2.5 stars rounded up to 3. 
 This is one of my least favorite in the series. In fact I stalled here on one of my rereads through the series when I was a kid. Made it halfway through and just didn't care enough to continue. (I stalled on The Horse and His Boy at the next series reread attempt, but I'll cover that in that review). 
 Lewis is still a great story teller, but I just didn't think the story was as interesting as most of the others. Several aspects were lackluster by comparison. The villain wasn't as formidable, was hardly present at all, and her defeat was kind of anticlimactic. The adventure parts weren't as fun. I couldn't get behind the characters as much, though that doesn't mean I didn't like them. Maybe I was just missing the Pevensie children? Anyway, there was just a lack of "oomph" to it all. I wish I could explain it better, but I think it's a matter of personal preference. 
 Lewis' wit is still pristine, and that carried me through the duller parts. Jill and Eustace's spats; Puddleglum's pessimistic observations though he was convinced he was being unreasonably optimistic about it all; Lewis' 3rd person narrator asides and advice; the owls speaking consistently with "ooo" sounding words; these were all a hoot. Here's a Puddleglum snippet: They're traveling underground on their way to the surface when the lights go out. Someone encourages everyone to take courage to which Puddleglum replies "That's right sir... And you must always remember there's one good thing about being trapped down here: it'll save funeral expenses." He's a laugh a minute. 
 Be forewarned: Lewis has some views which are considered quite sexist by today's standards. He also doesn't seem to be a fan of unstructured schools. These seem to be sticking points for modern day free thinkers judging from some of the other reviews I've seen. Recognizing that Lewis is a product of his time I found those bits humorous myself, and was even with him on ridiculing experimental education where kids are allowed to do whatever they want without any guidance. There are the rigid schools where you're not granted any flavor for your fare (which suck), and there are the uber loose schools where kids can do whatever they want (which also suck). There is plenty of middle ground, and I like the schools that land there. Both of the extremes deserve ridicule, and Lewis socks it to the loose variety nicely in this book. I enjoyed that part of the book the most though it had little to do with the rest of the story. 
 And here's a snippet related to that. (view spoiler)[Aslan, Caspian, Eustace, and Jill create a ruckus and "there was an inquiry into the whole thing. And in the inquiry all sorts of things about Experiment House came out, and about ten people got expelled. After that, the Head's friends saw that the Head was no use as a Head, so they got her made an Inspector to interfere with other Heads. And when they found she wasn't much good even at that, they got her into Parliament where she lived happily ever after." (hide spoiler)] 
 I don't suppose you'd lose too much if you skipped this one, but you'd be lost on a few things when you read The Last Battle. 
 Audiobook narrator: Jeremy Northam. He did a really good job, but I was still comparing him to the others, and I'm afraid they did just a bit better, especially Derek Jacobi in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Since I just listened to that one, poor Jeremy had a really tough act to follow. What bothered me the most was Aslan's voice. It just wasn't quite right, but a lot of the others were bang on. I loved the owls. Puddleglum didn't come across quite as gloomy as I would've liked, but now I'm just nit-picking.