The Magician’s Nephew

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew
Author: C.S. Lewis

Polly and Digory are children in Victorian London that go on an adventure in Digory’s attic during the rainy summer months. Uncle Andrew is a magician and tricks the children into exploring other worlds where they stumble across the birth of Narnia and let loose an evil sorceress Jadis. This book was written after The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, but is a prequel to that story.

I bought this series a few years back because I remembered liking the books when I was a kid, but really remembered nothing about them. Since a movie is coming out about The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, I thought I should reread the series. I couldn’t remember why tv shows and movies that were made from this series always skipped the first book. Part of it could be since it was written way after the first book at almost the end of the series as a prequel.

Another reason could be that not too much happens in this book. It is really a set up for the rest of the series. Stuff happens, but it all goes pretty quick and not much gets resolves. The creating of Narnia, the freeing of the witch, the introduction to the lion, and even the story behind the wardrobe will come into play later on.

It is a nice little story and it is written as if it is expected to be read to children. The way C.S. Lewis writes invites someone to read it outloud to someone else and is written at a young child’s reading level. It is a completely different experience after reading Harry Potter books that are aimed more towards teens, even though kids younger than that read the books. I forget when I read Harry Potter that it is a kid’s book. I couldn’t forget while reading this one.

C.S. Lewis is a major religious guy and the entire series is supposed to be an overall storyline of good vs. evil, with references to Adam & Eve and so forth, but it’s fine. It’s still a good, entertaining story. Now I have to read the second book about that lion, witch and wardrobe. 🙂

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