The Chronicles of Narnia – Book 4 Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis

Greetings,

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but I’ve actually read The Chronicles of Narnia only once before – in French. I remember loving the stories and what generally happens in them but not in details as I’ve read them ages ago. I have seen the movies more times than I can count though, so The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are very familiar to me. Or so I thought. Without further ado…

You can read my reviews of Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.

★★★★★

What the blurb says:

A Prince fights for his crown

A prince denied his rightful throne gathers an army in a desperate attempt to rid his hand of a false king. But in the end it is a battle of honour between two men alone that will decide the fate of an entire world.

Full of gloom, the Penvensie children are waiting at the railway station for the train to take them back to school. Lucy feels a sudden tug, then Edmund does, and a minute later Peter and Susan do too. In a trice the station has vanished, and they find themselves in an overgrown wood near the sea, close by the ruins of their former castle, Cair Paravel. They are back in the magical land of Narnia where they had such wonderful time when they ruled as Kings and Queens (in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe).
But something is very wrong. Their glorious castle lies in ruins and everywhere is strangely silent and empty. With the startling arrival of the Dwarf, they learn of the sad fate that has befallen Narnia. Civil war is now destroying the land as brave Prince Caspian, realising his uncle King Miraz’s evil ways, is trying to regain the kingdom that is rightfully his. But Caspian needs help and, with the guidance of Aslan, the children take up the challenge to save Narnia and restore the long lost days of freedom and happiness.

My opinion:

I’m not sure how to start this. Because you see I love the book and I love the movie and they are nothing alike.

Now don’t get me wrong, the plot and the action are similar but they took a LOT of freedom when it came to how the story comes together in the movie. I’m not going to go into details of all the differences because this post would be way too long. But I am going to list some of the changes that I dislike.

How Caspian joins the Narnians and how/when he blows the horn are very different. It all seems to be an accident in the movie but that’s not as simple in the book. In fact the whole chronology is turned inside out in the movie. And same actions are done by different people and can’t begin to understand why.

In the movie, there’s this angst that we feel from Peter that doesn’t exist in the book. In fact, Peter is very much like he always was – brave and kind – but in the movie he seems to be this angry teen who thrives for power. And I don’t like this image of him. In the books he is High King Peter and loved. There’s also a strong competition between Peter and Caspian in the movie although in the book Peter assures Caspian he only wants to help get the throne. Shame.

There’s almost a love story in the movie between Caspian and Susan that doesn’t exist in the book. It really isn’t necessary in the movie and I have never liked this part of it. Also, Susan isn’t portrayed like she should be as she already questions her belief in Narnia and Aslan in the book. I will talk about it in another review but Susan isn’t as nice in the books as she is the movies.

There are scenes that aren’t even in the book – like when they attack the castle and they lose a lot of people because of mistakes that should’ve been made. Now as I’ve said, I love the movie – although it is my least favourite of the three – and I won’t stop watching it now that I’ve read the book again. But I find it quite disappointing that they made all these changes that also changes to storyline and the characters. I’m not against minor changes that help keep the movie dynamic but there are limits and in my opinion they’ve crossed it with this movie. Sorry Disney but you’ve fucked up. (The first two movies were made by Disney, the third by Century Fox)

Now getting into the book, I just have a couple of things to say. Edmund really is one of my faves, I like his attitude in this book as well as everyone but Susan really. I also like this jump in time, as this story is set thousands of years after The Horse and His Boy. How they get lost in the forest, and have a hard time finding their way back as Kings and Queens. I also like how Caspian’s story is told – like a tale around a campfire. Globally I like the whole structure of the book.

Alright I’ll leave there for this one, see you soon.