It's worse than the first part and really boring.
It has the same flaws, and instead of rectifying them, the author goes on describing every single detail in the story, like the color of the grass, etc.
I liked the reason why the children were brought to Narnia. I was a great set up. But, I would say I only liked that part from the entire book.
Just for the convenience and the story to progress, our characters (who are children in school!) carries electric torches and matches. I mean, who would if you are just a child ?
I thought the final battle would be good, but it disappointed me as well. Just a spar between Peter and Miraz, and that's it. The end of the book.
I am stopping this book at page 110 because I am not loving the story as I go on. Will pick it again if possible.
First of all, this review is my personal opinion, and I agree that everyone does their own.
The starting chapters, up to the children going into the Narnia and introduction to White Witch and Aslan were great. But, after that point, some things became questionable due to their illogical writing.
Few examples include: (Spoilers ahead!)
- Edmund betrays everyone to join the White Witch and end all his brothers, sisters, and all creatures of Narnia just for his food from the Witch. But, after realizing his mistake, this is the line from the book: Edmund shook hands with each of the others and said to each of them in turn, “I'm sorry,” and everyone said “That's all right.”
- And just like that, they forgive him. How can they?
- Also, to make Edmund good in the eyes of the readers, the author included the following line:
“It was all Edmund's doing, Aslan,” Peter was saying. “We'd have been beaten if it hadn't been for him.
- Also, Peter, who had no practical experience on how to fight with a sword, fights the White Witch herself. The following line from the book says it all: ‘It was Peter she was fighting—both of them going at it so hard that Lucy could hardly make out what was happening; she only saw the stone knife and Peter's sword flashing so quickly that they looked like three knives and three swords.'
- How the author expects me to believe that this is all really happening?
Overall, I think that this book best suits for very young children who doesn't have the ability to question the justification of the story, but just to enjoy the characters, as we all did in our childhood.
The relationships of characters in the story are very well connected.
There's something I've learned from years of reading people's letters. In most cases, they already have an answer to their problem. They're asking for advice because they want to see if other people think they're making the right decision. That's why a lot of people send me a response after reading my advice. Maybe they had a different solution in mind.
This is my second book from the author Ross Welford. (First book was “The kid who came from space”)
One quote / dialogue which could be the soul of this book is from Jack Mcgonagal, old friend of our protagonist, on the verge of death:
“I thank the Lord every day that I've been granted the gift of growing old. Because I would not want your life, Alfie, my friend. NOT IN A THOUSAND YEARS.” - Jack Mcgonagal
Questions I have are:
1) Why did Jasper willingly gave the life-pearl to Alfie (protagonist)?
2) Can a single life-pearl be used on more than one person/living creature? Because, at the end, Alfie used the last remaining life-pearl on himself. But, there is also Biffa (his cat). It would be better if he used the life-pearl on Biffa too, to regain mortality and stop being Neverdead.
Weird moments:
We seldom travelled, but, if we did, Mam would carefully unpick the seal and lift the tiny spheare out and swallow it for safekeeping. It would reappear about a day or so later, expelled in the manner dictated by nature. Glass - in case you did not know - is extremely resistent to almost all forms of chemical reaction, so the little ball was completely undamaged by stomach acids and other internal processes.