#43: The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader"

Lewis, C.S.. The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader." New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1952. Print. 210 pages.

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SETTING: Narnia!  New and unexplored parts of this fantastic land are introduced in this third book.

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SUMMARY: The two youngest Pevensie children, Edmund and Lucy, find themselves back in Narnia, this time accompanied by their incredibly annoying and rude younger cousin, Eustace.

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FAVORITE QUOTE: "And just as there are moments when simply to lie in bed and see the daylight pouring through your window and to hear the cheerful voice of an early postman or milkman down below and to realise that it was only a dream: it wasn't real, is so heavenly that it was very nearly worth having the nightmare in order to have the joy of waking, so they all felt when they came out of the dark." - Chapter 12, page 157.

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Previous posts:

• Book 1: http://artemisiaeupraxia.blogspot.com/2014/06/39-lion-witch-and-wardrobe.html
• Book 2: http://artemisiaeupraxia.blogspot.com/2014/06/40-prince-caspian.html

I had this SUPER strange urge to read a Charles Dickens novel while I was studying for my board exam, and so I picked up A Tale of Two Cities at the library.  I started reading it and, about seven pages in, I was sooooooo bored.  There was about a ten month period when I was in grad school where all I was reading was classics, and I really enjoyed them.  I think when I was studying for the board exam, I didn't actually want to read a Dickens novel, but was moreso nostalgic for the calmness that I was enveloped in during that time period in grad school.  Anyhow, I realized super quickly that reading a Dickens novel was going to be a slow, tedious, and not in the least bit enjoyable process at the moment, so I put it down and grabbed the rest of the Narnia books.  Like the post for the second book in the series, I'm going to just list some points I'd like to share about this book.

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1. I didn't find it as interesting as the first two books in the series.  I think the main reason is because the wonder that was there of exploring this new fictional world was not as strong in this book.  Another reason is that I missed having all four of the Pevensie kids in the book.  
2. I realized that this entire time I was reading "Pevensie" as "Pensevie."  Similarly, until the first Harry Potter movie came out and I actually heard Dumbledore's name, I read "Dumbledore" as "Dublemore."  So sad.
3. Eustace is the most annoying child in the beginning of the book.  If I have a child like that, I will have failed as a parent.
4. The author paints such fabulously vivid pictures of the various lands and islands the group of travelers visits.  Each area is very diverse and, considering this book is pretty short, the author does a great job of including a lot of detail while managing to be brief.
5. The chapters "The Magician's Book" and "The Dark Island" were my two favorites.  They were, in my opinion, the most imaginative and fun to read.
6. I'm really sad that this is it for Edmund and Lucy.  It's sad to see characters suddenly leave.

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I've already started on the fourth book, but I have to admit that I'm becoming bored of the series... And there are a total of seven books!  Hopefully I persevere, and more importantly, am able to read them efficiently enough to finish the series before the semester starts.

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Recommend?  Yes, since it's part of a series.