Demiana's Book Review on "The Magician's Nephew"

The magician’s Nephew

By C.S Lewis

First published by The Bodley Head in 1955

First published in Fontana Lions in 1980

Published by William Collins Sons & Co Ltd

Published in 14 St. James’s Place, London SWI

171 pages

Found in Christian Heritage School Library

Story Review:

             If myths of far away enchanted worlds are difficult for you to imagine, then your eyes need to open now! In England, in the late 1800's, lived two neighbors, Polly and Digory. Polly lived with her parents, while Digory lived with his aunt, his very ill mother, and his strange-mannered Uncle Andrew. It all began with Uncle Andrew or as he was called the “magician”, hence the title, “The Magician’s Nephew”. The famous author, C.S. Lewis, wrote an epic series of “The Chronicles of Narnia” starting with this brilliant fantasy! He wrote in a theme of mystery - of everything they were about to discover. Another was a theme of urgency - to escape from the White Witch. Last but not least was the theme of amazement - at the creation of a new world. This was all about to be part of the two neighbors’ lives!

              Polly and Digory were one day exploring in a secret tunnel they found in the attic. They were mainly focused on finding an abandoned, supposedly haunted, house. They thought they were at the right place until the door slammed open and they found something better than the haunted house, Uncle Andrew’s study room. They thought it would be a good chance to explore and see what Andrew spent most of his time on and paid the most attention to, until they were locked in! Andrew locked them in to trick them in taking part of an experiment he was doing. He told Polly that she could have one of the yellow rings he made and she did. However, he wasn’t offering, but he was sending her off to her possible doom, she vanished! Of course, Digory fell into the trap of having to go after her and he did. They ended up finding themselves in a very quiet, beautiful, and enchanted forest. It was so peaceful and dreamy that they almost were going to forget who they were forever! They named it “The Wood between the Worlds” because there were so many different pools that they discovered they could jump into to get to different “worlds”! Of course, they marked the pool they got out of to know which one is for “their world”. They head off jumping into another one to discover a different, perhaps dangerous place!

            That world was so dull and dark, with a red sun that looked like it was older than ours and was barely shining in a black sky, which was very mysterious! The place was full of ancient ruins and basically no life. Polly and Digory became more carious about this place, though Polly was a little reluctant to keep going. They explored further and further inside and came to a stop. They finally found something worth looking at, a room full of hundreds and hundreds of majestic, glorious, and powerful looking people. At least that’s what they thought at first, but then they discovered these were incredible waxwork figures or statues! The statues looked glorious and magnificent, but as they went further inside the statues became duller. Suddenly, they came across one that was confusing them. Her statue looked beautiful but her skin was so white and she looked vicious, brutal, and proud! Then, they found a square pillar inside the room with a golden arch, a bell, and a hammer on top of it. Through these things, they made the biggest mistake of their lives, they stroke the bell! At first, it gave a sweet sounding note, a steady note. It started getting louder and louder. It eventually became so loud beyond imagination, to the point that stones couldn’t stand it and a quarter of the roof fell! That statue that took their breath way became alive! She was Jadis, the Queen of Charn, the place they were in. She told them her story from beginning to end, but didn’t tell them she was up to get their world and she almost did!

                  In their world, she created such chaos and everyone was so terrified because they’ve never seen anything like what she did! On a hansom’s roof standing – not sitting - and holding a whip was Jadis the Queen of Queens and Terror of Charn! Without taking the chance of letting anyone get hurt, Polly and Digory rushed to get her out and bring her to “The Woods between The Worlds”. When they got there, they quickly jumped into another pool, trying to escape, but just as they reached the new world they discovered that they had company! The Queen was there, along with a Cabby, Uncle Andrew, and a horse! They were all standing beside Polly and Digory when they vanished from their world to the “Wood between the Worlds” therefore they vanished with them! Regardless, this world was different, it was dark and dull with absolutely nothing in it!

            They stood there, blind, and not knowing whether they’re dead or alive! Finally, in the midst of the darkness and silence, they heard a voice singing! It was the most beautiful sounding, magnificent, indescribable voice they’ve ever heard! However, what they saw next was incredibly the most glorious! They heard a harmony of voices singing and thousands of thousands of stars appeared. It was almost as if those stars were singing! They were much brighter than our stars. Then, the true light started appearing! It was a newborn sun rising from the East and after it, there was a fresh breeze spreading over the beautiful landscape! Trees and new grass filled the new earth. It was breathtaking and made it unbelievable for them to think they’re still alive! BUT … the most fascinating, unimaginable, glorious view of them all was who was behind all this, who was going to assign them the most difficult tasks, and make them nobles, the Creator of this Narnia, Aslan!

Christian perspective:

    

             Of course, this book was not written from a Christian perspective. It involved magic, many mythical “worlds”, and an evil witch, these are all unrealistic things! However, C.S Lewis was a Christian who clearly brought Genesis 1 into his fantasy. The “New World” in the beginning was dark and dull. Genesis 1:2 says, “² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep”. Aslan, “representing” God in the book, created the light of the stars and the sun. Genesis 1:3 says, “³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light”. Even in fantasy, existence without a creator wouldn’t make sense! No voices can be heard by chance and no trees can come up on their own! One thing I love about this book is the fact that it shows that just as music needs a musician and voices need singers – ex. the stars in the new world – a huge and extraordinary world definitely needs an unlimited and all-knowing creator. Another thing is that during the creation of the New World, thousands of stars were singing. This represents in our real world how all creation glorifies the name of God!

My Thoughts:

             I chose this book, because it was the first in the series of “The Chronicles of Narnia” and I’ve read the second book before it. I wanted to see how the series began and how Narnia came to be! I also wanted to do a book review on a fantasy book which I haven’t done before. I was fascinated by this book and how the author brings the story to life. I loved it! There were a few drawings here and there to help the reader picture what is happening – it certainly helped me. One of my favorite parts in the book was the creation of Narnia, because of the way C.S Lewis described it. I could almost hear Aslan’s song and see the stars, along with the newborn sun! C.S Lewis used excellent vocabulary and left the reader hanging every chapter. I recommend this book to those who have creative imagination, because that will allow them to hear, see, or even smell everything in the book. This will make it even more interesting than it is. I recommend it to people who have read other parts of the series or even those who have only heard about it, because this is the explanation of the first discoveries of Magic in the series. It will allow you to better understand the rest of the series. Enjoy reading!