167 pages
English language
Published Oct. 1, 1969 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
The Magician's Nephew is a fantasy children's novel by C. S. Lewis, published in 1955 by The Bodley Head. It is the sixth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). In recent editions, which sequence the books according to Narnia history, it is volume one of the series. Like the others, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes whose work has been retained in many later editions. The Bodley Head was a new publisher for The Chronicles, a change from Geoffrey Bles who had published the previous five novels.The Magician's Nephew is a prequel to the series. The middle third of the novel features the creation of the Narnia world by Aslan the lion, centred on a section of a lamp-post brought by accidental observers from London in 1900. The visitors then participate in the beginning of Narnia history, 1000 years before The Lion, the Witch and the …
The Magician's Nephew is a fantasy children's novel by C. S. Lewis, published in 1955 by The Bodley Head. It is the sixth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). In recent editions, which sequence the books according to Narnia history, it is volume one of the series. Like the others, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes whose work has been retained in many later editions. The Bodley Head was a new publisher for The Chronicles, a change from Geoffrey Bles who had published the previous five novels.The Magician's Nephew is a prequel to the series. The middle third of the novel features the creation of the Narnia world by Aslan the lion, centred on a section of a lamp-post brought by accidental observers from London in 1900. The visitors then participate in the beginning of Narnia history, 1000 years before The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (which inaugurated the series in 1950). The frame story, set in England, features two children ensnared in experimental travel via "the wood between the worlds". Thus, the novel shows Narnia and our middle-aged world to be only two of many in a multiverse, which changes as some worlds begin and others end. It also explains the origin of foreign elements in Narnia, not only the lamp-post but also the White Witch and a human king and queen. Lewis began The Magician's Nephew soon after completing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, spurred by a friend's question about the lamp-post in the middle of nowhere, but he needed more than five years to complete it. The story includes several autobiographical elements and explores a number of themes with general moral and Christian implications, including atonement, original sin, temptation and the order of nature.
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.
