c.s lewis is the anti-tolkien. tolkien could make mowing my lawn into a six-volume series (and my lawn could fit inside my living room). lewis on the other hand could recount the birth and evolution of the universe on a post-it note. his story began:

there is a place called london. they had a war. for protection-sake, the children were sent to the country. four kids went to this one house where one of them opened a door and they found a magical land.

there are seven, perhaps eight more sentences in this novel. i don't want to spoil it for anyone who plans to read it so will stop there.

unfortunately, an inordinate amount of attention is given to the biblical aspects of this work. it is not necessary to track these details to enjoy the narrative. i know this to be fact because i thoroughly enjoyed this adventure.