4.5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this read, even on audiobook, which I don't normally love. The only thing I would have wished differently is that we saw more of the Pevensie children, and of Aslan, too.

"To know what would have happened, child?" said Aslan. "No, nobody is ever told that.... But anyone can find out what will happen." (Ch. 10) ( )

For me, "Prince Caspian" isn't one of the highlights of the Narnia series. Although it continues the journey of the Pevensie children, it seems like relatively bog-standard fantasy fare, with new characters who I actually find don't enhance the story that much. "The Magician's Nephew" suggested there were so many worlds out there, and this - while not a bad story, by any means - doesn't take much advantage of Lewis' imagination, beyond a few funny incidents. Perhaps I'm just not interested in the more standard fantasy tropes that appear here. ( )

The Pevensie siblings travel back to Narnia to help a prince denied his rightful throne as he gathers an army in a desperate attempt to rid his land of a false king. But in the end, it is a battle of honor between two men alone that will decide the fate of an entire world.

This is my first foray into The Chronicles of Narnia. I’ve seen the movies (or at least some of them), but only once when they first came out, and don’t remember much about the movie based on this book. This is yet another series I wish I’d read when I was younger; I have a feeling I would have liked it more as a kid. Overall, I enjoyed it a little more than the previous book. Maybe that's because the Pevensies aren't newcomers to Narnia anymore, but I think it's more due to the Narnians that they encounter this time. Reepicheep made my heart melt!

The story involving Caspian, as well as Peter and Edmund's additions to the conflict, I enjoyed. I've never been one for reading battle sequences, so I appreciated that most of the fighting was summarized. Even the one full fight that was shown had a lot of interjection by other characters, so it was more fun than it probably should have been. I was not a fan of the sequence of events that followed Susan, Lucy, and Aslan as they gathered up the rest of the Old Narnians. It all felt a little strange to me and made me wonder what the purpose of it was. Most of what was shown didn't really affect the rest of the story much.

It is possible I misinterpreted parts of this book, though it is meant for readers more like my daughter's age, and I doubt she will get bigger meaning out of it than I did when she reads the book. However, aside from those areas, I enjoyed the book overall and think she will too. ( )

Good, though inconsistent. Each book in the series seems to marginally improve on its predecessor. I read on with the hope that the series extends beyond simply being decent, enjoyable books. ( )