The Magician's Nephew

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This is the first book (chronologically, though the sixth to be written) in The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis.

I had read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the kids over Christmas and they enjoyed (despite my finding some annoyances with it).

I wasn't sure if I wanted to read more from the series, but not finding any good books to read, I decided to gamble and borrow The Magician's Nephew from the library.

It is a much better book than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. A lot more happens in it and the kids enjoyed it more. Tania even remarked that this book was more interesting because there was more stuff happening.

Even I enjoyed it. The story of the creation of Narnia wonderfully parallels the Genesis account of Creation, but in a manner that is novel and fresh; there was clearly a lot of thought given to it. While Aslan's sacrifice in the second book paralleled Christ's crucifixion (with Edmund standing in for fallen humanity), it was not as satisfying - although, after reading this book, it makes more sense since it occurs in a better framed context.

Image nabbed from here

Comments

KayMac said…
C.S. Lewis...one of my fav authors. Altho I do prefer some of his other works better...The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, Surprised by Joy to name a few. My daughter has read and reread these books. I think she concurs w/ you.
March 15, 2007 3:25 PM
Richard said…
I know that many like him, but I was not impressed by him (at least not until this book). I will probably pick up the third book in the series and see how that goes.

Funny thing is that I am not really partial to "popular" authors. I never finished reading the Lord of the Rings because I just couldn't plow through the first book. I am not a fan of Asimov sci-fi (though, I like his science texts). I like Poe and Verne, but not Kipling or H.G. Wells.
March 15, 2007 6:28 PM
KayMac said…
Try the Great Divorce. Lewis' writings for adults is quite a bit different than the Chronicles of Narnia.

My girl loves all things Poe, including his poetry.
March 16, 2007 3:03 PM
Mother of Invention said…
I really liked The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and was always fascinated by the religious allegory. I haven't read this one but I think I'd like it too. I'm interested to see how they present the biblical parallels.

Your daughter is a critical thinker/reader/listener already! That sounds good to the teacher in me!
March 16, 2007 3:20 PM
Anonymous said…
Hi Richard,
yes, coincidently, Ros read this book recently too and she said it was much more interesting than the other series.
my regards to you & family.
March 17, 2007 12:41 AM
Richard said…
kaymac: I have sampled a number of his writings, but they were not what I was looking for. Unfortunately, one size does not fit all :(

MOI: I think this one was much better. Tania is very smart and capable of complex arguments (if only she would do so in school as well - she is terribly shy).

inner grace: nice to see you again. What happened to your blog? It is now a redirect to some sort of marketing web page?
March 19, 2007 7:58 AM
Anonymous said…
I closed my blog, hasn't have time to post my rants. I think someone got hold of my blog-name immediately after i close. Will still randomly visit your site, cos i still enjoyed reading your posts.
b.rgds
March 21, 2007 7:50 AM
Richard said…
innergrace: I noticed that someone else took over your blog name. This seems to happen quite frequently. I might switch to disallowing anonymous comments, so you may need to get a an account if you want to comment. Thanks for continuing to drop by (even if only quietly).
March 22, 2007 9:07 AM
tin-tin said…
hmmm... a new read. i'll look for it :)
March 23, 2007 4:46 AM
Richard said…
tin-tin: yeah, it is not too bad of a read.
March 23, 2007 10:30 AM
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