Chasing Gavin
Book review: Chronicles of Narnia
ENTER THE WORLD BEHIND THE WOODEN DOORS
The Chronicles of Narnia
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
By C.S. Lewis
Harper Trophy, 1994
189 pages
Are you hooked on J.K. Rowling's exceptional "Harry Potter" series? Are you starting to trace your family roots to grub up a sign of wizarding blood that might be running through your veins? Do you spend countless hours trying to conjure a flicker from a measly garden twig? If you do, you happen to be one among the millions of kids that have been "magically" mesmerized by the phenomenal "Harry Potter" series. Apparently, the turn-up of the fifth book could be a really long wait. But don't you fret, if you're craving more for magic, then The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a book that might suit your taste.
Narnia...the world behind the wooden doors...the land of the talking beasts...the ground dominated by acres of forests...and the place where the story begins. These words describe the distant world of Narnia from the back cover of the book. Obscuring as it may be, the stories of Narnia revolve around the existence of talking beasts, dwarves, fauns, and the sole White Witch from whom the whole devastation of Narnia has originated. No, it does not engross the use of magic wands, but apart from the White Witch, there were others that settled on making a difference.
The story begins with a short overture on the four main characters: Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. The four siblings, sent away to London for the summer holidays, sought to experience a different adventure in their professor uncle's traditional mansion. Disclosure struck them when they discerned nothing much about the mansion that would bring about a sheer know-how of a remarkable adventure. Little did they know about the hidden country behind the wooden doors of the antique wardrobe that utterly changed their lives forever.
Experience the chaste joy of walking among the clumps of trees, the throbbing bouts you endure when facing a battle, and the rewarding feeling of befriending Aslan, the Great Lion. The text itself is filled with the imaginative depictions of C.S. Lewis' inventive world of kings, witches, pevensies, and giants alike. But apart form the adventure that one can illustrate in his mind; one would also earn the value of true friendship, camaraderie, bravery, and the triumph of good over evil works.
The adventures hidden away in the book, of course, springs from the C.S. Lewis' view of the other side of the wardrobe. In many ways, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe also inspires the readers to grasp the simple joy of creating one's own magical world.
Judging by its cover, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe doesn't catch much attention unlike the colorful hardcover of the Harry Potter series. But as you turn the pages, maybe, just maybe, you would slowly unravel the elusiveness behind the wooden doors of unsolved mystery.
