The Silver Chair

I think this one was one of my faves when I was reading the series for the first time though I always missed the Pevensies. While all the Narnia books are pretty religious, I feel like this one was one of the MORE religious ones lol. Still great the second time around.

7.5/10

I think this is the best book thus far for me (publication order). To keep following Eustace is fun and the dynamic between Jill and Eustace is pretty fresh. Marsh-wiggles are awesome and Puddleglum enhances the book with his ongoing drawl of doomsday propaganda. This book feels like an actual adventure, something I don't feel about any of the others (except the first).

I see a message in this book where I didn't before. The idea that living apart from God is like being enchanted and convinced that the poorer copies of the real things are the only things. This enchantment robs us of our joy and hope while enslaving us to the desires of the enemy of God. 

At the same time, believing and following doesn't mean one has to have some ignorant enlightenment. Puddleglum, like the other Jeremiah, shows us we can love God and be faithful followers while not being happy, shiny people. 

Eustace and a schoolmate, Jill, are off on an adventure in Narnia. Aslan the lion sends the two on a mission to find Prince Rilian, the son of Prince Caspian, who has been missing for many years. The two go underground and discover secrets below the surface and are finally able to resolve the mystery of the lost prince.

Another delightful story in the Narnia book series.

Only a handful of familiar characters from past books but still a good story.

It was a good book but wasn't as good as the other books in the series.

So another reread finished in early January. I like Jill, she's a great character. What I loved about this book is that it isn't perfect. The adventure isn't perfect, it's messy. The children show their faults and grow beyond it. It made them human, because as a reader you can see that even when a person gets guidance it can go wrong and it isn't awful when that happens.

Again, a good book. Definitely not my favourite, but it's great to see characters with flaws.

Another one of my absolute favorite scenes from The Chronicles of Narnia is in The Silver Chair. This is the book that comes after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It is Book 4 in the correct order. (I wrote about this more here: https://www.jenniferneyhart.com/2014/10/c-s-lewis-silver-chair-hope-in-darkness.html )

The story takes place decades after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in Narnian time, but less than a year later in England. Therefore King Caspian X is an old man. As the adventure begins we learn that King Caspian's son, Prince Rilian is missing. Aslan sends Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole on a rescue mission. They are joined in their quest by the delightfully melancholy Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle.

Their journey leads them to the “Underland” where the Green Lady has been keeping Prince Rilian as her enchanted prisoner. The Green Lady (the witch) catches the group mid-rescue and tries to work a magic spell to make them forget who they are and why they are there. (And here I think of the admonishment to remember who you are and whose you are as a child of God...)

“Narnia?” she said. “Narnia? I have often heard your Lordship utter that name in your ravings. Dear Prince, you are very sick. There is no land called Narnia.”

“Yes there is, though, Ma'am,” said Puddleglum. “You see, I happen to have lived there all my life.”

“Indeed,” said the Witch. “Tell me, I pray you, where that country is?”

“Up there,” said Puddleglum, stoutly, pointing overhead. “I - I don't know exactly where.”

“How?” said the Queen, with a kind, soft, musical laugh. “Is there a country up among the stones and mortar of the roof?”

“No,” said Puddleglum, struggling a little to get his breath. “It's in Overworld.”

“And what, or where, pray is this... how do you call it... Overworld?”

“Oh, don't be so silly,” said Scrubb, who was fighting hard against the enchantment of the sweet smell and the thrumming. “As if you didn't know! It's up above, up where you can see the sky and the sun and the stars. Why, you've been there yourself. We met you there.” [...]

This goes on for a bit, with the witch trying to convince them that their memories of Narnia are nothing but dreams and Narnia doesn't exist. She tells them the only reality that is real is the one they can see right in front of them. But the wise Puddleglum finally uses his bare foot to stamp out the fire she was using to work her magic and then he says something I find myself coming back to over and over again:

“Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things - trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a playworld which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. [...]we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland.” - C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair, Chapter 12

****
The Chronicles of Narnia ranked from my favorite to my least favorite:
1. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (kind of tied with the ending of The Last Battle, but also that one scene from The Silver Chair... oh dear, I really can't choose! It's whichever of these I'm reading at the moment (to steal Douglas Gresham's answer!)
1. The Last Battle (for the ending)
1. The Silver Chair
2. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (kind of tied with The Magician's Nephew...)
2. The Magician's Nephew
6. Prince Caspian
7. The Horse and His Boy

i gave it 4 stars because i dont really like the time delemma

1 of the books of the series, i read it in the order lewis wrote it
takes place right after the exciting finish of voyauge of the dawntreader(book 3 in that order)
the cousin of edmund, susan , peter and there sister has a main role in this book and a clasmate
the first scene takes place at the schoolground. he talks about Narnia , she does not believe it and something happens and the cousin is not there anymore. And ASlan the mighty lion appears 2 the girl
and sets them on a Quest. In this book evrything is the time diffrence is at it again ita almost a 100 years later. they meet a new evil or a old evil , that ‘s 4v you all 2 decide

the folowing book in this series in that order is the boy and his horse

note: read all the seven books in 3 days , a weekend

I can't tell if these books are growing on me as I progress through the series or if they're actually getting better. In any case, I enjoyed The Silver Chair quite a bit. It basically follows the formula of the other Narnia books–a few kids and their adult/animal/mystical creature companions go on an adventure in Narnia with occasional help from Aslan. Yet despite the somewhat predictable nature, there is enough new and magical to keep you guessing and to keep the story fun.

The Chronicles of Narnia series was another one of my likable books reading growing up. I read through this entire series in one month and definitely liked it. There were many things that definitely dragged on about these but overall I liked it but wouldn't say I'm a die hard fan.