The Silver Chair

The Silver Chair (By C.S. Lewis) Because I didn't start this blog until after reaching the sixth book in the seven book Narnia saga, I have conveniently avoided the dispute over what order the books should be read in, since, both  sides of that argument agree that this book is the sixth.  On the whole I liked this one a lot.  It has Eustace, who was the cousin of the Pevensie's that goes along with Lucy and Edmond in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  So, you instantly have a character you know and care about.  He brings along a friend from his school and they are immediately sent on a quest by Aslan to find and rescue the son of the King (Prince Caspian*).  The story is basically a series of encounters and like most of the Narnia books suffers mostly from brevity, with Lewis introducing and resolving encounters almost before you even fully have a grasp on what's going on.  Of course the books were written for children, so that should probably be expected.  My other complaint about this and the other Narnia books in general would be that Lewis does such a good job of creating interesting characters, it's a shame that he doesn't have them show up in more books.  This one has a whole society of "Earthmen" living in underground kingdoms that you had never heard of in any of the other books and likely won't hear of in the last.  Nevertheless, these minor problems don't really hurt the book and I enjoyed reading it.

The Silver Chair: B+

* - Prince Caspian is now the king, not the son.