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The Magic City

4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 · rating details · 553 ratings · 45 reviews

When young Philip Haldane builds a play city out of odds and ends, the fantastic creation comes to life, and he and new stepsister Lucy are magically transported into it. Now they must try to save the Magic City by fulfilling an ancient prophecy--despite a mysterious adversary determined to steal their glory for herself. How Philip and Lucy come to forge a friendship and t...more

Hardcover, 212 pages

Published August 1st 2000 by Chronicle Books (first published 1910)

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Feb 11, 2009 Manny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: children

The first real book I ever read on my own; "real" in the sense of having a couple of hundred pages, not very many pictures, a plot, and some character development. I remember being puzzled by the switches between the everyday world and the fantasy world, and not understanding what was going on until about a third of the way through.

Then a clue came up which was too obvious to miss. He's in the magic city fighting the dragon... it's a clockwork dragon... he has a clockwork dragon in the everyday...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Valerie Kyriosity rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this quite a bit. Three stars for the book plus an extra star for the...well...stellar performance by reader Ruth Golding. One of the best LibriVox offerings I've discovered so far. If you're looking for good titles for kids, put this one on your list. And if you like children's stories for yourself, put this one on your list. And if you don't...well...I shall just have to feel sorry for you.

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Apr 02, 2012 D.M. Dutcher rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: bad-novels, children-s

I'm surprised at how much I didn't like it. Phillip is a boy with a huge crush on his older sister. When she gets married, he sulks and rebuffs the friendship of Lu, and earns the ire of the head nurse. One day out of pure grey boredom he is allowed to use Lu's toys and makes a fantastic city. But the city becomes real, and Lu is trapped in it.

It sounds a lot better than it really is. It's horrifically cute, with so much nonsense and treacly Britishness that you risk diabetes reading it. There a...more I'm surprised at how much I didn't like it. Phillip is a boy with a huge crush on his older sister. When she gets married, he sulks and rebuffs the friendship of Lu, and earns the ire of the head nurse. One day out of pure grey boredom he is allowed to use Lu's toys and makes a fantastic city. But the city becomes real, and Lu is trapped in it.

It sounds a lot better than it really is. It's horrifically cute, with so much nonsense and treacly Britishness that you risk diabetes reading it. There are Trials, and Adventures, and Oddly Endearing Fantastic Animals, but no one of course ever gets hurt, killing any sense of drama. And eventually you find you dislike all the characters, from the "eccentric" Mr. Noah, to the annoying dachsunds, to the parrot Nesbit can't decide whether or not she wants it to be heroic or a slacker, and to whatever utterly random thing that pops up next.

The randomness doesn't seem to really work, either. One of Phillip's trials is to help the Dwellers by the Sea overcome their fear. It sounds cool, but it's just endless playing, and then summoning carpenter Perrin to make a boat. Of course, he magically appears when called, but, no, a carpenter can't make a boat. Only Noah can, because, well, he's Noah. And by now you've gotten so tired of his oddball ways you wish the Pretenderette might eat him or something. If I were a boy, this book would be so fey and cutesy I'd throw it down in disgust and make my own city, and make real heroic adventures in it.

Another example. They need to overcome two lions. But no, they can't actually FIGHT them, that would be too un-British! They need to wait till they sleep, tie them up, have the annoying dogs lick the paint off their legs for hours, and then break their legs killing them. Because you know, when you lick the paint off their legs, it doesn't hurt them and they don't mind dying so much. "I don't mind killing things, but I do hate hurting them." Lu even says. And they encourage the dogs on by reciting poetry, cajoling them, "patting and praising" them, etc. The entire book is like this.

So I found myself disliking it intensely. Nesbit's books mix the enchanting with the surreal, but they only work when it's equal measures. This is all surreal, all the time. It's also unintentionally hilarious due to a few shifts in the meaning of a word over time. I wont go into detail, but it's a synonym for hunger, that no longer means what it did.

I'd avoid this for her other, better books.(less)

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Jun 21, 2012 Ania rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Shelves: britain

E. Nesbit with a model of 'The Magic City'

This book was a true delight to read, and probably her best one so far in comparison to The Enchanted Castle and The Railway Children. I think if you are the sort of person who ever built a blanket fort and pretended it was real (even if it was a million years ago and you were only 5 then), you will definitely enjoy this story. If you aren't this type of person, I have a message for you: you are really boring :). Build one now and save your soul!!! hehehe

Sure there were some problematic ideas in the story. For one it was painfully obvious who the villain was (despite Nesbit's attempts to physically hide her face and hair). Sometimes things got silly too for no good reason, and I wish the deeds of valour performed by the hero of this story actually went up in level of difficulty, as they sort of varied and you didn't get the feeling that the stakes were getting higher, but rather, more random.

