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Micheline's Reviews > The Magician's Nephew
The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)
by C.S. Lewis, Pauline Baynes
by C.S. Lewis, Pauline Baynes
Micheline's review
bookshelves: classics, creature-characters, magic-witches-wizards, fantasy, high-fantasy, parallel-worlds
Jan 10, 2012
bookshelves: classics, creature-characters, magic-witches-wizards, fantasy, high-fantasy, parallel-worlds
Read from January 10 to 12, 2012
Well isn't this a pleasant surprise! I should explain:I have been struggling for quite awhile with this series. Having not gone to an English speaking school, I never read The Chronicles of Narnia growing up. I have to admit I discovered the film versions first. Then,I attempted to read it right after 'The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe' came out, but at that time, I had a hard time with C.S.Lewis' style. He tends to constantly insert the author’s voice, and I found it broke the fantasy bubble for me and kept taking me out of the story. This time around, I begun with 'The Magician's Nephew', reading the story chronologically instead of by order of release. Maybe it's because I don't have the film version to taint my opinion, but I very much enjoyed this book.
The Magician's Nephew is the tale of how Narnia came into being. It takes place many hundreds of years before the events of 'The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe'. I found it really fascinating, since one of the main characters is the old Professor who takes in the Pevensie children in TLTW&TW (the one who owns the infamous wardrobe). You get to see the creation of Narnia, meet Aslan, and see how the evil White Witch came to Narnia. The idea of witnessing a world just beginning.... hardly any people, few animals... seeing places with no names; all of this was really fascinating to me.
The magic aspect of Narnia; it's a different kind of magic then I'm accustomed to, and I'm not sure how to explain it...kind of like it's the world itself that is magic; the magic exists in the very nature of Naria: in it's water, in it's trees, in it's animals. So it's fun to read about magic in different form than I'm accustomed to. All things considered, I really enjoyed this story. I've read up on The Chronicles of Narnia quite a bit, and I was looking out for the hints of sexism and christian subtext, and while both were there; maybe they weren't at their worst in this particular book...or maybe because I was ready for them it didn't bother me as much...we'll see how the next books hold up :)
The Magician's Nephew is the tale of how Narnia came into being. It takes place many hundreds of years before the events of 'The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe'. I found it really fascinating, since one of the main characters is the old Professor who takes in the Pevensie children in TLTW&TW (the one who owns the infamous wardrobe). You get to see the creation of Narnia, meet Aslan, and see how the evil White Witch came to Narnia. The idea of witnessing a world just beginning.... hardly any people, few animals... seeing places with no names; all of this was really fascinating to me.
The magic aspect of Narnia; it's a different kind of magic then I'm accustomed to, and I'm not sure how to explain it...kind of like it's the world itself that is magic; the magic exists in the very nature of Naria: in it's water, in it's trees, in it's animals. So it's fun to read about magic in different form than I'm accustomed to. All things considered, I really enjoyed this story. I've read up on The Chronicles of Narnia quite a bit, and I was looking out for the hints of sexism and christian subtext, and while both were there; maybe they weren't at their worst in this particular book...or maybe because I was ready for them it didn't bother me as much...we'll see how the next books hold up :)
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Aoife
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rated it 5 stars
Jan 12, 2012 10:00AM
awesome! is this your first time reading the narnia books?
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I'm embarrassed to admit it, but it actually is!
Well I hope you enjoy them :)
Thanks Aoife,I hope I will too, I'm really liking this one so far, it's fun to see how Narnia was born!
I have to tell you, the movies don't do the story any justice. I, too, haven't studied at an English school growing up (I'm from Romania), but - by mere chance - I did discover these books as a kid, back when I was 7 or 8. And I found them delightful. And now, rereading them, I still enjoy them a lot. Even though I find it confusing to see the books numbered based on date of release instead of chronological order here on Goodreads. I really don't think that's a good idea.
I completely agree Criss, both about the movies not doing the books justice AND that I'd rather the books were numbered chronologically here on Goodreads!
I thought the movies were good. I had read the three books they were based on as a kid and liked them. I then read silver Chair and last battle and wasnt that impressed, but this book I like! It seems written differently , more like the fantasy novels I read now.
