The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Series: The Chronicles of Narnia, Book 1 (Publication order), Book 2 (Author’s preferred order)

By: C.S. Lewis / Narrated By: Michael York

Length: 4 hrs and 21 mins

Such a joy! May I get to the next in the series soon? Pleeeeeease?!

This is how it was for me waaaaay back maaaany years ago:

I was struggling with a deep clinical depression where I basically sat in a rocking chair for almost two years. What did I do during that time? Well, for the first 14 months I read and reread and reread again and again the Harry Potter books. But ooooh say after that first 14 months, my husband gave it a shot: He gifted me with a single volume of the The Chronicles of Narnia.

They were such a lifesaver! I read them. Then I reread them. Then I reread them again and again. For months!

What light they brought to a pretty dark time of life (And life kinda throws those in now and again, yes?)

So now that I’m all chipper and things are brighter, what better thing to do than give the audiobooks a go! Done one already, so now it’s time to get to author C.S. Lewis’s preferred order and listen to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

My only true memory of the voices for the children comes from an animated feature of the book, so I was a trifle hesitant to listen to Michael York’s narration. Yeh yeh yeh, Michael Freaking YORK and all that, but…?

Well, he’s stellar here. There’s nothing so incredibly awesome as listening to someone who sounds like they’re having the absolute Time of Their Life narrating something. Obviously York is here! I thought he sounded a bit missish for little Lucy, but other than that, all of his voices are soooo dramatic, so fun. And as Aslan? Oh yesssss, please! I could kneel before such a regal king of a creature!

We all know the story by now, right? Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are sent to the country to avoid the Blitz. Once at the Professor’s great estate, Lucy finds her way into the back of a wardrobe (Knowing not to shut the wardrobe door… as EVERYone knows it’s foolish to shut one’s self in a wardrobe!) and goes back back and even farther back until she’s in a snow-covered landscape. There she discovers a Faun and has a nice tea with him. Soon, Mr. Tumnus, the Faun, tells her he’s in the Witch’s pay and is to kidnap her and take her to this evil witch. But no no no! He can’t do it, and he takes her back, where she springs from the wardrobe only to discover she hasn’t been missed. No time has passed.

Blah blah nobody believes her blah until all four children find themselves in the wardrobe and soon discover that abominable Edmund was there in Narnia also. This ticks them off with him, this sets him off to find the Witch (Who regaled him with tales of him to be King of Narnia if he’d only but bring his siblings all to her), and this sets up a grand ol’ Good vs. Evil story to take place.

Through it all, Lewis almost hammers our heads off with this allegory of Christ dying for our sins when Aslan gives himself to the Witch to redeem and save Edmund. But it’s soooo well done, and York delivers Aslan’s final moonlit walk to his Murder with such somber and sad tones that I danged near wept m’ head off. And when it comes to the Resurrection because, after all, Good triumphs when Even Deeper Magic is at work, York almost has his voice dancing even as Aslan and Susan and Lucy dance.

When all is said and done, this is a fiiiiiine telling of this old Classic! I can see how the magic within, the joy, the delight, the coming of Spring to a land that has always known Winter, was enough to brighten those dark days of mine. After all, Aslan blew life into those frozen into statues, frozen in time, thought to be forgotten.

No, Aslan wouldn't forget the least of his creatures… even if they’re just sitting in rocking chairs, waiting for Hope to bloom.