Title: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle
Author: C.S. Lewis
The chronicles of Narnia are a collection of stories – inculcating both fantasy and reality in all seven books. Though the story is fictional, it is really based on the bible, where Aslan, the great lion in the stories, is presumed to be Jesus Christ. The Last Battle is the last of the chronicles, where the last king of Narnia, King Tirian, fights the Last Battle of his life against the evil forces, the Calormenes, who are enemies of the Narnians.
The story begins at Cauldron Pool, where an Ape and a donkey reside. The ape, who is highly intelligent, uses his gift for evil deeds. Upon finding the skin of a dead lion floating down the stream, he forces the gullible donkey down to get it. Later, he even tricks the donkey into wearing the lion’s skin and posing as Aslan. With his newfound “puppet”, the Ape commits all sorts of evil deeds and conspires with the Calormenes to sell the Narnian animals into slavery.
Later, when King Tirian finds out the Ape’s evil doing, he gets into a fit of rage and, with the help of his trusted unicorn, Jewel, he brutally murders two Calormene slave drivers. He is soon filled with remorse at his rashness and quickly gives himself up, along with Jewel. Later, two children from the past adventures of Narnia come into the story and help King Tirian escape. From here onwards, the main bulk of the story is about how King Tirian and his two helpers struggle to turn the Narnian animals from the lies of the Ape and to rally them together.
The climax of the story is undoubtedly at the stables, where the ape attempts to get the animals to believe that the Calormenes are really their allies, and that Aslan and Tash (the Calormene God), are simply one person, Tashlan. This turns out to be too much for King Tirian, and once again, he is taken over by rashness. Tirian leaps forth, with his followers, namely the two children and some Narnian beasts to attack the Calormenes. Yet, it might have been better if he had not. Tirian is severely outnumbered, but the battle ends abruptly in the middle, as Tirian and his followers are all thrown into the stables. Later, he finds that he is surrounded by Kings and Queens from the earlier books of the chronicles. The story more or less ends here, as Tirian is happily reunited with the royal kings, including his father.
Though this story might seem relatively old-fashioned and childish, it is really an entertaining, complicated book where fantasy and reality are intertwined. The story is bound to keep its reader on the edge of his seat, tight with suspense.
Sean Seewent down at
4:34 AM
