The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
5/5 STARS
Genre: Children’s Fiction, Fantasy
Author: C. S. Lewis
Published: 1998 {this ed. 1st pub. in 1956}
Publisher: HarperCollins {this ed. 1st pub. by The Bodley Head}
Pages: 222 {illustrated paperback}
Initial thoughts:
Okay, I try not to swear but HOLY SHIT this book is incredible. I have honest to goodness NEVER been so blown away by a book. That was both the most sad and happy thing I have EVER read. Can everyone please, please, please read this book. Excuse me whilst I go and sit, dazed, in a corner for a few hours now.
The Last Battle
The Last Battle is a brilliant conclusion to the Chronicles of Narnia. The whole series has carried mild to very prominent religious themes and I think this book had the most religious zest to it. The actual ending to this book 100% made it for me, up until that point I thought the story had been more or less ‘meh’ – there’s a serious lack of magic (well, there is a unicorn, but shh) and for the most part it didn’t feel very much like the others. It lacked a Narnian atmosphere. And then, of course, it ended. BOOM. Incredible.
What actually happens in this last instalment?
This is the seventh and final book to the series and it follows the story of Eustace and Jill as they are called back to Narnia one last time to help out the last king. Narnia is being threatened with a false Aslan and the Narnian animals are unwittingly being led down the wrong path. Eustace and Jill must team up and be strong, just as they have before, to save Narnia one last time. I don’t think I’ve ever really read a book before that had such a final ending and an unusual conclusion for the characters, themselves. You’ll understand what I mean when you read it. I’m quite upset that it’s all over now, and I cannot wait for the movie adaptation of The Silver Chair to come out so I can hold on to Narnia just a bit more – it’s like I’m living a late childhood, or something.
Slow but satisfying
I’m willing to forgive Lewis for the sluggish pace of the book because he’s clearly put an awful lot of thinking into how to wrap the series up. It’s like he actually had the balls to finish his series – none of this frustrating lingering in novels and spin-offs like we so often get with more modern authors. I don’t want to spoil anyone as to the nature of the ending, but honest to god I did not expect THAT. All in all, this is a bittersweet ending to the series and I’m very, very sad to say goodbye.
I just need to vent out all my feels in this little hidden spoiler, okay?
To view this spoiler click on THIS link to be redirected to the review on my Goodreads page where the spoiler will be ‘hidden’ at this point in the review.
Summary
Having now completed the entire series I have actually written a wrap up of sorts on my experience reading them for the first time (well, most of the books). If you want to check that out click HERE to be redirected. I discuss the series in its entirety and also give a quick brief of the individual books (and movies) themselves.
I would highly recommend this series to every single person out there. It really should be a staple item of literature for a child to read (and I know it sort of is, but I mean, I didn’t read this in my childhood. Don’t worry, I will make sure my kids, when I have some, will fall asleep listening to the adventures of the Pevensies, Aslan, Eustace and Jill, Mr. Tumnus, and of course every other magical creature we encounter). You create a wonderful fictional relationship with all the characters and will certainly fall in love with the world. I was just about ready to cry during the finale as we get a wonderfully reminiscent overview of our time in Narnia. Everything about this series is magnificent – you shouldn’t need much more persuading than that to hurry along and go read these wonderful books already!
Have you read the Chronicles of Narnia? What did you think of the ending? Let me know your thoughts below!
~~ Kirstie ~~
// Follow @ozbooksnail //
Upside-Down Books 
I love The Narnia Chronicles too. I really liked the Last Battle. however I do disagree with him on not bringing Susan to the New world. I mean, what is that? Lipstick is not a bad thing. Perhaps it was in the older orthodox society
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Yes! I did think that was a bit sad. I loved in the last movie with how they made the struggle that Lucy had with wanting to be pretty like Susan, that was much more prominent in the movie than the book. It is a shame though for the last book. Ah well, not everything can be perfect haha
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