The Magician's Nephew in The Dusty Bookshelf

Dec 13, 2010 Jamie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, books-i-own

I originally read this many years ago as a child.

This is one of my favorites in the entire series. It is the creation and beginning of Narnia. It ties so much of the story together and really lets you know who and what the queen is. And just how powerful Aslan is.

Meet Diggory and Polly as the journey to other worlds. The forest of pools is amazing and I wish we got to see some of the other worlds!I love these two characters. From their attic explorations, to naive child-like mistakes. And the u ...more

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Jul 07, 2013 Kristina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, fiction, fantasy

I have a special place in my heart for The Chronicles of Narnia, and especially for the first book in the series, The Magician's Nephew. When I was in elementary school, my parents bought me the boxed set of Narnia books. It was one of the newer publications, so the books were arranged chronologically. This made The Magician's Nephew first instead of sixth in the series. Even though I now know that this book was meant to come towards the end of the seven book set and be a prequel, I still consid I have a special place in my heart for The Chronicles of Narnia, and especially for the first book in the series, The Magician's Nephew. When I was in elementary school, my parents bought me the boxed set of Narnia books. It was one of the newer publications, so the books were arranged chronologically. This made The Magician's Nephew first instead of sixth in the series. Even though I now know that this book was meant to come towards the end of the seven book set and be a prequel, I still consider it to be the first since that's now I originally read it.

My mother and I first read The Magician's Nephew together, and I remember the experience as one of the best things we ever did. This was the first high fantasy novel that I really got into, and it changed the books I chose to read from that point on. Going back to read it again as an adult was interesting. It brought back a lot of memories and allowed me to see some aspects of it that I was too young to appreciate the first time around.

For a slim little novel, the plot of The Magician's Nephew is complex. It tells the story of Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, two young friends living in London in the year 1900. When Digory's Uncle Andrew, who thinks he is a magician, decides to experiment with his magic on them, Digory and Polly are thrust into a grand adventure that spans multiple worlds. One of the places they encounter is Narnia, a newly born country sprung into being from the song of a lion named Aslan. They also meet with great evil in the form of the sorceress Jadis, who will stop at nothing to control any world she happens to find herself in. Digory and Polly must work together to protect Narnia from Jadis and finally return home.

One of the aspects of this book that I really appreciate is the simple language. C.S. Lewis tells the story in third person, and the narrator speaks as if he is telling an old fairy tale. Every sentence is charming and practical, even when describing the most whimsical phenomenon. This technique seems to lend an air of credibility to the work. Even though fantastic events are happening, you feel that they make sense given the way they are explained. Of course there are magical rings that can whisk you away to other worlds. Naturally a gigantic lion can awaken an empty world with a song. Obviously there is a witch bent upon power and destruction through the use of magic. It all possible in Narnia.

The focus of The Magician's Nephew is more on plot than on character growth. I can't say that any of the characters in the story are very complex. They act as we expect them to, and I found that to be immensely satisfying within the context of the adventure. Jadis the witch is my favorite character out of the bunch. She's brassy, bold, beautiful and indescribably evil in that grand old fairy tale way. I enjoyed reading about her because she was so very powerful. Of course, she was wicked as can be too, but that only added to the fun of her character in my view. She is the woman who will become the White Witch in the next book, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, where she becomes even cooler (literally and figuratively).

Much has been said about the amount of Christian imagery in the Narnia series. When I first read this book I was eight, which was a little too young to be picking up on concepts like Biblical allusion. Reading it again has shown me how very obvious these references to the Bible are. Humans are known as "sons of Adam" or "daughters of Eve." There is an apple enclosed in a beautiful garden, which Jadis tries to tempt Digory to eat. Aslan creates the land of Narnia in a way quite reminiscent of the creation story in Genesis. There are more allusions peppered throughout the text as well, making this quite possibly the most religious book I have ever read. Interestingly however, Lewis doesn't limit his allusions to Christianity. Mixed in with the religious references are witches, nymphs, talking animals, fauns, satyrs, river gods, dryads and even sentient trees. All of these elements exist side by side, creating a beautiful tapestry of myth, nature, fairy tale and religion. I kind of love that, even though I am not a religious person myself.

The Magician's Nephew was one of the books that changed me as a reader. It imbued me with a deep love of fantasy that continues to this day. While most people would say that The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is their favorite of the Narnia series, my favorite is this one. It's a simple tale of a fantastic adventure. I am biased by nostalgia, but I love this novel. ...more

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