The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis

Book Synopsis:

The secret passage to the house next door leads to a fascinating adventure.

Narnia... a land where the woods are thick and cold, where Talking Beasts come to life—an entirely new world where adventure begins.

One cold, wet summer in London, Digory and Polly meet and become fast friends. Their lives take a sudden turn when Digory’s Uncle Andrew, who fancies himself a magician, sends them hurtling to... somewhere else. They arrive in Narnia, just as it is born from the song of the great Lion, Aslan. Along the way, they encounter the evil sorceress Jadis, whose dark magic threatens everything. After a whirlwind adventure, they finally find their way back home.

My Review:

4.75/5 stars. I'll never rate a Narnia book 5 stars, just because of the nature of them being kids' books, and the general issues with writing style and pacing, but out of all of them, The Magician's Nephew is now my favorite. The allegory was beautiful, and I loved Digory. I also don't think it would be as good of an experience if you started with this book. You can't appreciate where everything came from as much unless you've seen it all first.

At first, I didn't think I would like this one as much. It wasn't as well-written and was even more old-fashioned than the others. That style was mostly prominent in the first couple of chapters, though, and then I forgot about it as the story went on.

This book had a mixed bag of great characters, both amazing and horrible. Digory was a great protagonist. He was so loyal, he owned up to his sins, and he didn't succumb to Jadis' temptation. Speaking of Jadis, she was a very menacing villain. She actually had the power to cause destruction, and the way she twisted the truth to tempt Digory is such a good representation of how Satan works. It was interesting to see the origins of the White Witch.

Another horrible (in a well-written way) character was Uncle Andrew. I didn't like him from the start, and at first I was worried he was going to be portrayed as "quirky anti-hero" instead of just awful person. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it) he was clearly meant to be a bad guy. But he was bad in a different way than Jadis. His was a selfishness yet incompetence. He was kind of pathetic.

As I already mentioned, the order I read the series in is the better one. It was so cool seeing all the connections. There were so many details, like the lamppost by the wardrobe and Digory being the professor. Reading most of the series first and seeing Narnia in action also made the creation of it even better.

That leads into my final point. I loved all the allegorical parts of this story. The scene of Aslan creating Narnia really evoked the awe of creation and the Creator Himself. I already mentioned Jadis representing Satan, but Uncle Andrew also was an example of a skeptic with a hardened heart. And there were other obvious parallels, like the tree and the temptation surrounding it.

Content:

Language: a**, d*mn but spelled differently as if spoken with an accent

Sexual Content: none

Violence/Gore: some mild violence

Drugs/Alcohol: characters drink alcohol