Abducted by The Last Battle

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

For some reason this has never been one of my favorites in the Narnia series. And what is funny is I can never really remember the plot. But then whenever I start it again it all comes back to me and I'm like "Oh, yeah, I like this one."

I'm going to have to warn you now that there will be some spoilers in this post. If you haven't read the last book in the Narnia series and don't want to know how it all ends yet then don't read any farther.

Stop reading....

right now....

Everybody ready to keep going?

Awesome!

Okay, so The Last Battle is basically split into two acts or books or sections, however you want to look at it.

In the first half of the book we are introduced to the last king of Narnia, King Tirian. There is an ape, Shift, who is using his power of persuasion on a donkey named Puzzle (who is adorable). Using Puzzle as a pawn, Shift convinces the Calormen armies to start a war against King Tirian.

Eustace and Jill are sent into Narnia to help and the battle begins.

And, man, what a battle!

I mean this is the battle to end all battles!

And it is told in heartbreaking detail.

The whole first part of this book is captivating and heart racing! You almost don't want to put it down because you have to know what happens. How does it all end?

And how does it all end?

Everybody dies.

Thus begins the second half of the book.

When I was in middle school and high school my friends and I would write notes back and forth to each other. Mostly the notes were about gossip but sometimes we would spend our time in class telling stories back and forth. Each of us adding on the next paragraph. Then whichever one of us had the note at the end of the hour would finish off the story with the same line each time...

"She opened the car door and the whole world exploded. The end."

"He looked up at the sky and the whole world exploded. The end."

And I think a part of me never liked this last book in the Narnia series because I always thought that Lewis, having everyone die and Narnia be destroyed reminded me of those

notes. For us, it was just a quick way to end the story before the bell rang.

But, I really don't think that was what Lewis was trying to do. In fact, I know that it wasn't. He wasn't looking for a quick way to end this series of books, he was just bringing it full circle.

Even still, I've never really liked the last half of the book.

I guess it also might be because the beginning half of the book is so action packed that the last half comes across as boring. Kind of ending the series on a downer.

Over all, I love that Lewis does bring the books full circle in the end. I love that all the old characters from

all the other stories are brought back. I love that we get to hear what has happened to them all as they have aged. I even kind of liked that Susan, wasn't included because it brought a small amount of reality to the stories in it's own way.

I loved Puzzle in this book. He was so cute I just wanted to hug him every time he felt down on himself.

I liked King Tirian, he was a good king and I'm glad Lewis ended the series with such a strong figure.

I love that Eustace and Jill are the ones that come back. Mainly because, well, with the Silver Chair being my favorite book, I'm glad that their pairing get's to be acknowledged again.

There is a lot of religious symbolism going on in this book. I think more so in this one and in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, then in any of the other 5 books, including The Magician's Nephew. There is so much symbolism going on that it is hard to really even start talking about any of it for fear that it would monopolize my whole post.

I'm sad that our journey through Narnia has come to an end, but I do have one more post I'm going to do. I've made a list of my Top 10 Favorite Things About Narnia and I'll post that on Saturday.

Hope everyone is having a great week. Surviving all the Spring storms!

Don't forget to stop by Reviewsin5 to check out our finale thoughts on COLIN FIRTH and Jeremy's thoughts on his favorite HOCKEY MOVIES!