Name: Briar's Reviews's review of The Magician's Nephew (rpkg) (Narnia) by C. S. Lewis
Item: The Magician's Nephew (rpkg) (Narnia)
Rating: 2
Author: Briar's Reviews

C. S. Lewis

The Magician's Nephew (rpkg) (Narnia)

The Magician's Nephew

Zeke Taylor

Both the children were looking up into the Lion's face as he spoke these words. And all at once (they never knew exactly how it happened) the face seemed to be a sea of tossing gold in which they were floating, and such a sweetness and power rolled about them and over them and entered them that they felt they had never really been happy or wise or good, or even alive and awake, before. And the memory of that moment stayed with them always, so that as long as they both lived, if ever they were sad or afraid or angry, the thought of all that golden goodness, and the feeling that it was still there, quite close, just round some corner or just behind some door, would come back and make them sure, deep down inside, that all was well.

THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW

1950s takes on nuclear war and space travel just hit different 

Avarni B

It is not certain that some wicked one of your race will not find out a secret as evil as the Deplorable Word and use it to destroy all living things. And soon, very soon, before you are an old man and an old woman, great nations in your world will be ruled by tyrants who care no more for joy and justice and mercy than the Empress Jadis.

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger; Strike the bell and bide the danger, Or wonder, till it drives you mad, What would have followed if you had

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger; Strike the bell and bide the danger, Or wonder, till it drives you mad, What would have followed if you had.

When Digory and Polly try to return the wicked witch Jadis to her own world, the magic gets mixed up and they all land in Narnia where they witness Aslan blessing the animals with human speech.

Sophie Dowse 

Jeremy patrick

The magician's nephew

Briar's Reviews

The Magician's Nephew was an interesting read that didn't grab my attention well.

I wanted to read this book because I am really interested in older stories. The Chronicles of Narnia was introduced to me through the films and ever since I have been dying to pick up these books. So, I decided to start in "reading" order (at least, that's what my book said). This book is the prequel novel, but it barely grabbed my attention to pull me into the series.

I think this book would be an excellent read to anyone's child. Someone with a lot of imagination, who is also reading out loud, might be able to make this story sound far more intriguing than how it sounded in my head. If it weren't for the history behind this book, I probably would have put it down. The story is cool, and the writing style is obviously dated, but it just didn't grab me like I hoped it would.

The book seems to be more of a children's fiction novel - it's full of wickedly evil characters that don't have much personality (other than being evil), the main characters are young and pure of heart, and Aslan is just introduced and barely used in the story. 

There are obvious themes in the story - the daughter of Eve, the son of Adam - but I feel like it goes over the reader's heads (at least, it did for me the first time through). I would have rather read this as an English project with a teacher walking me through all the satirical aspects and amazing references that C.S. Lewis introduced into this story. 

Overall, this book is truly memorizing but I wasn't as impressed at it as I wanted.

Two out of five stars.

When Digory and Polly try to return the wicked witch Jadis to her own world, the magic gets mixed up and they all land in Narnia, where they witness Aslan blessing the animals with human speech. Reprint. 75,000 first printing.

The Magician's Nephew (adult)

Jonathan Tysick

As a kid this was always my least favourite of the Chronicles although after reading it now, I don't know why! Lewis packs this enjoyable children's story full of profound insight about human nature, the 20th century world and God. Excited for the others!

Gemma Gallart

Dos amigos, víctimas del poder de unos anillos mágicos, son arrojados a otro mundo en el que una malvada hechicera intenta convertirlos en sus esclavos. Pero entonces aparece Aslan y crea Narnia, un mundo poblado por seres mitológicos, animales parlantes y brujas malvadas. Las Crónicas de Narnia es un clásico de la literatura infantil.

El sobrino del mago

Geraldine Alatriste López

I can only Say that despite it being a book for Kids (cause thats how it felt to me) it was extremely entertaining, it started as a book i read to spend the day and now i can't wait to read the next book

Paul McCusker

I loved this book! I remember watching and loving the movies as a kid so I finally decided to read the books and I'm so glad I did it, such a fun, sweet and cozy read

its_book_cute

Wasn’t sure I would still like it, but it’s good enough to make me want to revisit the next in the series.

Magician's Nephew

Addie 🌻

Oh my I loved this!! Wished I read it sooner but better late than never.

Our hardcover and paperback digest editions of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA are now graced with new jacket and cover art by 2-time Caldecott medalist David Wiesner.

Shay

I tried. I really did. But this book series is clearly just not for me. 

People have been recommending this series to me for as long as I can remember and I get looks of shock and disbelief when I say I haven't read it. So I figured it was about time I sit down and give it a shot. 

And honestly I wasn't impressed. There were some funny moments throughout the book where I started to get interested, but by and large this was such a mediocre story, both in writing and the tale of creation itself. For a series lauded for it's mystery and magic I really expected something more than this. 

There were several times where the writing felt disjointed. We would get very descriptive paragraphs followed by stints where the author told you everything instead of showing. And that flopped back and forth several times. 

(view spoiler)[At the end of the book, when they're standing there and the sun is starting to come up over the horizon (the creation myth part of the book - aka how Narnia came to be) I really hoped that there'd be more mysticism and excitement to the whole thing. These people are watching a whole new world being created in front of their own eyes and there's almost a subtle nonchalance to their reaction. Nothing felt genuine or real coming from these characters, even from the perspective of an excited (or scared) kid. (hide spoiler)]

There was no real character development either. Polly and Digory felt very flat and boring. You could have replaced them with any other character and I probably wouldn't have noticed. 

