Book Review on The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe

If you are a fan of fantasy novels, you would possibly know that today the 16th of October marks 67 years of the first publication of this book, hence, I thought it'd be a good time to write a book review on "The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe" and mention a few lessons I learnt from it.

But, if you know me better - you'd no there's no way on earth that I knew that. Lol. I did read it on Twitter though and that brought to mind many of the memories I had reading this book when growing up. It does happen to be one of my favourite fantasy novels that I read - whilst growing up.

The Book

For those who don't know, the book begins in the middle of the war - 4 kids have to leave their parents and go live with an odd professor in the country whilst their parents fight the war. Lucy, the youngest happens to come across a wardrobe (The Wardrobe) whilst playing a game and enters into the unimaginable word of - Narnia. A magical world, filled with creatures unheard-of to the human realm, which at the time was under the reign of the evil witch (The Witch).

Lucy, the baby sister comes across a faun (a man with legs of a goat), who secretly works for the evil witch. A prophecy foretold that 4 kids would enter this world and save it. So the queen naturally wants to know when any 'human child' enters. The faun captivated by the innocence of the human child is unable to betray Lucy and helps her to go back.

She returns home, only to find that her siblings don't believe her. As time passes, they all enter this world together whilst running away from the strange professor. Upon entering this world, the come across two beavers - who can talk, and then are invited for dinner. Only to find out later that the middle brother, Edmund has gone to find the queen leaving them behind, hoping to become Prince of Narnia and eat some more Turkish Delight - Yes, you heard it right!

The other three children are taken to Aslan (The Lion) who is going to help them fight the queen and take their rightful places in Narnia as King and Queens.

Then unfolds the story of how the wicked witch is overturned and how 4 kids who have no prior knowledge or skill in battle lead a people into war saving and restoring peace to the magical world of Narnia.

Apart from its sheer brilliance in language, creative writing, the fantasy world which enchants your mind or the story which captivates the reader. There are many moral lessons to learn from the story. For me, personally a few stories shaped my thinking for life:

Family Stays Together

When Edmund leaves the 3 siblings for his own self-gratification of Turkish delight and the possibility of becoming King, it hurts the other 3 to no end. However, he is welcomed back into the family and their relationships restored. A beautiful picture of what not only family need to do even if wronged but also friends who are like brothers or sisters and the community around. This leads to my next point

Forgiveness

Even if my brother or sister hurts me, I can forgive. What can we use, to battle through the daily life and struggles if not for family and friends? That's precisely what the story depicts. In their day they battled an actual war, in our modern day in our various situations and circumstances we can battle through it together rather than alone. Two is better than one, hence to-gether. Or that's just me - Lol!

Hope

Always Hope! Here is a world which has been under the rule of this tyrant for ages, and ages to come. Yet there is this undying hope in what was foretold. Hope led to belief and belief led to action and action led to the eventual result of victory. There is always hope in every situation, struggle in our lives. No matter how hard, how tough life may be - hope in what seems impossible. That's how stories are born.

What Friendship Is To Look Like

How the kids relate to each other. How they figure out what their own skills are, how they use those skills to complement each other in battle. There are moments of disunity, but even through that how they make up with each other and keep fighting together against the ultimate and main battle.

There is a particular friendship between Lucy - the youngest and Mr. Tumnus (The faun). This taught me that friendships can be made with the non liked people - you can be friends with someone who doesn't look like you (whether it be race, religion, or looks), talk like you, and someone who is totally different to you.

I would definitely recommend this book to both adults and child. It is a book which will tell you stories, teach you principles in life which wise words fail to at times

Hence, I would implore you to get this book if you haven't already. I am sure that someone in your friend circle could have it. Borrow and read, it is also available on Amazon if you want to buy it - links below.

If you aren't a reader at all - you could also buy the movie which was released a while back from Amazon!

Be enriched!

I hope you enjoyed my book review on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I would love to hear your thoughts about the book if you have read it, or if you plan to - or even if you don't plan to - feel free to leave your comments below!