Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - 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.

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cubbykay's review against another edition

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1.5

It's really hard to sell Christianity when you're THIS racist. Using Lewis's own words against him, nothing vile or hurtful can be done in Aslan's name. So the disgusting slurs he wrote into this book must have been made in the name of Tash.

There are many reunions in this book, and they're all wonderful. Unfortunately, there are so many characters crammed in near the end that everyone's going to be disappointed that their favorites get so few lines. The new characters weren't that great either.

Susan's exclusion feels cheap. The reason is purely to extend the analogy, not to enrich the story; and the excuse feels misogynistic.

Also, they died?? That's the only way they could stay in Narnia? We all know Lucy would stay in a heartbeat, but what if Edmund had a life and plans to get back to? Well you bloody don't have a choice now! It's treated as entirely good news. Aslan's out here like, hey guess what you're dead now so you can party with me for forever! Woohoo! The end, roll credits.

Lewis had to massively retconn to pull this stunt. One mystery that always intrigued me reading through the series is, who is the narrator? The easy answer is Lewis himself, but the unamed voice could also be a character. Either way, the writer is part of the story. This is evident in Dawntreader, when he speaks of Lucy telling him about her experience at the Magician's mansion. And in that, he mentions that she still thinks about that story she read and wishes to read again. But she's dead now, and since Narnia is an extension of heaven now, did the writer die and get brought back to life just to finish the chronicle?

Narnia shouldn't end. Obviously the series has to end somehow, and Lewis was obviously planning this when he wrote Magician's Nephew, but I'm reminded of a quote I once heard that I wish I could find again. It was along the lines of, nothing should ever change in the Hundred Acre Wood; Pooh and friends should always be there just as you left them.

Good doggos though.

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morgcxn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

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clevermird's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Here we are. The closing chapter. The final story. The Last Battle.

In slightly less poetic words, no matter which reading order you use, this is the 7th and concluding installment of The Chronicles of Narnia.

It's been hundreds of years since Eustace and Jill freed Prince Rillian from the Emerald Witch and now, in the far western lands of Narnia, rumors are spreading that the lion has returned. But this version of Aslan is very different from the one in the old stories, and when King Tirian tries to put things right, he finds himself in the midst of a battle for the minds and souls of Narnia - one that might be a lost cause.

This story was my favorite of the series as a child, and reading it again, it's easy to see why. It's the darkest of the Chronicles with character deaths and destruction of familiar sites from other books abounding. I also loved the mythological, epic tone of the last few chapters. To say too much would spoil the story, but suffice to say that the series ends with a bang that is likely to stick with readers, especially young ones. Some of the metaphors became more obvious as an adult, which, again, without spoilers, involve false prophets and cult leaders, the importance of not blindly following mortal religious leaders, and the variety of human reactions to fear and uncertainty.

The book isn't perfect, though. First, like several of the books in this series, it takes a while to really get going and even when it does, the pacing is a bit uneven. Second, while I didn't find the depictions of the Calormines to be that bad overall in The Horse and His Boy, there's definitely some uncomfortable racial overtones in a few scenes (the brownface-as-disguise scene and the dialogue surrounding it in particular), even if Lewis pulls of a bit of a saving throw later on with a Calormine character who puts in a brief but meaningful appearance to improve matters. It doesn't dominate the book, but it definitely merits a heads up.

I feel like I would be remiss to conclude this review without mentioning the Susan Problem that so many other reviews here and elsewhere have covered. I don't think this is the place for getting into it, but my take is that the most common complaints require a bad-faith interpretation of the text and that in context, it is fairly clear that Susan's problem is not "femininity" but "holding fleeting social popularity as the ultimate goal in life".

Overall, while not as technically brilliant and perhaps no longer my favorite, The Last Battle is a book that managed to get me to tear up reading it even now and provides a satisfying conclusion for the series, and really, that's all I could ask for.

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