Rating: 
Summary: Plot Overcomes Allegory: Hurray!
Review: This is the best of the Narnia series. C.S. Lewis allows the plot to get away occasionally from his strict form of Christian allegory. Moreover, the book is funny and episodic and exciting. And it's about getting to know yourself and changing what you don't like. Unexplored waters and unknown lands create a magic of their own in which Lucy and Edmund and, especially, Eustace -- having magically found themselves on board the Dawn Treader --can come to terms with their weakness and strength. The Dark Island, where all dreams (not just good ones!) come true, Deathwater Island -- the place of greed, Dragon Island, where Eustace turns into a dragon (which, of course, he was on the inside all along), Ramandu's island, the sea people's land, the house of the Retired Star, and more, reveal what stuff these children are made on. What their mettle is may not always exemplary, but in this book at least, characters can change. Eustace can be un-dragoned and become a changed child (having dragon skin a foot deep ripped off by a lion would, I think, inevitably result in change). This is a book of deep, miraculous possibility. As a child, I read *The Voyage of the Dawn Treader* until it fell apart, and I've gone through another copy since. My only criticism is this: C. S. Lewis, having loosened his strangle-hold on his constricting Christian allegory, occasionally seems to feel obliged to bring in something really ham-handed. It's most annoying. The most egregious intrusion occurs when the children encounter, in the middle of nowhere, a milky white lamb frying fish on the open grass. How the heck does a lamb fry fish? Where does he get fish? Where does he get the frying pan? Why do we *need* this for the plot? The Lamb of God (Christ), communion, fish. Cringe. It's all tossed into the pot and left somehow to be digested. There are fabulous Christian allegories; this is not one of them. I would to say that this is the only place in the entire series where C.S. Lewis' allegory truly and absolutely and utterly crashes and burns. But one Lamb doesn't stop this from being a great book. *The Voyage of the Dawn Treader* provides delight, wonder, and best of all, a promise of a second chance for every one of us.
Rating:
Summary: Never a dull moment
Review: This is the fifth book chronologically, and the third published. After "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", it's probably the next most enjoyable of the series.
Peter and Susan are now too old to enter Narnia, and this time it's Edmund and Lucy embarking on their last magical adventure. We rejoin them during their stay with their new age aunt and uncle, and obnoxious cousin Eustace. A painting of a Narnian ship literally draws all three children in to the next adventure, where we advance three Narnian years from book four, "Prince Caspian".
Caspian, the boy King, is on a quest to find out what really happened to the seven lords who had been sent away by his evil uncle Miraz. This is the story of that perilous journey to the unknown Eastern Seas, and according to legend, the country of Aslan himself.
Journeying into the unknown is always fraught with danger, but after many thrilling adventures and much adversity, they are successful in solving the puzzle of the seven lords, for better or for worse. Time and time again, they seek Aslan's help, and in his mysterious ways, he guides them through their darkest hours.
Packed with excitement, adventure, magic and enchantment, pirates, dragons, treasure and invisible people, there's never a dull moment aboard the Dawn Treader.
Amanda Richards, September 3, 2004
Rating:
Summary: A Voyage of the Best Kind
Review: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis is in my opinion, the best out of all seven of the Chronicles of Narnia.
It is like a cruise- in a book- you get a taste of various make-believe cultures. You even meet a Star and experience a vast endless sea adventure with good and evil, right and wrong. Explore the shallows of the sweet waters where there are fierce yet valiant sea people. Search for the eight lords banished from Narnia by the evil 'king' Miraz. See Aslans country and look for the many biblical parallels hidden within that only make it more exciting with its familiarity yet different adventurous ways of portraying the prophesies. This book is good for people of all ages, and is a good place to start with the fantasy genre.
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