The Magician’s Nephew – C.S. Lewis
*Warning – may contain spoilers*
Author: C.S. Lewis
Publisher: Lions
First published: 1955
Edition: Paperback
as part of a box set
Pages: 171
Blurb: The whole adventure begins when Digory
and Polly find themselves in eccentric Uncle Andrew’s secret study. But when
Uncle Andrew tricks Polly into touching the magic ring, she vanishes into the
Other World. Digory is aghast, and determines immediately to go in search of
her. Not only does he find Polly but together they listen to Aslan’s song as he
creates the enchanted world of Narnia, full of sun, trees, flowers, grass and
animals.
History of my copy: The Chronicles of
Narnia has been one of those series that I have always wanted to read for a
very long time, but I just never got around to picking them up. At a car boot
sale, a man was selling nearly his entire book collection as he was moving to
Canada and didn’t want the cost of transporting them all. I ended up getting
the 1990 box set for £2.50.
Plot: I will admit that I was initially
thrown by this book. When I started the Chronicles of Narnia, I expected the
story I was familiar with (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe), but obviously
this book chronicles the beginning and creation of Narnia by Aslan, which took
me a little while to realise. So, this book follows Digory and Polly as they
are tricked into the Woods Between Worlds by Digory’s Uncle. Ending up in
another world, Charn, they accidently awaken the evil Jadis. She flees, later
becoming the White Witch, and Digory ends up helping Aslan, and subsequently
creates a wardrobe out of magical wood…
Setting: One thing that Lewis does
particularly well, and I feel like he is renowned for, is his scene setting.
The imagery in this book, and I imagine in the rest of the series, is very
vivid and it feels as if you are truly there.
Characters: One criticism I do have with
this book is that none of the characters were particularly interesting. I didn’t
feel attached, or even any dislike, to any of the characters and now, a little
while after reading the book, I can’t even remember anything remarkable about
any of them.
To read or not to
read: Don’t read. Unless you are
a huge Narnia fan, I don’t really recommend it. This book did nothing for me,
apart from perhaps giving a little insight into the creation of Narnia.
I will admit that I wasn't too keen on the book choice. I'm not a DC fan, but I will give the book a go.
This tea, quite simply, ruined my life. It got me into loose-leaf tea which has cost me a bomb, but I love it. This tea was delicious!
I'm not someone who annotates books as I read them, but I'm sure I'll put these cute sticky notes to use when doing university work!
