Companion to Narnia

I've always loved Narnia, and was very happy to find this guide book to Narnia! It was very easy to follow, which I was very pleased about! I do highly recommend this book to all C.S. Lewis and Narnia fans, like me!!! If you buy this book, you won't regret. It will sit beautifully next to the Chronicles of Narnia series.

This book is a must have for anyone who wants a scholarly look at Narnia. Ford goes in depth to all the elements, allusions, and allegories Lewis beautifully put into Narnia. This book is a must have for any budding theologian, Narnia lover, or Lewis admirer. A brilliant piece of scholarly work.

While reading the Chronicles of Narnia, I needed help with many of the descriptions used by Mr. lewis. I was able to use Mr. Fords book for all the explantions I needed. He makes it easy to then understand all the books. I really liked the illustrations shown in his book and really liked the maps showing Narnia, Aslan's country and all the other countries there. Mr. Ford also gives us a personal look into how he has shared the Chronicles with his children and grandchildren. I liked reading his thoughts and ideas about the books. I found his book, Companion to Narnia very helpful and lovely to read. I hope this helps others when deciding to buy a companion book to the Chronicles. I totally recommend this one. Thank you, Helen Clark

If there is any book that you should have on hand while reading the Chronicles of Narnia, this is it. Similar to Robert Foster's "Complete Guide to Middle-Earth" in that it's mostly an A-Z encyclopedia of places, people and all things in Narnia. The entries in "The Companion" are detailed and extensively cross-referenced. The essential time-lines and two sets of maps make this book perfect. Designed for all ages of readers of Narnia, but older readers will also appreciate the insights about Lewis in the introduction of the book. This book, along with Duriez's "Field Guide to Narnia" are the two best, and two must haves for Narnia fans.

I have read and re-read all seven of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia many times in my adult life. And plan to do so again and again. The remarkable thing is that the stories still seem fresh and alive. They never seem to get boring and there are always new insights waiting to be discovered. Even for the adult reader. I would highly recommend the stories to all young readers, even though I myself did not read them as a child. I think I was so bent on trying to read the entire works of Enid Blyton at the time, that I failed to notice anything Narnian about my local library."New insights" are what the Companion To Narnia is all about. Paul F. Ford has done a wonderful job of assembling all of the myriad of characters, places, themes; all the rich history and lore of Narnia and beyond, into this one encyclopedic book. I really cannot see how it could be improved upon. It is massive in scope. I have read it and "used" it for years now.The book is arranged alphebetically and all topics are meticulously cross-referenced (an asterisk follows any word or phrase which is an entry elsewhere). Even though this is not the type of book that is commonly read from cover to cover, picking it up and starting from any topic will surely tempt you to the reading of the asterisk-linked articles. In Narnian terms, I think of this as the hidden "Turkish-Delight" feature of the book. Let it take you where your curiosity and interest leads.At the end of the articles, Ford has placed in parentheses an abbreviated reference to the specific book and page number that coincides with the topic being discussed. This sends us back to the original source of the material if necessary, and allows Ford's book to be not only a companion, but a sort-of concordance as well. It is a very useful feature.The copious footnotes will definitely appeal to those who are interested in learning more about the creator of Narnia. These notes clearly show that Paul Ford is an expert in his knowledge of the man C.S. Lewis. (A good example is the numerous footnotes to the article entitled "Digory Kurke"). Another great feature of the book is that not only are characters and place-names discussed, but also the IDEAS and THEMES of the Chronicles are examined. For instance there are comprehensive articles on such things as: Dreams, Knowledge, Fear, Privacy, Sounds, Music, Obedience, Birds, Ecology, etc. Of particular worthy mention is the great five page section on Biblical Allusions.The final thing I will mention is that there are wonderful illustrations throughout the book, and these serve to take the imagination even further into the world that is Narnia. The book is appropriately titled. My desk-dictionary has, as one of its definitions for the word companion... "one of a pair of matching things". In my opinion, any bookshelf that has its Narnia, ought to have its Companion.

I've adored this series since grade school and I reread it periodically, but until the last few times I never understood the allegory in the book. I bought the companion just because I collect books that go along and I just finished reading it. I was not disappointed....it answered so many questions that I had about characters and themes and the maps/timeline were excellent in helping to understand the geography and time of Narnia vs Earth. I plan on using it as a reference the next time I read the series despite having already read it straight through. This is a must have for any Narnia enthusiast.