Aslan breaks the Stone Table. Artwork by Ulyana Sergeeva.
More reviews of Narnia fanfic I’ve read. All of these are on AOW. Note some may be locked to users not a member of a site.
An anchor in the drift, by booksabouttrains
This story is a HHB AU in which Shasta doesn’t escape with Bree in time and winds up being a slave of Anradin Tarkaan, the red-bearded lord who admired him with the phrase “The boy is fair and white like the accursed but beautiful barbarians who inhabit the remote North.” As with a lot of adult readers (including myself) the author takes this to mean sexual attraction, and so poor Shasta becomes a bed-slave and something of an obsession for the lord. This isn’t described erotically but with a sort of pathetic horror: repeatedly Shasta tries to escape or stand up for himself only to be beaten and isolated even further. If you’ve ever read HHB and wondered about that seemingly throwaway line of dialogue, and what the worst-case scenario might have been, this story answers it in spades.
Eventually Shasta makes Bree’s acquaintance and they escape together, but it’s not as easy or simple as in the original book. Both beings have to really work for it, which was nice and added to the danger. They later meet Aravis and again, that encounter is filled with danger for them, more than running away from a run-of-the-mill lion as in the book, even if he was Aslan in disguise. (Aslan isn’t 100% a good guy in this book, and Tash, who makes a few appearances, isn’t 100% bad, either.) Throughout all of it Shasta copes with the devastating feelings of being a survivor of sexual abuse, which gets better by smallish degrees but isn’t entirely solved at the story’s ending. This was done very true to life and it was agonizing to read.
After they reach Tashbaan events loosely follow the book, but there’s a twist: Rabadash is a good guy and ally, and the lover of King Edmund. It’s Anradin who leads the foray into Archenland.
I enthusiastically recommend this series. The writer is one of the rare ones who could make the move from fanfic to published writing with ease.
The Horse and His Boy
Reports, Rebuilding, and Reconnaissance, by EdosianOrchids901
After Prince Caspian the book ended, there was a lot to be mopped up by the middle school-aged King, such as rogue Telmarines who don’t accept his rule. Reepicheep forms a Secret Service of Mice to serve as royal bodyguards and field enforcers, relying upon Peepiceek to give reports. The story consists of a back-and-forth of their correspondence, written in Reepicheep’s flowery, ink-wasting tone replete with nobility and chivalry. It’s a good pastiche and gives the reader one more reason to hate Reepicheep (as I do) or love him.
Prince Caspian
The Mortal Boy King, by firelilies_and_juniberries
What if Edmund, not Lucy, entered the wardrobe first, and he returns after having lived a lifetime there? That’s the premise of this story, which sadly had been left unfinished since last March. Most of it’s about how the other siblings react to his shellshocked state, and there’s brief glimpse of what may have been a meeting with the White Witch… all very promising, but unfinished. I hope the author gets back to it.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
You’re a Crisis of My Faith, by BookloverForInfinity
Apparently there’s a scene in the movie version of Prince Caspian where there’s a failed raid on King Miraz’s castle leaving all the main players wracked with remorse afterward. Such scene was not in the book but added in by the screenwriter to raise the stakes for a dull storyline.
Anyhow, before this raid Peter and Lucy discuss the plans for it and wonder if Aslan can be counted on to help, a dicey proposition because no one knows where to find him or how to summon him. Lucy, the sibling of most faith in the books, says yes, while Peter has doubts. The story consists of three scenarios and how they might have worked out: doubting Peter, neutral Peter, and let’s-go-ahead-and-do-it Peter.
The AUs make more sense if you’ve seen the movie (I haven’t) but even so it’s an interesting psychological examination of both characters, fleshing them out from both screenplay and book.
Prince Caspian, Movieverse
The Small One, by Anonymous_Hobbit
Remember towards the end of Prince Caspian when Bacchus and Aslan romp through the Telmarine town, and it’s hinted that some obnoxious schoolboys are transformed into little pigs? With the implication being little pigs grow up into big pigs who later become sausage, hams and bacon?
That was always my thought, at least. Even when I first read the book it added a moment of horror and wasn’t the first time Lewis flirted with cannibalism. (And I forgive him for that, as such transformation of humans into edibles is par for the course in fairy tales.)
This story is short and doesn’t get that grim, and it does provide a conclusion for what eventually happened to the boys, while keeping the book’s Christian spirit. Recommended.
Prince Caspian
