Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Last Battle

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

47 reviews

hinabooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Um, excuse me? They fucking DIE??!!! I mean I guess it makes sense, because the new Narnia was veeeerry obviously Heaven.

Of all the Narnia books, this one felt the most heavy with Biblical imagery and motifs. Which typically doesn’t bother me, but some references were blaringly obvious. The ending was fine, to be honest.

Like, I get it, it’s heaven.

But I like that it’s a happy ending, though

the battle is lost.

BUT, the racism was not cute at all. I know it’s a product of its time, but reeaally? Brownface? I don’t know.

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byrenical's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

2.25

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sileacium's review against another edition

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emmacb's review against another edition

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1.0

Re-reading this series has been eye opening, as I knew there was racism and sexism and heavy Christian imagery among other old-school viewpoints that do not stand up today (and shouldn't have at the time either!), but reading it and noticing those moments myself was different from knowing it in the abstract.

In general, my view of the series was that I wouldnt encourage, but would let my (future) kids read them if they chose but with a lot of conversation around the themes. This one however, I would actively discourage.

Very racist (brown face, calling people d*rkie a LOT, stereotypes galore), and some seriously questionable Christian religious imperialism

(I.e. the 'good' calormenes were actually worshiping Aslan all along they just thought it was Tash, who is actually bad because surely no other religion could have a good deity/people 😖

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stirlingluci's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

0.25

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venti's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

ngl i did get a little teary eyed at

“The difference between the old Narnia and the new Narnia was like that. The new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more. I can't describe it any better than that: if you ever get there you will know what I mean”

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rakkaussipsi's review against another edition

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adventurous

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.0

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islayfraser's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Much more overtly racist than the other books in this series. Quite the ending. How can you beat it? A very satisfying, circular ending, too.

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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1.0

It’s been said before but truly I could not focus on anything except the BLATANT racism in this book, ft. our beloved heroes doing blackface, “darkies” (lewis’s word, not mine) worshipping a god that is revealed to be a demon, and an evil ape (really the racist symbolism is so transparent) creating a fake Aslan for his own gain. I see what c.s. lewis is doing, and it infuriates me. As someone who was raised Christian, i found the rhetoric in this book deeply distasteful. Being intimately familiar with Christian beliefs, i just can’t stop thinking about how this book could be so much better. The ending felt like the biggest cop out ever,

the end of the world of narnia

felt rushed and also i felt like it wasn’t a true representation of biblical end times. And don’t even get me started on Susan 😤

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fragrant_stars's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Definitely a darker tone than the earlier books... as an adult, it's a little uncomfortable to read the racism and xenophobia in these books-- I don't believe CS Lewis had any malicious intent when he wrote these tropes, but.. you know. Still uncomfortable. All in all though, I think it was a decent wrapup to the Narnia series, and I'm happy I was able to enjoy these books as a young child.

BTW Susan didn't enter Aslan's kingdom in the end because she was.... you know..... still alive......... Smartassery aside it's very clear in-text that Susan doesn't go to Aslan's kingdom because she doesn't really want to go. She doesn't even believe it exists. She's so obsessed with being a part of the Grown Up Club that she's too proud to believe in fairytales. It's not about the lipsticks nylons and boys. CS Lewis himself says that he thinks that it's not too late for Susan to grow up and realise it's okay to indulge in "silly" and "childish" things and come back to Narnia again someday.

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