Once Upon A Wardrobe

Age recommendation: 12-16

Summary: (Mostly from the back of the book 😉) 1950: Margaret Devonshire (Megs) is a seventeen-year-old student of mathematics and physics at Oxford University. When her sick beloved eight-year-old brother George asks her if Narnia is real she tells it's just a fairy tale. However since George is ill he must stay in bed most of the time and his favorite books are his only window into the world, he continues to press the question “where did Narnia come from?” After George persists, Megs goes and asks C.S. Lewis the question that has been nagging at her brother. But instead of giving her direct answers Lewis gives her stories of his childhood, Megs’ eyes are slowly opened to the world around her.

My Review: Ahhh this book. It was ok to say the least. I was hoping for something like the book The Mythmakers, but it was not like that. So the missed expectation part was completely my fault. There were parts in the book where I thought it was a really good deep ponderous thought, and then parts where the thought completely missed the mark and was not theologically sound in the least. Lewis wrote Narnia as a Christian allegory but the book was not christian, and even Lewis himself did not seem Christian in the least. The main question of the book, where did Narnia come from, also was not really answered. It could have been answered if the book was written from a Christian perspective, but it was not. It was like if you did a puzzle but you were missing all the pieces that showed the main character. Also Aslan was alluded to but not as Lewis actually would have done it. It felt as if the author was trying to write the true story of Lewis but work around all the christian parts which were a MAJOR PART IN LEWIS’S LIFE. In short, I didn't really like the book.

Good quote: “...by now he understood that all books worth loving were worth rereading over and over.”

Concerns: There is a kissing scene that is drawn out and described for about a page, which I didn’t like, and at one part it was alluded to that God might be a girl (it really is only a sentence, but still). So be mindful when you read this.

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5