I also noticed that there are some reviewers who somehow couldn't understand Philip's pain and fixation on his elder sister (who's really his adopted mother). I found it puzzling. I mean it is quite obvious that the dear old Pip, as they call him, was extremely fixated on his 28 year old sister. But he was only 8. He lost his parents and only had her in all the world. I mean, they build an island only for the 2 of them. That tells you how they feel: it was always the 2 of them against the world. Then the sister goes off and gets married and runs of to Europe on a honeymoon. And no it's not like a honeymoon now. It was over 100 years ago. If one went to Europe, one really did GO.. for a long long time! And poor Pip got parked, alone into a strange house where everyone just shoved him from one place to another, not to mention the strange girl he got for a step-sister. We know from reading the book that little Lucy didn't even meet her new stepmother Helen till after they get back from Europe!!!! (bizarre! but it how it was then). Little Phillip never chose to have a new family, and was left all alone without his only family that he knew; so yes, he was missing his sister badly.

Anywho, I'm finishing the review of this Magical City (I can see how it inspired Narnia!) with a full photo of the model, which although is in black-and-white, still looks really awesome!!!

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Feb 03, 2010 Mark Dewey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, public-domain, juvenile, audio

This was a cool book. I liked the ideas in it, and the story was cool.

With the exception of /The Book of Dragons/, and her other short fiction, I think I prefer E. Nesbit's fantasy that has a grounding in the real world most. There's a reason for this, though. When she writes in pure fantasy mode, she tends to go faster and introduce more characters more quickly. The adult characters in her pure fantasy stories totally cater to the fantasy settings, as well, and often seem like a part of the chi...more

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Apr 06, 2009 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

I came across this novel by chance. I was browsing among the many books on Kindle and found a bunch of free books. This one sounded interesting so I downloaded it. I started to read and found it to be a wonderful, interesting and fun book. It caught my interest right at the start. Miss Nesbit is an author with a great imagination. It is about a young 8 yr old boy and his sister. They are very close until she decides to be married. After the marriage, Philip goes to live with his sister, her husb...more

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Oct 30, 2010 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Heather by: Megan

Shelves: library-books, kids-ya

Philip Haldane's parents are both dead, so Philip, who is ten, has been raised by his older half-sister, Helen. She's the only family he's had or wanted, and has always been a kind and caring (and fun!) parent. But now she's getting married to her childhood sweetheart, whose first wife died, and Philip is none too pleased about the situation. He's so upset by the upheaval that he's nasty to his new stepsister and everyone in his new home, though Lucy, his stepsister, is excited finally to have a...more Philip Haldane's parents are both dead, so Philip, who is ten, has been raised by his older half-sister, Helen. She's the only family he's had or wanted, and has always been a kind and caring (and fun!) parent. But now she's getting married to her childhood sweetheart, whose first wife died, and Philip is none too pleased about the situation. He's so upset by the upheaval that he's nasty to his new stepsister and everyone in his new home, though Lucy, his stepsister, is excited finally to have a sibling she can play with. But he's so mean that Lucy's aunt sweeps her off for a holiday, and of course Helen is off on her honeymoon, leaving Philip in a new place with no one but the servants, including Lucy's nurse, who is not at all nice. But things pick up when the nurse leaves and Philip has the run of the house (which is a very nice house). He amuses himself by building a fantastic city out of blocks and books and other household things: Nesbit describes the building process really pleasingly, in passages like this:

So the next day Philip went on with his building. He put everything you can think of into it: the dominoes and the domino box, bricks and books, cotton reels that he begged from Susan, and a collar box and some cake tins contributed by the cook. He made steps of the dominoes and a terrace of the domino box. He got bits of southernwood out of the garden and stuck them in cotton reels, which made beautiful pots, and they looked like bay trees in tubs. Brass finger bowls served for domes, and the lids of brass kettles and coffeepots from the oak dresser in the hall made minarets of dazzling splendor. (12)

And then, by magic, Philip finds himself inside the city he's made, which is peopled by the wooden figures and animals he's placed in it, plus other people and things that have come out of the books he's used. Lucy, newly home from her holiday, manages to tag along, and the two have adventures and become friends, while completing seven difficult tasks and thereby protecting the land-of-the-cities from a mysterious figure known as the Destroyer or the Pretenderette.. This isn't my favorite of Nesbit's books, but I did enjoy it, especially the passages about Philip and the cities and places he and Helen have built and imagined. I like Nesbit's reminders to her readers that girls are (or can be) just as clever and brave as boys, and while her other lessons (slothfulness is bad, greed is bad, producing nothing but money is bad, the eight-hour workday is good) are told a bit too didactically, there's still a lot to enjoy here. (less)

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Jun 23, 2008 Kressel Housman rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: kids, parents, fantasy lovers

Shelves: classics, fantasy, fiction, read-aloud-to-kids

E. Nesbit's work is about a hundred years old, which may make her a pioneer in the genre of children's fantasy. There's no doubt in my mind that she influenced JKR - this book even has a hippogriff! - and Edward Eager cites her often in his own books. In fact, his Knight's Castle is a variation on this very book.

