The Magician's Nephew

"Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed."



I just finished The Magician's Nephew. I listened to the entire book on book on tape, which was an interesting experience for me, because I generally tend to zone out when listening for extended periods of time, especially if I'm not taking notes. I liked the story, although it was a little tedious at times. I'm not sure how reading the entire series is going to work out, although I'm anticipating it being easier than Lord of the Rings.

I am familiar with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, but I did not know The Magician's Nephew. I have a feeling it was read to me in fourth grade, but I can't remember if it was this book or Castle in the Attic (or maybe both). It was interesting at the end to find out how this book ties in with that one, which is the next in the series. Additionally, I had never thought of the beginning of Narnia, or knew that there were other worlds besides that one. And having just found out that this book was not the first written in the series, I enjoyed how C. S. Lewis worked with his previous innovation to make the prequel make sense.

One thing I did not enjoy were the Biblical references. I'm sure I did not get them ALL because I am not well versed in Bible stories. However, this means that if I could pick them out, they must have been pretty obvious. The part with Digory picking the apple in the garden and the witch trying to tempt him to take it for himself...DUH! How much more blatant could you possibly be? There were also references to Noah's Ark as well as Aslan as God creating Narnia, etc. There were probably a lot of others that I missed, but many well known ones made it in. I'm wondering if this will continue throughout the series. I have heard about the Aslan as Jesus in the second book, but throughout the other 5 I wonder if it will be the same level of allusions.

I'll end with another quote I enjoyed.

"When things go wrong, you'll find they usually go on getting worse for some time, but when things once start going right, they often go on getting better and better."