I thought the Golden Age of Narnia was the brightest, most joyful era of The Chronicles of Narnia. But at the end of The Last Battle, I find that I have clearly been wrong. That age was only a shadow of the brighter still, only good, glorious land remade by Aslan.
I know this book means so much to me because Lewis depicts just a shred of the glory that I know I will one day enter into. He is attempting to give me a bare glimpse into my own future, one that is good and great beyond words.
I love how Lewis is able to capture magnificent truths in surprisingly apt ways. Narnia seems beautiful and true to us because it is a world built on the substance of truth, a prism through which we see some of the colors of reality refracted. The oft-omitted subtitle of The Last Battle is “a story for children.” In some sense, we are all children as we look forward to the true beginning of all things, at the end of all time. I’m glad, too, that Narnia has made me feel child-like again.
The problem of trying to write about The Last Battle (or any of the The Chronicles of Narnia, really) is that it is really made special when you truly experience the journey and live in the imagery yourself. This is not a book you read to gain information or even simply for entertainment’s sake. I can write about all the ways this series has become precious to me, but that cannot substitute the real thing.
So pick up Lewis and become drawn into Narnia yourself. Taste and see.