basesurge's Full Review: C. S. Lewis - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Full...
Stories about epic journeys are at least as old as Homer's "Odyssey". Like Homer's epic our present subject is an extended sea voyage. The setting is C.S. Lewis's fictional, fantasy world of Narnia. Narnia is a strange place filled with magical things and creatures. Talking animals, mice to bears, are commonplace. In Narnia it's possible to sail your ship to the end of the World and interact with what lies there.
Once again the focus of the story lies with children from our mundane world. In this case once again we meet some members of the Pevensie family. The elders Peter and Susan are not present. Edmund and Lucy have been exiled to the house of Eustace Clarence Scrubb. Lewis informs us that he "almost deserves" this moniker. (He also, the the story's start at least, deserves a sharp swat to the fundament.) He is a perfect sadistic little [EXCREMENT] who is completely indulged by his dingbat parents. He enjoys tormenting, pathetically trying to torment, truth be told, his cousins. Early in the story he finds himself, along with Edmund and Lucy whisked away, through the device of of a magic picture, and deposited on the deck of the good Narnian ship Dawn Treader.
The Dawn Treader is commanded by Prince Caspian, the titular character of the previous book. He is on a quest for information on the whereabouts and fate of seven great Narnian lords who set out on a voyage of exploration of the western seas some time ago. As time passes at a different (mostly faster) pace in Narnia's world than ours Caspian is now a mature man in the prime of his life while Edwin and Lucy are only a few months, maybe a year, older. As the Pevensies, and now Eustace, are only summoned to Narnia in times of some need, it is assumed that this voyage will be a fateful one.
Along for the ride are a crew of salty sea dogs and Reepicheep, the head of the talking mice. What would a Narnia story be without at least talking animal? While Caspian and his crew are on a mission that is at least partially political (to reassert Narnia's rights in the sea islands), Reepicheep, however, is on a personal mission to seek the Edge Of The World where he hopes he will discover the country of Aslan, the Lion God who stands in for Christ in Lewis's legendrum.
Really this story has more in common with the story of Jason and the Argonauts than Homer's work. ("Narnian Jason and the Argonauts" would have been a crappy title...) The Odyssey was a warrior's return home and Jason's story was one of exploration. Each stop in this journey is an island where the crew of the Dawn Treader encounter some problem or other. One island may be engaged in pernicious slavery and Narnian law must be re-established. Another may be the home of an unlikely dragon and on yet another the voyagers may need to solve the problem on the mysterious shiny thing in the pool. Each stop brings the crew closer to the world's edge and Reepicheep closer to his destiny.
As this external journey progresses an inner one also takes place in the new arrivals. This is especially true in the case of Eustace Clarance. As mentioned above, he starts the book as a miserable little intestinal deposit. He is worse than useless on board Dawn Treader, constantly demanding to be put ashore at the earliest possible moment so be can "file a disposition" at the British Consulate. (Yes, he's about twelve and that is the way he talks, and, yes, he has a weak grasp of the nature of his situation.) As he journeys with the others he becomes less annoying and more useful.
"Dawn Treader" is one of the better of the Narnia books, in some ways rather better than the first volume. Herein Lewis begins to hit his stride in illustrating the cosmology of his fantasy world. Here we learn more of Alsan's motives and methods. The quality of writing also improves, largely gone are the grandfatherly explanations and asides and some of the prose assumes the magnificant character which is brought into flower in the last volume in the series "The Last Battle." As the characters are growing up, perhaps the author's style is as well.
If you've read my previous Narnia reviews this little part will be a bit tedious for you -- sorry. The edition I based this review on is the Harper-Collins combo single-volume. The books therein were organized by chronological order (Narnian) instead of chronological order (publication). This was a dumb decision. Read them in publication order. If you need to know what that is hit this link.
It is not one-hundred percent essential to read the other Narnia stories before cracking into "Dawn Treader" but I would recommend it.
"Dawn Treader" is a good book with a respetable story, well written,, light on the allegorical doo-dads this time out. Well worth your reading time.
Lucy, Edmund, and their cousin, Eustace, are magically transported onto the ship, Dawn Treader , where King Caspian is searching for the seven friends...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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