Philip and Lucy are two kids who are brought together when his older sister and guardian marries her father. Lucy is open to friendship, but Philip is not. And when they find themselves...more

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Oct 06, 2012 Judith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-books, classics, five-stars

This is one of those great children's books, where magic and adventure play a great role. A child becoming a part of the things he has built, playing with his toys that have become big... whose dream has it not been that toys come to life. Look only at Toy Story or more recently Ted, both movies with this theme.
A great book, an though it is perhaps dated, I think it is still a very good read for children... I believe it will inspire them to begin building things with their lego again!

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Jul 26, 2012 Caleb rated it 4 of 5 stars

I randomly picked this one up at our local library for story time with my children. It's an old book so the chapters are longer than most modern works. There is some beautiful imagery in this story, and there were a few places that made me think of Narnia. I'm pretty sure Lewis would've read it. He seems to have read everything.

I'll probably read another of E. Nesbit's stories.

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Jul 27, 2012 Ellen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Delightful. I have a special place in my heart for E. Nesbit. This was a nostalgia read for me, and it certainly lived up to my expectations. I never bonded with "Five Children and It" but I loved everything else I read by Nesbit as a child. I'd never read this particular book before, but it has everything I remember loving about other Nesbit book: the realistically flawed yet likeable characters, the mix of fantasy and real-world settings, and especially the little asides from author to reader.

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Jan 13, 2010 Maureen E rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, fantasy, middle-grade-and-younger

An unexpectedly lovely book. I’m working through Nesbit because I have only read her major books–The Treasure Seekers, etc. This one is on the fantastical side, but very beautifully written. It’s very predictable, but I felt that it was both of its time and still relevant to a modern audience.

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Aug 30, 2009 AP rated it 2 of 5 stars

One of Nesbit's weaker novels. I consider the Railway Children to be her best written book, followed by the Treasure Seekers series (the Treasure Seekers, the Wouldbegoods, etc...), then the Psammead series (Five Children and It, the Phoenix and the Carpet, and the Amulet).

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Jul 31, 2009 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I would probably give this 3 !/2 stars that would probably have been 4 stars had I read it rather than listening (as much as I could) with the kids while I tried to get them to do their chores. The basic idea is that the toys and books are made into a little city and then the kids get pulled into the city and have a grand adventure...a fun story if you are looking for a book to recommend to children or to read aloud together!

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Feb 10, 2012 Pam Colker rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hannah, kids-9-12, read-aloud

I loved this book!!! I picked it up and almost didn't put it down until I went to bed but sadly I had to eat and do other things but I finished it in about 3 days!!!!Its a wonderful book I love it!!! ~ Hannah 2/10/12

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Feb 15, 2011 Robbin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle

A really fun children's book. Great to read since it's hard to find. There are some strange lines that appear out of place in the book, but for a free book it's worth a shot if you enjoy children's fantasy books.

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Dec 17, 2012 Kagama-the Literaturevixen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Read this when I was younger. An ok read but I always found the main characters to be miniature adults..a little too wellbehaved.But I guess its something to do with the era wich it was written.

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Mar 05, 2011 Ray rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very cute story with a lot of intriguing twists and turns. It's a bit dated in terms of language, but easy enough to figure out what they mean. I'm a bit disappointed that I never came across this in my childhood, I would have adored it then too! Great for all ages!

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Jan 05, 2009 Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens, fantasy, adventure, middle-grade

I don't really remember what it was about, except for that I read it in, like, first grade and loved it. And I love E. Nesbit, so I'm sure it was amazing.

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Mar 23, 2013 Avalon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-classics

I loved how Philip entered a city of blocks, was assigned seven deeds, completed them, and saved a girl named Lucy. This book had a lot of adventure.

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Sep 23, 2011 alibrivoxfan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was excellent. An enchanting story by an excellent reader. Ruth is one of Librivox's best - and its all available for free from archive dot com.

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Mar 28, 2012 Emily rated it 2 of 5 stars

Published in 1910, it established many ideas taken up again by later fantasies, like Tom's Midnight Garden and Knight's Castle.

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Dec 05, 2010 Frank rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is really a great book. And the relationship between the boy and stepsister is fun to watch grow.

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Apr 10, 2010 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

started this because bbsitter said main character reminded her of my son - i hope it was just that the kid liked to build creations

never finished it - i have too many other books to read and was just not that interested (there are very few books that i start and don't finish...)

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Jan 14, 2013 Lindy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love E. Nesbit. I have yet to be disappointed by one of her books.

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Jun 11, 2011 JB Peterson rated it 4 of 5 stars

A charming adventure for children of all ages.

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Jun 15, 2013 Janet rated it 4 of 5 stars

How did I miss E. Nesbit as a kid?

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Dec 22, 2012 Kim Stephan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Enchanting

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May 25, 2012 123456789 rated it 4 of 5 stars

this is an oldish book about a boy's adventure into a city and how he created it. this book was kind of hard to understand some of the refrences to other older things
but overall it was really good for the imagination

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Jul 11, 2011 Ange rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle

enjoyed it very much

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About E. Nesbit

Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a precursor to the modern Labour Par...more

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Books by E. Nesbit

Five Children and It (Five Children, #1)

The Phoenix and the Carpet (Five Children, #2)

The Enchanted Castle & Five Children and It

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