It's hard to judge reviews for a thing that is a) so influential of other things and b) so beloved by those who encountered it early in life. I never read the Narnia books, and was only briefly introduced to it when they showed the cartoons one day in middle school (I thought it was boring). But with my genre reading habits trending more and more into fantasy, I felt it appropriate to give it a go, finally. 
 When you read something that's so profoundly influenced others, it's hard to judge it fairly. If this is the first fantasy you've read, it probably feels mind blowing. If this is your fiftieth, everything feels old and tired. Ordinary characters finding a secret passage to another world where they are the chosen ones foretold in prophecy to be champions of goodness and friendship? I've seen it, like, a zillion times. 
 So I have trouble getting terribly excited about it. The writing style also gets a big fat "meh" from me. It's a children's book, and it definitely reads like one. Things are glossed over, and feel rushed at times. Characters are good or bad just because looking at them gives you a bad feeling. Hey, what if that Maugrim dude was actually a decent wolf, but the White Witch happened to be the only employer in town? 
 Despite it all, there are some genuinely interesting things. Lucy and her curiosity really helps pull the reader along. As the story shifts focus in the later chapters to the bigger events within Narnia, not following her kind of untethered the whole story for me. Edmund's story strikes a particular chord, as he gets manipulated by others, turned into a junkie, and then ultimately finds redemption. And what exactly made him such a jerk in the first place? It's no wonder Lev Grossman made a career from writing Narnia fan fiction - there are holes all over the place just waiting to be explored. 
 At any rate, I'll keep reading in the hopes that things get more intriguing.