant knight, who happens to be a mouse?)As a diehard Narnian. I prefer that one introduce Narnia to children as I did, starting with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe". I believe that it creates a love for Aslan, makes Him the center of...more

These books should be read aloud to children, over and over again. They teach, they entertain and they build imagination(how important is the tail to a valiant knight, who happens to be a mouse?)As a diehard Narnian. I prefer that one introduce Narnia to children as I did, starting with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe". I believe that it creates a love for Aslan, makes Him the center of all the books, the "One looked for" at all times. The newly published versions put the books in chronilogical order as Lewis actually intended they be. But brilliant as Lewis was, he was not a mother, and I don't think he understood the child heart as a mother does. To introduce Aslan in "The Magician's Nephew", would not give the pleasure and the anticipation, if one did not know who this Lion is. One of my favorite memories involves a backpacking trip, two tents, rain and hearing my 10 year old son reading "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" to his little sister and brother.   hide

The book was not enjoyable. The first time. The sad part is I had already read the second book, 'The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe,' so most of time was spent thinking things like, 'where are the kids?' and, 'where are all the other chracters in the second book?' A very annoying read. But like I said, teh first time, you found their journies easier to follow. Some of the...more

The book was not enjoyable. The first time. The sad part is I had already read the second book, 'The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe,' so most of time was spent thinking things like, 'where are the kids?' and, 'where are all the other chracters in the second book?' A very annoying read. But like I said, teh first time, you found their journies easier to follow. Some of the visions really put an image--if not a clip--in my head, making this all so realistic. I did enjoy the ending. Made some more sense. It was OOHH-KAY. It was hard to read considering I had already read, "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wadrobe." Besides that, this one, and all the rest of the Narnia books are flat out boring. I suppose they could be interesting, if they were, perhaps, written differently. I didn't really enjoy.   hide

I absolutely adore this series, I have read it over and over through different periods in my life, and have always found it relevant. However, something upsets me about this popular series: Not everyone has an appreciation for "The Magician's Nephew.” This is the first and most fundamental book of the series. This book, along with “The Horse and His Boy,” is one of the two most...more

I absolutely adore this series, I have read it over and over through different periods in my life, and have always found it relevant. However, something upsets me about this popular series: Not everyone has an appreciation for "The Magician's Nephew.” This is the first and most fundamental book of the series. This book, along with “The Horse and His Boy,” is one of the two most commonly skipped books in the series. I can almost forgive skimming over “The Horse and His Boy,” But who could ever skip the first and most relevant book in a series? It can only be attributed to the media’s emphasis put on the second book “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,” which on its own makes for a very entertaining and complete storey. Unfortunately, due to this emphasis, a great number of people believe that this book is in fact the first and most important book in the series. In the second book, Narnia reflects a portrait of Earth, where-in both good and evil exist. However, readers are unable to understand that the evil presence in Narnia was created in the first book, when humans were accidentally introduced to this new world during it’s creation. With out “The Magician’s Nephew,” the reader will never learn that Narnia is a new world, or that new worlds are born and old worlds die everyday. With out this crucial first book, the last book in the series has no basis. Although the reader is constantly accepting magical occurrences due to the context of the series; without first reading “The Magician’s Nephew,” the entire storey can never be told. The reader will never fully understand the creation of earth and heaven, and let’s face it; that is what this series really boils down to.   hide

IF you or someone you know is a young adult and loved this series then I would also recommend the series by Lloyd Alexander which I read about the same time as this series. The Black Cauldron was a book from that series and was also made into a Disney animated film as well. If that series is too young adult for you then I would say graduate to the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Might...more

IF you or someone you know is a young adult and loved this series then I would also recommend the series by Lloyd Alexander which I read about the same time as this series. The Black Cauldron was a book from that series and was also made into a Disney animated film as well. If that series is too young adult for you then I would say graduate to the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Might as well read the best first. Sometimes the writing might turn off readers who are too young, but it is the model many future writers followed in story line anyways. Overall this Chronicle of Narnia series was inventive and easy to read but had plenty of serious content that you could sink your teeth into as well. Including many Christian religious references. The sort of series that is the opposite I guess of His Dark materials Series by Phillip Pullman which has a more critical view hierarchical religions in general and of fundamentalist religions in particular. Good Christmas gift for your 10 to 13 year old.   hide

This was a series that was a basic part of my childhood. I WANTED to find my version of that Wardrobe and that search was one of the factors driving me towards my own writing career. These were all the books there were going to be in this series and if I wanted to experience something similar I was going to have to build it myself. As an adult, and even as an older child, I was less impressed...more

This was a series that was a basic part of my childhood. I WANTED to find my version of that Wardrobe and that search was one of the factors driving me towards my own writing career. These were all the books there were going to be in this series and if I wanted to experience something similar I was going to have to build it myself. As an adult, and even as an older child, I was less impressed by the overtly Christian message that carries thru the series. Since the first copies my mom read to me belonged to her church priest, it was never a surprise or in any way foisted upon an unknowing audience. Both my siblings read the series and we all have fond memories of it. I recommend it to any parent with a kid who's interested in the movies. I thought the books were better, but perhaps it's fairer to say they're different.   hide

As the child of fundamentalist Christian parents, I am forever grateful for these well-written Christian allegories. The only reason I was allowed to read them is their Christian allegory-ness, and they opened up a world of fantasy to me that I wouldn't have been permitted to explore otherwise. (Same with Tolkien's LotR series.) I still find myself wishing for a...more

As the child of fundamentalist Christian parents, I am forever grateful for these well-written Christian allegories. The only reason I was allowed to read them is their Christian allegory-ness, and they opened up a world of fantasy to me that I wouldn't have been permitted to explore otherwise. (Same with Tolkien's LotR series.) I still find myself wishing for a toffee-fruit tree (TMN) and marvelling at the Narnian solar-powered lamp posts CS Lewis made in his mind long before actual solar powered lamps (TMN & TLtWatW). CS Lewis created some of my favorite, most beloved characters: Eustace Scrubb, Reepicheep, Trumpkin the DLF, Puddleglum, Bree... I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, but there you are. The wit with which almost all the books are written was a joy for me to discover as a child, and many of the characters still make me laugh out loud today. My least favorite book of the series is The Last Battle, and it's easily the most preachy of the lot. I read the rest of them at least once a year. They're made for kids, but I still enjoy them today.   hide

As an Old Narnian and budding Lewis scholar, I have to clarify a point--the Chronicles are *not* allegory. For that, go to The Pilgrim's Regress. Douglas Gresham, Lewis' stepson, calls the Chronicles "suppositional representational fantasy" because their premise is a supposition: Suppose there were a world peopled with talking beasts and mythological creatures. How would Christ appear there,...more

As an Old Narnian and budding Lewis scholar, I have to clarify a point--the Chronicles are *not* allegory. For that, go to The Pilgrim's Regress. Douglas Gresham, Lewis' stepson, calls the Chronicles "suppositional representational fantasy" because their premise is a supposition: Suppose there were a world peopled with talking beasts and mythological creatures. How would Christ appear there, and how would He save that world if/when it fell? For first time readers, I recommend going in publication order (which is also the order in which the movies will appear). After that, read them in whatever order you please. And keep in mind that Lewis was following his own dictum expressed in "On Three Ways of Writing for Children": "Since it is so likely that [children] will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage…. Let there be wicked kings and beheadings, battles and dungeons, giants and dragons, and let the villains be soundly killed at the end of the book." Our King, gentle though He is, is not a tame lion. Go to Narnia and learn to know Him better.   hide