Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Oct 19th.

Started this today!
Not really into it so far, but I'm hoping it'll turn out better than the first two...

I was going to start tonight butScribd has two copies, 1 that's 2.5 hours and one that's 5.5 that's a huge difference! So I don't know which one to pick.

Charlie wrote: "I was going to start tonight butScribd has two copies, 1 that's 2.5 hours and one that's 5.5 that's a huge difference! So I don't know which one to pick."

Go with the full unabridged... I actually liked this one... plan to throw some more comments later tonight, but after a rocky start with Eustace, it had a real Gulliver's Travels vibe, visiting a bunch of islands...

I have a 5.8 hour long version; I guess there's loads of different ones for this series 😂

I think the book is about 5-6hrs long full-length... anything shorter is abridged... there's always a bit of variance, depending on if you have a version with extra sounds between chapters, or because CDs were converted to Audible/downloadable files, etc...

OK, so:

Eustace/Journal: (view spoiler)[ almost made me want to abandon this early on... so grating... (hide spoiler)]

1st island: (view spoiler)[kinda funny how Eustace was so annoying the slavers couldn't even give him away as a freebie... (hide spoiler)]

2nd island, I think... (view spoiler)[the Dragon Island kinda saved the book for me... watching Eustace become a better person... (hide spoiler)]

3rd island: (view spoiler)[this was the Invisible one, right?... this is the one that made me think of the Lilliputians in Gulliver's Travels, at first... (hide spoiler)]

4th island: (view spoiler)[this one had the Midas/gold water right?... weird how Aslan keeps showing up as a deus ex machina, anytime CS Lewis needs to course correct the story/characters... (hide spoiler)]

"5th island": (view spoiler)[this is Dream/Nightmare island, right?... the one they never even reached, it was so terrible... I love this concept... kinda reminds me of the premise of Beyond Redemption, which I want to read sometime when I can make Kindle-time... (hide spoiler)]

6th island: (view spoiler)[this is the last island, right?... With the 3 sleeping people they're looking for?... I feel like CS Lewis just wanted to wrap up the story at this point, instead of coming up with 3 islands for the last 3 people Caspian was looking for... (hide spoiler)]

Edge of the World: (view spoiler)[The mermaids seemed like throwaway characters on the journey here... and then Caspian had quite an abrupt shift in personality, when he couldn't go to Aslan's Realm at the end... (hide spoiler)]

Aslan: (view spoiler)[the Christian parallels really got stronger in this one... especially towards the end as Aslan's homeland became more clearly heaven-equivalent... and the statements about Aslan and Aslan's Realm also being on Earth... (hide spoiler)]

I've chosen the longer one, just started. Eustace is awful and I'm glad to see Edmund and Lucy getting along.

Hey guys, I'm gonna DNF this series... I'm a third of the way through this book and I'm just not into it at all.

That's a shame Angela, Hopefully you're next read is better!

Angela Jr. wrote: "Hey guys, I'm gonna DNF this series... I'm a third of the way through this book and I'm just not into it at all."

Bye Angela... at least we have all the other series we're reading to talk about... I'm mostly reading these as a completionist... they're not my fave by a long shot, and I kinda just try to ignore the heavy Christian themes...

I really loved the first one and I also hate leaving things unfinished so i'm going to power through and try and finish the series since they're so short.

1st island - Fun, quick adventure. (view spoiler)[ Kidnapped, enslaved, freed and off on another adventure. I really like the mouse, he's my favourite character. (hide spoiler)]

Reepicheep is great

Timelord Iain wrote: "Reepicheep is great"

He really is!

Just read the 2nd island, (view spoiler)[ I love dragons so this was super fun. Eustace really needed an attitude adjustment so it couldn't have happened to a nicer person really. (hide spoiler)]

Finished!

I'm probably the last person ever to notice this but I've just realised that (view spoiler)[ Aslan represents Jesus and his father's kingdom that he's always talking about is Heaven. (hide spoiler)]

Charlie wrote: "Finished!

I'm probably the last person ever to notice this but I've just realised that [spoilers removed]"

It's made much more noticeable in this book, I think, but (view spoiler)[looking back, you probably notice how obvious it was... he dies for Edward's betrayal in the first book, and is reborn... and is a bit of a holy spirit in the 2nd and 3rd books...

CS Lewis says he didn't set out to write children's fantasy books with a religious message, it just kind of happened organically... he's talked a lot about it in hindsight, tho... (hide spoiler)]

As soon as a finished this book I thought back to book 1 and made the connection. I was only a very small child when my dad initially read these to me so is never noticed it before but it's very obvious now.