I had a little bit of trouble figuring out where to start with ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ but opted for publication order as oppose to chronological. I picked it up as I couldn’t listen to ‘American Psycho’ to fall asleep to so went with the most lighthearted thing that came to mind. My take on this book is probably controversial, but I really didn’t care for it; most likely as I am engaging with this world for the first time (excluding the VHS tape of the film I watched when I was very young in my grandads attic and turned off because it freaked me out) at the big age of twenty. It’s basic as its children’s fantasy, but I would argue it is too basic, half of the main cast of Pevensie children have literally no character development. The book is a religious allegory for the Easter story but even that I felt had no weight, for the process of crucifixion and resurrection happened faster than it even did in the bible meaning there was no space for this significant plot element to have any impact. The children’s capacity for leadership also bothered me a little, Peter is a child who was given a sword a day ago (by Santa? Why was he a character in this it was so unexpected for an overtly religious commentary?)  and suddenly can hold his own against wolves and a powerful witch with years of experience casting terror and overcoming much stronger foes. The messages about the roles of women pushed onto Lucy and Susan also weren’t great. I understand that I just laid into a children’s book as if it wasn’t just that, but other works of children’s fiction that I have read when older than the target audience have just done a lot of elements better and therefore still appealed.