Book Overview/Opinion


        Prince Caspian was a wonderful book and it was defiantly an attention grabber. Between all the sword fights, sneaking into kingdoms, magical animals, and a magical war led by five teenage kids and a talking lion. What gets more interesting then that ? C.S Lewis had me during the fight between Peter and King Miraz. Peter challenged Miraz to a sword fight to the death. Towards the end of the fight C.S threw in a little twist that I did not expect. " Miraz was struck but not by Peter, but face downwards, tripped on a tussock. Peter stepped back waiting for him to rise." Miraz never rose and Glozelle and Sopespian (Miraz's lords) had their own plan in mind. The two of the "leaped into the the lists crying, Treachery! Treachery! Treachery! The Narnian stabbed him in the back while he laid helpless. To arms! To arms, Telmar!" Peter and company had no idea what was happening then all of a sudden he saw Telemarines rushing towards them with their swords drawn. Then Glozelle stabbed Miraz in the back has he was lying still on the ground. "Peter swung to face Sopespian, slashed his legs from under him and, with the same stroke, walloped off his head." 

        The war had started. Telemarines rushed in anger because they believed their king was wrongfully killed in battle. The Narnians had no choice but to fight back because they knew the Telemarines would not believe the truth. It was a bloody war, both sides losing men and the Narnians were clearly out numbered. They were slowly being pushed back losing each other one by one, It was not looking good. Aslan roared and everyone stopped. Soon the trees started moving and rushing towards the Telemarines. They had no chance against a forrest full of trees ! The Telemarines retreated to the river where the trees could not go. But they were surprised to see the river god who destroyed their bridge. "They turned a little to the right, raced down a steep hill, and found the long Bridge of Beruna in front of them. before they began to cross it, however, up out of the water came a great wet, bearded head, larger then a man's, crowned with rushes...."  The Telemarines surrendered and the Narnians helped them out of the water. 

        The entire book was interesting but those specific two parts happening back to back really got me into the ending of the book. C.S used such detail, you feel like you're actually there. I would recommend this book to others, for sure. I'm sure tons of my classmates saw The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, a very popular movie. Prince Caspian is the follow up story of that. Reader who enjoy a good story, with sword fights and battles and tons of mystical creatures would love this book. One weakness of the book that kind of ruined for me (just a little). C.S Lewis tries to pushes christianity at you . The idea of Aslan being the saver, Jesus Christ like figure. When i read, I like to escape the real world and all the problems we have today. That aspect of the book annoyed me a little.


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https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/prince-caspian-the-chronicles-of-narnia-book-2

Rhetorical Devices- Imagery

      C.S Lewis is known for using extraordinary Imagery in his works. The entire series of The Chronicles Of Narnia  is primarily known for the ability of C.S Lewis using imagery to picture the wonderful world he created. Some of the scenes in the stories need that type of imagery to get the full understanding of the occurring situation. " ... five satrys as red as foxes, the whole contingent of talking mice, armed to the teeth and following a shrill trumpet, with the centaurs came a small but genuine giant, Wimbleweather of deadman's hill carrying on his back a basketful of rather sea-sick Dwarfs who accepted his offer of a lift and were now wising they had walked instead." A simple scene of Narnians gathering for a meeting in the woods was given with such detail you could picture it to perfection. Another scene later on when Edmund challenged Trumpkin to a fencing match. "Both swords were out in a moment and the three others jumped off the dais and stood watching.... Round and round the two combatants circled, stroke after stroke they gave, Edmund flashed his sword round with a peculiar twist, the dwarfs sword flew out of his grip..." Or towards the end of the book when Aslan summoned the water god to take out the retreating Telemarines. " ... up out of the water came a great wet, bearded head, larger then a man's, crowned with rushes...." Imagery plays a major role in this book, nearly every page explains the scenery so well and you can picture yourself being there.

Reader  Response

      So far reading Prince Caspian has been a pleasure. Peter,Susan,Edmund, and Lucy finally returned to Narnia after a year to them but hundreds of years in Narnia. Narnia is such a mystical land but I don't understand the back story behind it. I read and watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. and it never explained the Actual back story of Narnia itself. Why is that? One thing about this book is the imagery C.S Lewis is able to create. "The trees were as thick as ever, but the stream had made itself a deep course between high mossy banks so that by stooping you could follow it up in a sort of tunnel of leaves." After doing some research on C.s Lewis I found out he fought in World War I for the British army. Maybe he writes about make belief battles where english school children seem to be unstoppable to escape his own past.

Characterization 

     Prince Caspian the star of the book started off as a young boy curious of the land he is destined to rule. He has heard stories of "Old Narnia". He loved these stories and was hungry to learn more. As he grew older he learned from his tutor many stories of Narnia, Caspian also grew into a a talented young man "He learned sword fighting, riding, swimming, diving, how to shoot the bow, play the recorder and the theorbo, hot to hunt a snag and cut him up when he was dead." Caspian fled his castle so he wouldn't be murdered by his uncle, on his journey away from the kingdom he finally found old Narnians. At first they did not trust Caspian because he was human and related to the horrible king. They soon accepted him "They accepted Caspian at once." they called him their majesty and was ready to fight for him to take back their land! All Caspian wanted his whole life was to bring the fairy tale stories of old Narnia back to life. King Miraz and his kingdom is standing in his way of allowing these creatures to be free once again.

Setting

     As I've been reading Prince Caspian by C.S Lewis there has been two different settings. In the first couple of pages the children are ready to go back to school in a train station. "It was an empty, sleepy, country station and there was hardly anyone on the platform except themselves."Not only does the author do a good job of explaining the scenery but he sets the mood while doing so. The children are gloomy and sad that the holidays are over and they must go their separate ways back to school. All of a sudden they are sucked into a portal and ended up on an island. "... after a few steps they found themselves at the edge of the wood, looking down on a sandy beach, a few yards a way a calm sea was falling on the sand with such tiny ripples... there was no land in sight nor a cloud in the sky." Soon they realize that they have returned to Narnia, the land they once ruled but it wasn't as they remembered... at all. They begun to explore a bit just to find the same stuff all around the island "The wood was so think and tangled that they could hardly see into it at all, nothing was moving at all, not a bird nor insect." Soon Lucy realizes theres land within swimming distance, it looks covered in the same dense forest.

Title 

   This semester I will be reading the book Prince Caspian, in this blog I would like to talk about the title of the book. The title Prince Caspian is very straight forward, when I think about the title I instantly think about medieval times in England. Back then there was kings, queens, princesses and of course a prince. I think os sword fights and armored animals in battle. Unfortunately my book did not come with an illustration.  http://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/Prince-Caspian-The-Chronicles-of-Narnia-Book-2 There is a link with some very good reviews of the book, hopefully I enjoy it as much as these people did.