The Chronicles of Narnia; the Magician's Nephew/The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe/The Horse and His Boy/Prince Caspian/The Voyage of the Dawn Trea by C. S. Lewis (1994, Paperback)

I really wanted the movie to be great - had looked forward to it for a year before its release. It lacked character development and good story telling.

The books are by far, much better.

With the first book, The Magician's Nephew, Lewis creates wonderful possibilities with a magical way to travel from one world to the next, and with great character development in Aslan the lion, a king of kings.
The way of travel in the first book is not repeated throughout the other six books in the series and thus, the only worlds visited in the remaining books are our own world and that of Narnia.

The series is a great read for early readers because it is easy to read and the story compels one to continue reading to find out what happens next.

For adults, it may be a little too far fetched and predictable in that Aslan seems to always have to come to the rescue. I liked the series as a break from my Robin Cook and Dean Koontz, and I must admit, I could not stop until I finished the last book - even then wishing there was one more in the series to read.

A little mindless fantasy world where animals speak and giants roam can be a fun quick read. Each book can be read in a day if not disturbed by cats, kids, phone, work... maybe a book a week for young readers. Just the kind of style a 3rd to 6th grader could REALLY get in to, (I'm late 30's and I was HOOKED!)

Have yet to see a good movie based on this series.