A Book Review of The Silver Chair By C.S.Lewis

“The Silver Chair” by C.S.Lewis and published by Lions is one of the most wonderful novels that make up the Chronicles of Narnia Series. It is interesting and exciting because this novel is full of adventures, narrow escapes and leaps of faith. The main plots revolves around the rescue of Prince Rilian. At the beginning of the book, Jill Pole is crying in the gym because the bigger kids are bullying her in school. Then Eustace leads her to Aslan’s country and they begin a mysterious journey. The climax of the book is when Jill has missed three of the four signs given by Aslan and nearly misses the fourth one. But the story concludes with a happy and predictable ending when Prince Rilian is finally found by the boy and the girl.
The book is set in an imaginary place, Aslan’s country, during the time when creatures can talk as human beings. The author paints a vivid picture of the magic period. This makes it easy for me to visualize the setting of the story. Examples of sentences that show the beautiful scenery of Aslan’s country are “On the far side of the lawn, its weather-vanes glittering in the light, rose a many-towered and many-turreted castle; the most beautiful castle Jill had ever seen.” On page 31. Another description “We’re all poor gnomes from Bism whom the Witch has called up here by magic to work for her… We didn’t know who we were or where we belonged. We couldn’t do anything, or think anything, except what she puts into our heads” found on page 159 contradicts the picture of peace and beauty. Hence, the book is set in a period very different to our own.
The main theme in the novel is following the rules. The message the author seems to be trying to convey is the importance of following rules. This can be seen in the following ways: only by following Aslan’s signs can Jill and Eustace find Prince Rilian. The message is expressed in very obvious way. I tend to agree with the author’s views because in my own experience, following rules makes tasks easier to finish and leads to a clear direction.
The most important character is Jill Pole. This is because Jill changes a lot during her journey in Narnia. She becomes more and more mature. I cannot but dislike her when I first read she made Eustace fall off the cliff in order to show off. But when she carries Aslan’s signs on the way to rescue Prince Rilian, she becomes much more responsible.
The author writes in a simple and clear style. The words he uses are easy. Words like “bully” on page 1, “grassy bank” on page 2, “attend to” on page 3, “hopelessness” on page 4 … are very familiar to me. The author uses literary language such as “It made the drops of water on the grass glitter like beads and showed us the dirtiness of Jill’s tear – stained face.” On page 16, “Everything was swimming before her eyes” on page 19. “His beard, white as wool, fell nearly to his waist” on page 31. These sentences show how skillful C.S.Lewis is. The dialogue used in the novel is realistic.
For example on page 35 Dwarf and Owl are talking
“Heh? What’s that” said the Dwarf.
“Two strangers, my lord,” said the Owl.
“Rangers! What d’ye mean?” said the Dwarf, “I see two uncommonly grabby man-cubs.”
This dialogue could have taken place in real life because people tend to use shorter sentences when in conversation. Hence, I like the writers writing styles.
I would recommend this novel to kids who enjoy reading interesting stories. I simply could not put the book down and eagerly look forward to reading the next novel by this author.