Book Review: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Book 3 in the Chronicles of Narnia). C.S. Lewis. Macmillan Publishing (1970) (First published 1952). 216 pages. Genre: Children's Fiction.

First Line: "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

Summary:  Edmund and Lucy Pevensey are spending the summer at the home of their relatives, the Scrubbs.  Eustace Scrubb is their cousin and he is a rather difficult boy to be around. One afternoon, Edmund and Lucy were sitting in her bedroom talking about Narnia.  Eustace thinks all their talk about Narnia is silly.  When he enters the room he begins teasing them.  Soon they are all looking at the picture on the wall.  It is a picture of a ship at sea.  But something is different about this picture.  It seems that they can actually see the waves moving and feel the sea spray on their faces.  Suddenly, they are in the water inside the picture.  

They have once again entered Narnia.  The ship belongs to King Caspian who is sailing in search of seven friends of his father's that his Uncle Miraz got rid of by sending them to explore the unknown Eastern Seas.  They are welcomed on board and reunited with old friends.  Edmund, Lucy and Eustace will join them on their voyage to find the lost men.  Along the way they will encounter danger, meet some interesting creatures and discover long lost secrets.

My thoughts:  When I read these books as a child, I usually identified with Susan.  I think because I was the oldest girl in my family.  Of course, Peter and Susan are now too old to visit Narnia, so they are only mentioned in this book.  I am finding that I am now relating more to the difficult people in the stories.  In this one that is Eustace.  

He grumbles and complains.  He doesn't like it when things are different.  He has no sense of adventure.  There are times when I feel exactly like that.  I really love the way C.S. Lewis portrays his metamorphosis.  I don't want to say too much in case you haven't read the book.  I'll just say it is very fitting.  When he returns to our world, he returns a better person.

A sea-faring adventure is always a lot of fun and this was no exception.  Traveling by sea allows the characters to encounter many different types of places and meet creatures they didn't know existed.  But also, we got to spend time with some characters we already know such as Reepicheep.  For such a small creature, he has such a large sense of duty.  He is also quite brave and often annoying.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a magical read full of adventure, danger, nobility and fun.