Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - The Last Battle

Re-reading this as adult, I realized that I was mistaken about why I struggled to enjoy this one as a child. I thought it was because it was sad that Narnia was ending (and was later informed that I was bad/wrong/childish to see the ending of Narnia as sad compared to the entry into heaven/Aslan's Country). But the thing is, the real sadness of this book is the pre-millennial worldview where Narnia has to fall apart for no good reason before we can get to Aslan's Country.

The relationship between Shift and Puzzle is both infuriating, and also impressive, because even as a child with no words for the manipulative gaslighting that Shift pulls on Puzzle, I still got a very clear picture that these sorts of shenanigans are bad, and people like Shift are not to be trusted.

There are still some bright spots in the book that made the re-read well worth it:

*Tirian. Possibly my favorite king of Narnia. (He might have to share that title with Peter, though, but that's okay because neither of them would be greedy about titles.)

*The Bear. Mostly comic relief in my childhood, he's gotten more relatable even just in memory as I've aged, and one of the lines about him (while still funny) made me full on cry as an adult.

*Assorted adventure and heroics, as you would expect from the heroes of Narnia.

Content Warnings

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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author2223's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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esme_may's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

1.5

This book was so unbelievably racist. It deals with the Calormenes very badly and constantly presents Asian as the ‘right’ god to believe in. It only manages to be better than The Horse and His Boy by not being painfully boring

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