Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
© 1951 C.S. Lewis
195 pages
Once upon a time four children stumbled through an ordinary-looking wardrobe into another world altogether, a place called Narnia where they became its kings and queens and fought great battles under the banner of a noble lion, its creator and champion. Then they returned to their own ordinary lives, but not for long. A year after their return, the four siblings – Peter, Lucy, Edmund, and Susan – found themselves snatched from a train station and deposited on a mysterious island. They soon discovered that they had returned to Narnia, more than a millennium after their former reign. Their beloved talking animal friends had been slain or driven into hiding; their former favorite places were in ruins and surrendered to wilderness; their lord Aslan was absent, and cruel men ruled in their stead. From a lone dwarf in the wild, the Penvensies learn what has happened since their departure, and decide to go to the aid of young Prince Caspian, the last human defender of Old Narnia. Prince Caspian is a story in two parts; first, Caspian’s revolt against the evil kingdom he was technically heir to, the desperate war against his tyrannical uncle, and his grasping-at-straws move that called the four legends from the past to come to his aide. The battle that follows has plenty of heroics, but most satisfying is the character of Edmund; the once nasty boy who betrayed his family to the White Witch is selfless here, the model of ‘nobility’. It is a tale simple, fast, and sweet, with both gentle humor and adventure to stir the heart.
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