I will warn you all now that I have been tasked read all of The Chronicle of Narnia series before mid-November. Get ready for a lot of thoughts on this awesome series.
I am embarrassed to say that I have never read a book from The Chronicle of Narnia. Growing up, my dad had all of them in one book and it was always on my list to read but I never read them and part of it might have been because I did not like the 2005 film version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I am easily frightened and many of the scenes gave me nightmares which turned me away from the whole series.
Now being in a class that is focused on only the writing of C.S Lewis, I finally am getting the opportunity to read his books. As well as reading them, I get insight from my professor who is very knowledgable on the life and works of C.S Lewis.
Now I will move onto the review. I really enjoyed this book! Many people I have spoken to has said that The Magician’s Nephew is the slowest of the all the Narnia books because it is basically just setting up the rest of the stories. I disagree with this because I was thoroughly entertained for the whole story. I specifically liked the character of Digory because he was quirky and very self conscious about every decision he was making and often over thought those decisions. I can totally relate to that.
Everyone always talks about the correlation between The Chronicle of Narnia and The Bible. Now I understood how Aslan is a representation of Jesus and helps explain that time in history. What I didn’t realize is how vivid that picture is in the The Magician’s Nephew. Essentially this is the creation story. As Aslan speaks Narnia into existence, he creates the animals, the seas and the mountains.
C.S Lewis wasn’t always a Christian. My professor explained how he was a Christian until his mother passed away then he could be categorized as an idealist and then a deist but it took many years for him to come back to Christianity. Though many people do believe that it is just a coincidence, the voracity of his christianity is complimented in The Chronicle of Narnia.
There wasn’t a ton that I really disliked about the book. I would say that the character of Uncle Andrew bothered me but for a different reason than what would be expected. Most people don’t like him because he deceives Digory and Polly. I feel incredibly bad for Uncle Andrew because he knows he is tricking them but he thinks he is doing the right thing. If he was younger then you know that he would he would be traveling himself but he can’t. And when he is so mistreated by the animals in Narnia, it just doesn’t seem right and I actually felt really bad for him.
I would give 8/10 for enjoyability.
7/10 would recommend it to others only if they intend the ready the whole series.
“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -C.S Lewis The Magician’s Nephew