Customer Reviews

The Soul of The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe

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Whether you agree with him or not, Veith knows how to make a Christian think. I happen to agree with him, though. I've read most of Veith's books, and I was not disappointed by this one. I thoroughly enjoyed it, learned valuable things I didn't know, and highly recommend it to all Christians who love fantasy literature, and to all parents whose children love fantasy literature.

This book was an easy and quick read. It is really only intended as an overview of LWW and Lewis and the debate between "good" fiction/fantasy and "bad". For the Christian who is interested in this issue or somone only casually familiar with C.S. Lewis or LWW it is a good read. If you are looking for more of an in-depth theological treatise...probably not for you.

One reviewer commented that this book is preachy and didactic, of which I must agree. This is not always a "bad, but in this latest book by Gene Veith, it becomes at times, a rabbit, going into non-needed areas. This happens most when he is discussing the differences between C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling. I have never read a Potter novel, and didn't like the first movie that my teenage daughter dragged me to, but I must say, too much sensitive American Evangelicalism is apparent in his dealing with the subject (I must concur with Vieth in that he anticipates both a pro-con review of his position on Potter). While not as overly anti-Potter as other fundamentalists and evangelicals, I think he still misses the boat. I think children "get the books" like children get Narnia.

The opening of the book is pretty much average. It does work well as a study tool for a small book-group or study group. He does make some good points and while I think most of the points he raises are obvious to C.S. Lewis fans.

His critique of Pullman and "His Dark Materials" raises the bar on this book. What was a below average review on Potter is elevated here, but his average opening on Narnia itself, regulates this book to an average read on a great work by Lewis.

I'm greatly disappointed. Having read other work by GEV over the years, this is hasty and generalizing. It is also preachy and didactic--and if you don't get my negative connotations of those two words, then this book is probably one you will appreciate.

As a fan of both JK Rowling and CS Lewis, I hoped for an intelligent discussion of similarities/differences between the two. Instead, we receive false assumptions and poorly supported arguments. One example: Rowling has said that she never intended HP to be categorized as "fantasy literature." Yet that is one of GEV's primary arguments against it--that it is inconsistent with the rules/expectations of fantasy.

Another example of weak argumentation from p. 162:

"This is a major difference between The Chronicles of Narnia and the Harry Potter books. Though Harry comes back to his miserable life with his Muggle family between terms, his true home is with the witches. In Narnia, the characters (with one important exception at the very end of the series) come back to their families, and their true home can be found in ordinary life."

First, Harry's home is with the "wizarding" community--a much truer way of putting it (within Potter-world), but GEV chooses the HOT word "witches." Shame on you! Secondly, we are told several times in the Narnia books that the children (and others) frequently gather together to talk about their adventures, leading one to think that their "ordinary life" was much less satisfying than their life in Narnia.

If you are new to Narnia, or need a supplement to your Bible study culminating in a trip to the LWW film in December, or need confirmation that HP is inferior literature, this book might meet your needs. Otherwise, I don't recommend it.

SPJohnson