The Last Battle: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition)
By C. S. Lewis and Pauline Baynes
4/5
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About this ebook
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Narnia . . . where lies breed fear . . . where loyalty is tested . . . where all hope seems lost.
During the last days of Narnia, the land faces its fiercest challenge—not an invader from without but an enemy from within. Lies and treachery have taken root, and only the king and a small band of loyal followers can prevent the destruction of all they hold dear in this, the magnificent ending to The Chronicles of Narnia.
The Last Battle is the seventh and final book in C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, a series that has become part of the canon of classic literature, drawing readers of all ages into a magical land with unforgettable characters for over sixty years. A complete stand-alone read, but if you want to relive the adventures and find out how it began, pick up The Magician’s Nephew, the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia.
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a fellow and tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954 when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement.
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Titles in the series (11)
The Magician's Nephew: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Horse and His Boy: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prince Caspian: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Battle: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silver Chair: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Official Narnia Cookbook: Food from The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Narnia Trivia Book: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wisdom of Narnia: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for The Last Battle
3,670 ratings95 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I reread the Narnia series every year, and this last story in the series completes the annual 'fix'.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great! Wrapped the entire story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I cried at the end. Oh god I love this series!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Suddenly the King leaned hard on his friend's neck and bowed his head.
"Jewel," he said, "what lies before us? Horrible thoughts arise in my heart. If we had died before today we should have been happy."
"Yes," said Jewel. "We have lived too long. The worst thing in the world has come upon us." They stood like that for a minute or two and then went on. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Last of the seven 'Narnia' chronicles. This is an exciting adventure with a fairly overt underlying message about the Christian doctrine of the End Times. Manipulative Shift the ape persuades the gentle donkey Puzzle to dress up and pretend to be someone else... disaster follows until two children from our world go to join King Tirian. Lovely ending.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book makes quite clear what Lewis intended with his chronicles. I must say that I was rather disturbed by the book. It is a very credible story, for as far as fantasty goes, of course.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It is impossible for me to be objective about this book. Obviously the end of the Narnia-series, and the conclusion to seven books of fantastic story-telling. I had goosebumps while reading about half of it, and I'm not even sure why. I don't care one bit that it might have been a little cheesy, cliched at times, and preachy. It was a moving, worthy and brilliant end to a great series. Not that it needs saying, but it's hard not to imagine that the Chronicles of Narnia will still be read and enjoyed for hundreds of years to come.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A crafty Ape named Shift finds a lion skin and, using it to cover a donkey named Puzzle, tricks him into masquerading as Aslan and the Talking Beasts of Narnia into following his whims, even going up against King Tirian.I'll be honest here... this book is probably one of the ones that had the most impact on my decision to be an English major. When I was 8-9 years old, I most often named it my favorite book. Okay so the plot is razor thin and choppy, and reading it as an adult I was a little disappointed at times that things didn't quite match my recollection. But as a kid...oh, as a kid I was so proud to have figured out some of the parallels between this book and prophecy in the Bible. Reading "between the lines" was new to me, and the ability to match one thing with another and see Lewis's interpretations of end times and heaven and the rest just fascinated me. I still love the last few chapters and the very last line especially gets me every time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I had forgotten how well written the last of the Narnia series is. Lewis is more open about the Christian basis of the series in this than in any other, I believe, but weaves it into a compelling story. There are so many elements at play, and all are done so skillfully, that it is difficult to single any one out. New well developed characters meet those from the prior stories and it is a very satisfying conclusion for all (with one exception). It is nice to finish on such a high point.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing series, and an amazing book. There is very little else I can say that no one else has, but this book is wonderful, and a great conclusion to the series. These books always seem darker than books geared towards the young audience normally are. I, personally, loved how dark and deep the novel was, and although I still have trouble remembering or understanding all the details of the book, it still left an impact on me.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Battle doesn't feel like the other Narnia tales. Perhaps it isn't supposed to, in that it is not only the end of the story as we can know it, but the beginning of an unknown. In some ways, it is the final coming-of-age tale, in that the adolescence of earthly life is over, and the cast of characters can begin to appreciate the fullness of a paradise life.The absence of one character is discussed within a two page span, and while some readers may question this choice by Lewis, I have to say that I respect it. After having other portions of a Christian belief stuffed down your throat, the need to stay on track with belief, the need to keep your faith a focus, the need to want the connection and to have those lessons shown with such strength, clarity and brevity was a welcome relief.All in all, this is my least favorite of the series, but still worth reading, if not as often as the others.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Another classic tale from C.S. Lewis. Listened to the audio book on a road trip with my family - it made the time (and miles) fly. This is the final book of the Chronicles of Narnia.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As a kid, this was my favorite Narnia book. I don't think it's that anymore, especially since the whole "Problem of Susan" has become much more multi-faceted in my mind, but it's still a good story. The tone is darker than the previous books, and I don't enjoy the PLOT is much, but I get what C.S. Lewis was doing, and as far as diving in to the philosophy and theology behind his works, I think this book comes second only to Voyage of the Dawn Treader in fascinating spiritual themes.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the last Chronicle of Narnia for which C. S. Lewis won the Carnegie Medal as the best book published for children in 1956. The battle is between King Tirian and the forces of evil, as represented by Shift the Ape and his poor dupe, Puzzle the donkey. Shift dresses Puzzle up as the great Aslan himself, corrupting the animals, slaughtering the talking trees and destroying the harmony of the kingdom. The children from the previous books return to Narnia to help and many other characters from previous stories make appearances as well. C. S. Lewis wrote no more fiction after this book, a great pity.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The last book, and yes I'm 43 and yes, I still cry at the end.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Battle was when the Christian undertones began to dawn on me, but even the religious and racist subtext couldn't ruin this book for me. If I didn't have so many problems with it, this would be my favorite Narnia book--as it is, it remains the one I am troubled by and yet return to, again and again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This one was my favorite out of all of the books. I liked how all the characters from all the books came together in this one. I loved it! Perfect ending to a series.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I never think I like the Last Battle until I read it. Still, with no new children to get to know and the average bland Narnian king, it's not the best in the series. The end is a little ghoulish at times (Haven't you guessed, children...).
