Mass Market Paperback, 221 pages
English language
Published May 14, 2005 by HarperCollins.
The secret passage to the house next door leads to a fascinating adventure
NARNIA...where the woods are thick and cold, where Talking Beasts are called to life...a new world where the adventure begins.
Digory and Polly meet and become friends one cold, wet summer in London. Their lives burst into adventure when Digory's Uncle Andrew, who thinks he is a magician, sends them hurtling to...somewhere else. They find their way to Narnia, newborn from the Lion's song, and encounter the evil sorceress Jadis before they finally return home.
I think that this is a really fun read. It's amazing to see the origins of a world we all know and love!
I know others might disagree, but I always found this to be a fine entry point to the series. I can see the draw of reading it at the end as a prequel, but seeing Narnia being born as the first book to the series lends the whole of the Chronicles a gravitas and history that it would never have had otherwise. It makes the series feel like a cohesive narrative of beginning, middle, and end, and I don't think of it as much as an afterthought as most do.
The characters here are memorable, though maybe not as memorable as the Pevensie children or Eustace Scrubb. Digory and Polly seem to be much younger than the other children who go to Narnia (except maybe Lucy). And though some points seem slightly meandering, the end of Charn and the escape of the White Witch, and the beginning of the world …
I know others might disagree, but I always found this to be a fine entry point to the series. I can see the draw of reading it at the end as a prequel, but seeing Narnia being born as the first book to the series lends the whole of the Chronicles a gravitas and history that it would never have had otherwise. It makes the series feel like a cohesive narrative of beginning, middle, and end, and I don't think of it as much as an afterthought as most do.
The characters here are memorable, though maybe not as memorable as the Pevensie children or Eustace Scrubb. Digory and Polly seem to be much younger than the other children who go to Narnia (except maybe Lucy). And though some points seem slightly meandering, the end of Charn and the escape of the White Witch, and the beginning of the world that contains Narnia is brilliant and thrilling to read.
An excellent part of my favorite fantasy series.
