Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Illustrator: Pauline Baynes
Series
For ages 8 to 12
HarperCollins, 1994 ISBN: 978-0064471053
Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are standing on a train station platform waiting for a train to take them back to their boarding schools. Everything is as normal as can be when suddenly and quite unexpectedly, they find themselves being pulled away from their world. The children find themselves in a wood, far from trains, stations, and everything else that they are used to.
Thankfully these four children have already had one extraordinary adventure and they are able to accept what is happening to them with relative ease. The children begin to explore their surroundings and soon discover that there is a ruined castle nearby. They are shocked when they realize that the castle is one that they themselves lived in their previous adventure. Somehow, since they were last in this land of Narnia, many years have passed, decades have flown by. The Narnia that they are now standing in is very different from the one they left just a few months ago. Now the evil King Miraz sits on a usurped throne which he has stolen from his nephew Prince Caspian. This king has done his best to destroy many of the wonderful things that made Narnia so special when the four children ruled the land all those years ago. Now there are very few dwarfs, talking trees, fawns, and talking animals. The few of these creatures that are left stay in hiding far from the king?s soldiers.
The time has come though, for the regime of King Miraz to end and for the return of Aslan. It is also time for Prince Caspian to reclaim the throne that is rightfully his and with the help of Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan, the prince hopes that he will be able to free the Narnians from his uncle?s cruel rule.
This second book in the "Chronicles of Narnia" series will enthrall readers who enjoyed the first book. Once again Susan, Peter, Lucy and Edmund find themselves sharing adventures with all kinds of odd characters, and once again they meet Aslan who is goodness and greatness personified. C.S. Lewis created a story which is still fresh and still exciting decades after it was first published.
