Reviews for La ultima batalla (The Last Battle)

The average rating for La ultima batalla (The Last Battle) based on 2 reviews is 1 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-12-27 00:00:00 Cynthia Villeneuve When I used to read the Chronicles as a kid, I would usually stop at Dawn Treader or Silver Chair. Now I realise that as a kid I was a lot smarter than I gave myself credit for, for "The Last Battle" is an absolute shocker of a book. It is racist, sexist, fundamentalist rhetoric disguised as children's literature. Those 'darkies' (yes, that's how they're referred to in the book, along with stinking of 'onions and garlic') are invading Narnia again, at the guidance of a monkey (groan for obvious racist parallels once more) parading around a false Aslan. Thank goodness those pure white children are called upon once more to put things right! Oh, except for Susan, of course, who is apparently slutting around the real world because she can think of nothing but 'nylons and stockings' and as Peter says gravely, "She is no longer a friend of Narnia." And that is the dangerous fundamentalist thought throughout this book. Susan, who seems to be discovering her sexuality, is denied entrance to Narnia. She was a Queen of Narnia, and saved it many times in battle. But, no, piss off, Susan. You're not good enough anymore. But the 'deathbed conversion' of the false Aslan still allows him to go to Narn - I mean, Heaven. I just can't let the fate of Susan go, even days after finishing this book. All the Pevensy children (bar Susan, of course) discover they and their parents are dead at the end of the story and with a final 'yay!' like a brainwashed Rod and Todd Flanders, skip merrily up the steps to heaven. No chance at life for them. But Susan is left in the real world, with her siblings, parents and cousin all wiped out. This is the final message you want to leave to your kids? No wonder this book is so popular with fundamentalists. In the end, their rhetoric is 'you're either with us or against us'. It doesn't seem very Christian at all, does it?

Review # 2 was written on 2007-09-13 00:00:00 Larry Oley I think this is the first book I've ever hated. And that list is pretty short. As a child, it really distressed me - I didn't understand much of it, and it confused me why its tone was so very different from the other Narnia books. Then, when I reread it a few years ago, it just pissed me off. The message about religious pluralism is refreshing, sure, but the book just plain reads wrong, and I will probably never get over Lewis's treatment of Susan. I guess if you don't believe in God, you deserve to lose your entire family in a train crash. Awesome. I suppose there is some hope in that Susan did not die - maybe her family's gruesome deaths will help her find God, and then a train will kill her too, and she'll join Peter, Edmund, and Lucy in Aslan's country! Bleargh.