Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17935 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In The Magician's Nephew, the first of the seven Chronicles of Narnia, nothing is quite as it seems. Digory and Polly find themselves magically transported to a Wood between the Worlds, where several small ponds act as gateways to different worlds. They discover the dead world of Charn and together with Aslan the lion the pair fight against the evil Queen Jadis, restoring the land to its natural state and triumphing over the darkness that reigned before their arrival.

Rich in imagery and emotion, The Magician's Nephew has been relished by hoards of young readers since it was first published in the 1950s. This impressive new edition, published in celebration of the centenary of CS Lewis and featuring delicately crafted, hand-coloured, original illustrations by Pauline Baynes, will capture the hearts of a whole new generation, working its magic on young minds as they wallow in the sheer joy of the Chronicles of Narnia. --Susan Harrison

Synopsis
The Narnia Chronicles, first published in 1950, remain some of the most enduringly popular ever published. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, has been translated into 29 languages! The illustrations in this book have been coloured by the original artist, Pauline Baynes. Now published with the original cover, as designed by Pauline Baynes. Polly's hand went out to touch one of the rings. Immediately, without a flash or a noise, she vanished. When horrible Uncle Andrew starts experimenting with magic, Digory and Polly find themselves in another world, and at the beginning of an incredible adventure, as the doorway to the magical land of Narnia opens...This is the first adventure in the exciting Chronicles of Narnia.

Customer Reviews

The best book in the series
I first read all the Chronical's of Narnia when I was twenty five, so a little later in life than most people. While I though most of them were fantastic I have to say that none of them touched this book in my opinion. I know that he never wrote this book first but as he intended it to be the first one in the series I read it before the rest and I kept thinking one of the books after it will stand up along side it but sadly none of them were as good. I absolutely loved this book and I'd recommend it to anyone.

The Origins of Narnia
As most people already know, though the Magician's Nephew may be the first book of the Narnia series when the stories are placed in chronological order, it was actually one of the last to be written. I believe this is of key importance when analysing the story for I feel that the focus of the novel is less to do with the plot but more of a way for C.S. Lewis to finally explain exactly how Narnia, the lampost, the wardrobe, and all the other significant aspects of the previous Narnia books came into existence - it's a revelation of Narnia's orgins, the answers to everybody's questions.

I remember that as a child I had always disliked the storyline of the Magician's Nephew, and though I am now 18 and it has been many years since I orginally read the series, I am still not the biggest fan of this introduction to Narnia. The tale follows Polly and Diggory, who, whilst exploring, come across Diggory's Uncle's attic, where Uncle Andrew tricks the children into touching some magic rings which transports them into an adventure the likes of which they would never have imagined. In Charn (one of the worlds the children wonder into) Diggory unknowingly frees an evil witch, and ultimatley introduces this evil to Narnia on the day of its creation. The highlight of this novel is of course the creation of Narnia, which is explained in vivid detail, an event which the children are of course witnesses to.

There are countless references to christianity throughout the creation of Narnia, some of them subtle, many of them crudely obvious, and although I am not a follower of chritsianity or religious in any way I still enjoyed the story for what it is and am rather surprised that these similarities have often irked other readers. As far as I can see however, if these refernces made Lewis happy, and if certain readers appreciate them then I can quite happily ignore them and take the story purely for what it is and not have to analayse the text more than requires.
One issue I had however with the novel was the style of writing, there is no doubt that Lewis is a skilled writer and he has an uncanny ability to present even quite complex sentences in the simplest way where there is no doubt of it's meaning. He can maintain the readers interest with every line, but the simplicity of the language did the story no favours in my opinion, and though I appreciate that the book is one primarily aimed at children, I found the story often too simple and childish, something which I felt had adverse effects on the story's credibility (which, in a fantasy novel, is a key thing to maintain). Infact, at times, certain converstaion felt awkward enough they seemed to have been forced, though this was more often that not when the animals were speaking for the first time, so Lewis has done very well to have managed to pull it off as well as he has.

All this said, I still believe the pros of this novel far outweigh the cons. I don't believe this is the best Narnia novel, but it is the start, and provides a fulfilling, satisfactory history and explanantion for the fans who ever did wonder at the origins of Narnia. A definate for the fans. For the newbies however, perhaps start with a different book and return to this one later on.

A classic of the twentieth century, recommended for adults and children alike
There's a new Narnia film coming out soon, and seeing the ads on the sides of buses reminded me that I'd meant to re-read the series, because of all the fuss about it being supposedly christian propaganda dressed up as childrens' entertainment. This is the first (chronologically speaking) book in the series, and is apparently the one that Lewis wanted people to read first. I didn't spot any glaring propaganda. Sure, there's a creation myth, but christians hardly have a monopoly on that. Indeed, they stole theirs, so if Aslan's creation of Narnia counts as christian propaganda, then the bible must be babylonian propaganda. Anyway, the book itself is a very short, quick read. Recommended for children, and for adults who remember reading it when they were smaller. If the rest of the series is of the same quality (and my memory from umpty years ago is that it is) then Narnia is one of the classics of childrens' literature that everyone should own, and put it on their shelves next to Winnie The Pooh. You do own Winnie The Pooh, right?