The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my favorite so far in the Chronicles of Narnia series. I read it out loud to 7 year old Max and he, I think, feels it the same way, though perhaps for different reasons. To me, the writing is more polished, the plot more focused and engaging and the characters are more real in this book than in the previous four Narnia stories. I also really enjoy adventure stories and this is a great one. Max enjoyed it because he thinks Reepicheep, a 2 foot tall, utterly fearless talking mouse, is hilarious and for Max, hilarity is the main criteria for a good book.

My only minor complaint is that I think there' maybe a little too much Aslan ex machina (though not as much as in the previous 4 books). Even so, there's not so much magic as to make the story too fantastic to be enjoyable.