I recently rewatched the three Narnia movies, and had the desire to re-read this book. This is my favorite book of the entire Narnia series. It gets a bit muddy because this is technically, chronologically the first book, but it was published way after some of the others.
This book explains how the “Queen” of Narnia came to be in Narnia. This book is awesome.
Polly and Diggory, two human children, borrow Diggory’s uncle’s magic ring which allows them to jump through portals into other worlds. I, as someone who greatly desired to jump into different worlds, found this idea to be fascinating.
“As he rose to his feet he noticed that he was neither dripping nor panting for breath as anyone would expect after being under water. His clothes were perfectly dry. He was standing by the edge of a small pool—not more than ten feet from side to side in a wood. The trees grew close together and were so leafy that he could get no glimpse of the sky. All the light was green light that came through the leaves: but there must have been a very strong sun overhead, for this green daylight was bright and warm. It was the quietest wood you could possibly imagine. There were no birds, no insects, no animals, and no wind. You could almost feel the trees growing. The pool he had just got out of was not the only pool. There were dozens of others—a pool every few yards as far as his eyes could reach. You could almost feel the trees drinking the water up with their roots. This wood was very much alive.”
The scene where Diggory and Polly come to the world Jadis is from, where they feel the creepy atmosphere, the red light, the crumbling walls of the building, and all the beautiful, frozen people inside, is one that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The scene is so well written. I was going to pull out a quote, but the whole thing is good. It was impossible to choose.
The prose, as usual, is young, readable, but enjoyable. Lewis has a way of writing that can capture the attention of all age groups, and that is quite a feat.
The Magician’s Nephew is amazing, and deserves 5 stars.
The red world is so creepy! When I read the Narnia books (I still haven't read 6 or 7 >>), I started with this one. I didn't read it until I was in college (I actually bought the box set while I was in VA for the Shakespeare trip), but I knew that this one was written last, but first in chronological order. Having not read any of the others (I didn't even watch the movies!), I really didn't know what to expect. And then that creepy place! Argh! ><
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