This Web Page is Book Review
The Last Battle, April 30, 2003 |
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Reviewer:
emma from Ravensdale Washington |
The book The Last Battle, a book by C. S. Lewis, is the last book in the 7 book series in the chronicles of Narnia. This fantasy book again goes into the amazing land of Narnia, inhabited by talking beasts, tree spirits called Dryads, centaurs, and just about any other mythical or true creature you could imagine. In this story we again follow Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole as they venture into Narnia when King Tirian magically appears at a sort of reunion party for all the "friends" of Narnia. (You can read about all of them in the other books in the series.) Scrubb, Pole, and Tirian fight to save Narnia along with the great lion, and king of Narnia, Aslan. But can they, with the help of some talking beast and other creatures, save Narnia from destruction before the Calormen of the desert nation to the south take over? This is a book that everyone young and old can enjoy! This story is so vivid you can almost see the story happening, and hear the English accents of the characters as if it was happening right in front of you. Read this book and take your very own adventure into Narnia! I recommend reading the all of the books in the series, it makes it easier to understand, but you can also just read this book.
Book 7 - A
guide to the unending glory of Narnia, May 30, 2002
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Reviewer: Godly Gadfly from Canada |
"The Last Battle" is the seventh and final entry in C.S. Lewis' beloved and enduring Narnia Chronicles, and certainly is best read after first completing the other six books in the series. Narnia is faced with an apocalyptic crisis, as a false Aslan sets up rule in Narnia. The false Aslan is in fact a mere donkey (Puzzle) dressed in a Lion's skin, and the real mastermind is the crafty ape who acts as his "mouthpiece" (Shift). But the faithful Narnians immediately realize something is not right: why does this Aslan not speak to them directly, why is his rule harsh, and why does he advocate an alliance with the Calormenes, the followers of Tash? As Eustace and Jill enter Narnia to assist the legitimate Narnian king Tirian in the battle against the false Aslan, the deception is slowly exposed. First posing as Aslan, the enemies of Narnia then speak about "Tashlan", and eventually about their true master "Tash". "There was no nonsense about `Tashlan' now" (p.160). The conflict between the friends and enemies of Narnia reaches a decisive battle, after which the faithful Narnians find themselves in the "true" Narnia - a home of eternal blessedness.
As with all the Narnia Chronicles, on the level of children the story functions as a perfectly comprehensible and exciting fantasy adventure, but on an adult level it imparts powerful spiritual truths about Christianity by means of numerous recognizable Biblical allusions. "The Last Battle" obviously represents the final conflicts leading up to the end of the world and the return of Christ, complete with signs predicting his coming. Appropriately it features an antichrist that "apes" the real Christ with its terrible result - "he had never dreamed that one of the results of an ape's setting up a false Aslan would be to stop people believing in the real one." (p.92). Behind the antichrist is the very real power of the devil: "People shouldn't call for demons unless they really mean what they say." (p.104) "The true Tash, whom they called on without knowledge or belief, has now come among us, and will avenge himself." (p.203) Complete with apocalyptic imagery of the sun going blood red (p.196), there is a final battle which ushers in eternal life, painted by Lewis in vivid colours. The suggestion of a kind of limited universalism as Aslan accepts the unbeliever Emeth's service to the false god Tash as service rendered to him (p.205) is particularly puzzling, but is a minor weakness. So too is the perplexing notion that "Susan ... is no longer a friend of Narnia" (p.169). The concept of Narnia as the "Shadowlands" in contrast to the true Narnia is more Platonic than Biblical, but still has some merit. But there are many memorable insights, such as the reference to Christ's birth: "a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world" (p.177).
But it is especially the delightful picture of the blessed afterlife that brings the Narnian Chronicles to a fitting and final climax. As King Tirian observes Jill in the afterlife: "It was Jill: but not Jill as he had last seen her, with her face all dirt and tears and an old drill dress half slipping off one shoulder. Now she looked cool and fresh, as fresh as if she had just come from bathing." The blessedness of eternal life is far greater than the best that this world offers: "If you had once eaten that fruit, all the nicest things in this world would taste like medicines after it. But I can't describe it. You can't find out what it is like unless you can get to that country and taste it for yourself." (p.172) As the unicorn Jewel says: "I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now." (p.213) Here the Narnian faithful are reunited with the memorable true Narnians from all the preceding Chronicles. But the center of this beautiful world is Aslan himself: "There stood his heart's desire, huge and real, the golden Lion, Aslan himself..." (p.183) The final paragraph marks a fitting and final end to the Narnian Chronicles: "And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all stories, and we can most truly say that they all live happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before." What more can be said?
As always, in all the upheavals and conflicts of Narnia, Aslan is the one constant, and it is his vital involvement that enables the children to complete their Narnian quest, just as it is Christ who inspires, comforts, guides, and saves in the real world. Narnia may exist only in Lewis imagination and ours, but these underlying truths about Christ ensure that a journey to Narnia is never without profit for the real world. Those who believe these very real spiritual truths about Jesus Christ know that like Narnia, the real world will also draw to an end and usher in the age of eternal life for true believers. "All worlds draw to an end, except Aslan's own country" (p.111) and those who know Him will indeed live forever.
