The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis: series review

SERIES RATING: 5/5 stars!

Author: C.S. Lewis

Publisher: Collier Books

Source: Bought

Find The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe on Goodreads here!

SUMMARY of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (from Goodreads):

The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, completed in the winter of 1949 & published in 1950, tells the story of four ordinary children: Peter, Susan, Edmund & Lucy Pevensie. They discover a wardrobe in Prof. Digory Kirke's house that leads to the magical land of Narnia, which is currently under the spell of a witch. The four children fulfill an ancient, mysterious prophecy while in Narnia. The Pevensie children help Aslan (the Turkish word for lion) & his army save Narnia from the evil White Witch, who's reigned over the Narnia in winter for 100 years.

REVIEW:

After 20 years of life, I finally read this series. And, needless to say, I was not disappointed. 

The way C.S. Lewis crafted the story was amazing. It was really very simple, and was told very simply; but there was an extremely complex aspect to it. I have gone to Catholic school my whole life: grade school, middle school, high school, and now college. In all of my years of Catholic school, I have had to take many theology classes, whether I wanted to or not. But in reading this series, I can definitely see the Catholic influence in these books. There were so many little references to the Catholic faith and theology, and it was so cool to be able to recognize them. I am glad that I waited until college to read them, because if I hadn't had that knowledge, I wouldn't have enjoyed them near as much.

But, even if you have no knowledge of religion, you will definitely still enjoy the books. The story is complex enough to keep adult readers entertained, but simple enough for young children to read. It is a great series to read to kids!

Each of the books had their own unique story, but also connected to each other. I read them in  the original publication order (The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew, The Last Battle), and I highly suggest reading them in that order. Recently they rearranged them so that the books were in chronological order, and you can totally read them that way. There's nothing wrong with it. But reading them in the order that he originally wrote them made more sense in the way that certain aspects of Narnia were revealed. 

 In short, I highly recommend this series!