An orphaned boy and a kidnapped horse gallop for Narnia…and freedom. The Horse and His Boy is a wonderful, often surprising, and always engaging adventure.
The Prince of Narnia has gone missing and it’s up to Jill, Eustace, and a curious Marshwiggle named Puddleglum to find him.
The adventures of Edmund, Lucy, and the insupportable (but later quite wonderful) Eustace, their cousin, as they are once again drawn into Narnia.
Caspian is a treat. It is a window into a bygone era, not only in time, but into the human psyche. The fact that many of us do not, like Caspian, long for the “Old Narnia” is a genuine tragedy. For the river of heroism and nobility which in our day is but a trickle, still gushes strong and clean and pure from the source.
This is at once very much a children’s story and at the same time a story for all people at all times. But it is best read through a child-like lens, remembering what it was like to hide in closets or imagine you were a knight or some other sort of hero, saving the day.
Merlin’s blade is a unique take on the Arthurian legends. Told mostly from the perspective of Merlin as a young man on the cusp of adulthood, the story has a decidedly historical feel. One gets the sense that considerable research went into the writing of this book. And yet the characters are what really shine here.
The Last Motley takes place in a world known as Arinn, which looks at first glance similar to our own world as it was somewhere in the Middle Ages – both veteran readers of fantasy and newcomers to the genre will settle in easily. Briar’s Glen, the village where protagonist Roderick lives, is a place of humble outdoor markets, cottages, and dusty dirt roads – a quiet backwater of Arinn. Quiet, that is, until the motley arrives.
As good as parts of this story are, and make no mistake they are excellent, this story fails on three major counts and one minor one: its tone, its vulgarity, and its theology, the minor failure coming in the world-building itself.
Always near the top of the most sold books of all time, The Hobbit is delightful and fun and full of adventure. The adventure asks great questions about moral and spiritual right and wrong.
What Tolkien has given us in the guise of a story, is hope in a fallen world. When the world offers us nothing but sadness and meaninglessness, Tolkien, though The Lord of the Rings, reminds us that, no, this is not the end. Evil and death and suffering do not have the final say.