I really liked how C. S. Lewis imagined how those things that he earlier introduced in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe came into existence: the kingdom of Narnia, the professor, the witch, the wardrobe and the lamp-post. Wiki says that Lewis wrote this right after publishing that first book (in order of publication) but it took him 6 years to finish it. That's probably the reason why this became Book 6 (again in order of publication).

I am glad that I've read this as my third book and not the first. It gave me the chance to imagine and admire the efforts Lewis carefully put in coming up with a prequel to sufficiently explain to the readers who liked The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on how things came into being. I mean Book 1 must have been a great success and I would imagine the pressure from his fans who clamor for answers to their questions like what kind of world is Narnia? how come there is that wardrobe inside Professor Kirke's England house that is the gateway to Narnia? who is Professor Kirke? who is that evil witch? what is the significance of the lamp-post? among all the other questions. Reading the books in chronological order would have taken away the suspense of already knowing how those things came into existence in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The book's allusions to the Book of Genesis are subtle yet endearing in my opinion. Wiki says that Lewis did not intend to put parallelisms between his Narnia series and the Holy Bible. These just came out subconsciously. However, I think this Christian ingredients to the series nicely sets this apart from his friend J. R. R. Tolkien's LOTR since some of the elements in their stories could easily invite comparisons from their readers. Examples of this is the use of the rings to transport their characters to another world and Lewis' Wood Between Two Wolds is distinctly similar to Tolkien's Middle Earth.

After The Horse and His Boy got 2 stars from me, I thought it would be hard for me to finish the series. Now, this The Magician's Nephew has just given me enough interest to read Prince Caspian. Some of my friends say that it is the best book in the series because it has more action, i.e., fight scenes.