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My favorite book ever! This book is perfect
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chronicles of Narnia rightfully deserves its place among the greatest novels of all time. Smaller in scope than the Lord of the Rings, but not less influential, Lewis creates a world that wonderfully mirrors our own.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book would be good to use when talking about the end of the world. I think students will like this because it is an integrating view of how the world might end.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Incredibly imaginative and beautiful. If you are religious, you can enjoy the immense allegory in the series, if not, enjoy it for the marvel that it is.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I was a kid, I thought the story was just the last of the adventures in Narnia, however, when I reread it recently gave me goosebumps, Lewis actually showed us hidden meaning to each characters, places and events. Narnia is more than just an adventure.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When yopung I disliked this because it was sad, but I have some to feel it is important to undestand the god guys do not always win in this world (or in Narnia)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the last book in the Chronicles of Narnia (obviously).This book is a little difficult to read. That the end has arrived is obvious, but it's still hard to come to the conclusion of a much-loved series. And what an ending! That horrible Ape! Of course, it's made clear that it's not really an ending, but a new beginning in Aslan's Country. Not as magical an installment to me as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe or The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but still lovely, and a strong conclusion to a wonderful series.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was about how Tirian, last king of Narnia, Eustace, and Jill fight against the calormens who are led by an evil ape named Shift. In the end, Aslan comes and destroys all Narnia. Everyone then goes to the "real" narnia where everything is perfect and they discover that the Narnia they knew was all fake.All and all it was a pretty good story.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book gets a bit too big for its britches, at Lewis finally cavaliers off from adventure children books to religious pandering. Still fun to read, but not as action packed as I'd like it to be.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oddly, this was always one of my favorite books in the series as a child. When rereading as an (agnostic) adult, it lost much of its appeal.
C.S. Lewis continues his allegory of Christianity to the next logical step: the end of the world. The main characters here are actually some of the creatures of Narnia rather than the children, and Puzzle, the donkey, was always one of my favorites. Even as a child, I found Lewis's picture of heaven to be...well...boring. But he certainly captures beauty and longing that are so much a part of the true believer's faith. - Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5There are few things as disappointing as discovering that the concluding volume to a truly great series is utterly pedantic, poorly crafted, and astonishingly trite. Lewis barely finds a story to cloak a diatribe in, and his diatribe includes such horrors as the derogatory use of the term "darky" to characterize the evil Calormenes (in case you hadn't already understood the message, and needed to be beaten over the head with it). The quaint emphasis on gender roles in the earlier books becomes thinly veiled sexism in The Last Battle (easily recognized as such by young children). The Last Battle depicts a black-and-white world of evil and heros, and unsubtly makes it clear that the evil ones are the non-Christians, who have literally no redeeming characteristics. The heros are devoid of charm and utterly flat as characters; the minor moments when a character shows sympathy and compassion are tangential to the story and message itself. The prose is stiff, preachy and self-important. All the compassion, charm and subtlety of the earlier books has been drained. Worst of all, this is some strange form of Manichaeism mascarading as Christianity. Lewis' story here is too cartoonish to be tragic: the deep and profound tragedy is that this, in the end, is what the Narnia series comes to.Please, PLEASE, don't read this one to your kids until you've read it yourself.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This volume marks the end of The Chronicles of Narnia, at least where Lewis was involved. This volume is an allegory for the Book of Revelation, which in itself, seems very allegorical.An ape named Shift convinces a donkey named Puzzle to pretend to be Aslan. Through this, he is able to convince Narnians that he, Shift, speaks for Aslan, and as such, he makes ridiculous requests of them, which they blindly follow, furthering Shift's own wealth and power.But, well, not everyone in Narnia is stupid, and some start to catch on, only to be overpowered by the overwhelming forces of the weak-minded. In a call to Aslan, the heir of Caspian, requests help, which comes in the form of former human visitors to Narnia.Good works to triumph over evil, but there are many casualties along the way. And since it's allegorical, you can probably guess how it ends.This book is a good way to end your reading of The Chronicles of Narnia. If you've enjoyed the series thus far, there have been loads of works written to both compliment and criticize the series, including one of the key events in the book involving a train, but I'll say no more on this subject. Definitely recommended if you've made it this far.