There were elements to this book that were amazing, take the bar that was lodged into the ground sprouting into a lamp-post tree as an example, that's hilarious and original, but the execution just wasn't there for me. I think that feeling of magical wonder and awe wasn't established very well earlier in the book, so by the time we get to the end and all of these magical, wonderful things are happening I just felt a bit apathetic about it all.

I've read many children's classics and children's novels over the years and this is unfortunately one of my least favorite. I probably will not continue reading the series.

Taylor Nuzzolo

I loved the Christian and biblical parallels and I’m reading this chronologically. Since I’m reading it chronologically it was nice to see how narnia began since I’ve seen the lion the witch and the wardrobe movie before and read the book when I was younger before I knew it was a series. I’m going to read the rest of the series and I’m excited to read the rest!

Heather Smith

It is a children's book, and though I am not a child, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. It was nice to pick up a easy fun read and I really enjoyed the book and the characters!

Ana Paula

I've got only one thing to say:
Read this before you read the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe or if you've already seen the movie.

The information this unveils regarding that novel is enormous! Besides, it was really enjoyable; from a moral perspective, a religious (perhaps specifically catholicism though I'm not sure about that) perspective and casual reading one.

Nicole Sonja

This book is such a magical read. I've been reading it every year so far and it just gets better!

The Magicians Nephew

Alicia Hennah

Abbigail Wells

** spoiler alert **
           I think this book was better than the first one it was really interesting to see how this connected to the first one with the lamp post and how Diggory made the tree of life into a wardrobe and how that was the first wardrobe to narnia. It was also interesting to see the creation of narnia. Polly was really sweet too but I hated uncle andrews. Overall pretty good book.

It is an amazing story. I love how the language is a bit different compared to how most English speakers speak to today. Reading Old English is like looking at a beautiful painting, it’s a work of art. It also feels like you are dipping your hands into the past and grabbing a story from there. A book out of time. The story certainly stirs up my emotions and especially my hatred for the uncle and white witch. The descriptions of everything from the plants and mountains to the characters is brilliantly done. You can really imagine everything clearly but it’s not overly detailed so your imagination does have room to breathe.

Laura Cameron

Agustina 

Fue hermoso este libro. ESE FINAL Y COMO TE EXPLICA LO DEL ARMARIO, AAAH AME

Todd Luallen

C.S. Lewis has such a wonderful way with with words. His description of the creation of Narnia gave me goosebumps. I loved it.

Mary Horton

Happiness. :')

No words for this book because 1) it's too perfect for words and 2) my emotionally exhausted self can't handle writing a review right now.

All I have to say is that this book is pure happiness.

5 stars

Kay Jamieson

I just don't think I can get into this...I'm just not interested.

Rick Dobrowolski

It's been so much fun reading through this series again, this time out loud to my daughter. The Magician's Nephew is probably my second favorite book in the series, although I have yet to re-read The Last Battle, so the next review will tell that tale. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe stands alone as the best of this series with, in my humble opinion, no challengers.

We decided to read the Chronicles of Narnia series in publication order, so it was not until this book that my daughter heard Narnia's origin story. Seeing the delight on my daughter's face when she discovered how the land that she has fallen in love with came to be proved to me that reading in publication order was a good choice.

Ley Stanton

a trip down memory lane. you can tell this book was written after the second book in the series (chronologically) and it just makes the storytelling sort of odd. i also noticed the obvious religious allegories that i skimmed over when i was a kid. i feel like some of them actually took away from the story and were obviously there just for the sake of mirroring a biblical story. i surely hope i enjoy my re-read of the rest of this series far more than this one. first half of this book is 5/5 and the last half brings it waaaaaay down for me.

Ale ♡

4 stars.

I was on a reading slump and I said "why not?". So, here we are.

The Magician's Nephew is chronologically the first book in the entire series, so, I decided to read this one first.

This book was magical. You can actually feel the magic of the narration. C.S. Lewis knows how to tell a story without make you feel like you're getting bored.

It's the beginning of Narnia itself. We meet Digory and Polly, the uncle Andrew, Jadis and a lot of characters, including the first King and Queen of Narnia. Here we have the story of the lamppost and the wardrobe and idk, dude, I feel like a little girl again and I wanna finish the series.

Anna Berg

«What in the name of Aslan, are these?»???? Morsom god bok, les den☀️☀️☀️

Mia Kern

"Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters." p. 126 

Upon this reread as an adult, this book certainly proves why  The Chronicles of Narnia  have become classics. C. S. Lewis is a fascinating author. Rather than just employing typical third-person narration, this narrator really had their own presence. Take for example the way the narrator says at the end "and that adventure was, in a way, connected with the others I have just been telling you." p. 201. This all worked to feel like a story being told by a grandparent at bedtime, which made the magical story all the more charming.

Stephanie Joseph

I have to admit I’ve only watched the movies and not read the books 🙈😅 

I’m grateful for the #narniareadalong on Litsy because if it wasn’t for those lovely people I would never have picked up this series. Having watched the adaptations first, I was hoping the book to be far more amazing. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy reading this one as much. The book was a bit repetitive. I’m still holding out hope for the following books, however, as the movies were just wonderful. Oh to be back in Narnia again! 🥰

Rating: 3.5/5

Jeremy patrick &
The Magician's Nephew (rpkg) (Narnia) by C. S. Lewis

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The Magician's Nephew (rpkg) (Narnia) by C. S. Lewis