TITLE: The Magician’s Nephew
AUTHOR: C. S. Lewis
SERIES? Book 1/7 “The Chronicles of Narnia”
GENRE/ AGE RANGE: Fantasy, Middle-Grade
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Illness
PUBLICATION DATE: May 2nd, 1955
Okay, so full disclaimer, I would just like to say that I know next to nothing about Narnia except for James McAvoy is in it and there’s a wardrobe and the wardrobe only turned up in the story in the last page so I feel slightly lied to, to be honest. So, reading this I really had no expectations and was just reading to enjoy a children’s story with some portal fantasy elements.
I don’t have too many thoughts on this instalment in the series but I wanted to talk about it anyway, so bare for me for a minute. I went into this with literally no idea about Narnia or the characters but I was a little surprised at first at this being a prequel. I shouldn’t have been, I should’ve done at least the bare minimum amount of research and found out that the main group pf characters don’t arrive until the next book and that this is just an explanation/origin story of how the wardrobe came to be.
I’ll be honest, the high-key Christianity ties were pretty obvious like I quickly got the vibe that the lion is God etc etc. but apart from that this was actually pretty interesting, enough that I immediately read book 2 after finishing this.
I actually think I might continue the series later in the year or when I next feel the need to read really short books. This didn’t dissuade me from wanting to read the other books and I think this was a good length. I think if it had been much longer I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much. And I hope the other books continue on the same size trend. I really like the idea of just being able to read these books over a day or two and then being able to move on. This is probably why they make such popular movies.
All in all, I will definitely continue this series and I really enjoyed how short it is and the bbc audiobook because it was a full cast and made the experience so much better! I have never been interested in Narnia before but now I kind of want to go and watch the movies because I’ve heard the first two are pretty good!
HAVE YOU READ THE NARNIA SERIES?
WHICH ORDER DID YOU READ THE BOOKS IN?
lot
allonsythornraxx 
I really adore The Magician’s Nephew, I feel like it’s one of the most underrated haha! I’m glad that you enjoyed💜
LikeLiked by 1 person
I never hear anyone talk about it so I didn’t know what to expect, but I enjoyed it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was OBSESSED with this series as a kid, but I have to admit that I thought the books were…better when I was younger. I still do like Narnia and see a lot to admire in the books, but they have not entirely lived up to my memory of them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think because I’m going in with literally no ideas about this world I’m more likely to enjoy it. But, yeah I agree, I think I would have enjoyed it more as a child!
LikeLike
I haven’t read this series in SO LONG I’m still waiting to find my copy (I have all of them in one book- also I have the AUDIO DRAMAS SOMEWHERE) I think silver chair was my favourite- I’m gonna have to see if it still is (also I subconsciously named one of my book characters after Caspian aka one of my childhood fave characters xD)
LikeLiked by 1 person
You should definitely re-read them! I’d be interested to hear your thoughts since you’ve already read the books!
Haha, I’ve heard of Caspian! He’s in book 4???
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah! Also the dawn treader and he’s mentioned in the silver chair!
LikeLike
I find a lot of the Narnia books are hit and miss. I loved The Magician’s Nephew and of course The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, but the rest … not so much.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think I’ll find that too when I move on with the series! I’ve enjoyed the first 2 so far, but there are 7 books? So, no doubt there will be some that I don’t love!
Have you read the whole series?
LikeLike