Magician's Nephew, The - C.S.Lewis

‘THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW’ is the first book in the series of 7 books that together form ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ by C. S. Lewis. He was friend of J R R Tolkien and they used to spend hours together in their club ‘inklings’ discussing the ideas of their stories. That very well explains the common thread that exists between the 2 of Greatest Magic cum Adventure cum Fantasy books of all times : ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’.

‘THE LOIN, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE’’ was written first and its huge success inspired C. S. LEWIS to continue the story in 5 further books and one he wrote as a prequel to ‘THE LOIN, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE’’l. This prequel was ‘THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW’ in which C. S. LEWIS has provided the start to everything that a reader finds in the later books. In ‘THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW’, reader is taken to the times when Narnia was formed from Nothingness, its inception point; the history of Witch and how she arrives in Narnia; where from the Wardrobe came and how it became the passage between our worlds and that of Narnia in later books.

IN ‘THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW’ we have Digory and Polly travelling to different worlds with the help of Magic Rings created by Digory’s Magician Uncle, Uncle Andrew. Its by a trick of profound meanness with the help of which Uncle Andrew sends them to other worlds just to test the working of the Magic Rings, as he himself doesn’t have the courage to do so. In their trip, Digory and Polly find themselves in a strange but mystifying place, called Woods, full of small ponds, each one of which is a passage to different worlds. First pond that they try, leads them into Charn, a world at the verge of its end, full of darkness and Fear. Its from this world that awake the Witch from her sleep and bring her into our world.

Digory and Polly soon comprehend the intention of the Witch, which is to conquer and rule our world. So, to get rid of her they travel back to Woods and this time, the World  they enter, turns out to be NARNIA: forming in front of their eyes from nothingness. As the Loin, Aslan’s song roars and everything take shape in front of their very eyes: plants , animals, mountains, rivers … but the worrying thing is Witch has her eyes on this world from the moment she sees it.

Will they, Digory and Polly, be able to get rid of the Witch in Narnia? This time around they have also brought with them Uncle Andrew; a Cab Driver and his horse, Strawberry. What role are they going to play in the adventure and the new world of Narnia? Also, the Loin, Aslan, charges Digory of bringing Evil into Narnia, in the form of Witch, on the very day of its inception. To compensate for which, he is given a task by Aslan that could keep the Witch at Bay, atleast for some time. Will Digory succeeds in finishing the task and correct his mistake? What role each of these characters play in later books and how wardrobe comes into picture. Read ‘THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW’ to know and enjoy it all.

‘THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW’ is joyful journey and could be enjoyed equally by children and adults. Language is very simple and straight forward and flow is uni-directional. One gets the feeling of comfort with the pace from very first page without any hiccups to get cozy with the narrative. I didn’t lost the interest at any stage of its reading and its really a great experience when you start imagining it all, all along, and not just read it. Picturisation of Narnia in the movies certainly helps one in imagining it all.

Chapters covering the formation of Narnia, Digory and Polly journey to mountains to bring the Apple, Digory and Polly’s adventure in Charn, Short stint of Witch on Earth, forms some real interesting read.

Other than watching the 3 movies based on 3 books of this series I had no experience of Narnia before reading this book and its always good to start the journey from the beginning and that’s what ‘THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW’ provides an interesting start to a long but adventurous journey into the world of Narnia. Are you joining in?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PYAR HUMIEN PHIR MILAAEGA.......

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''Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters.''

Name of Book:The Magician's Nephew (part 1, The Chronicles of Narnia)

Name of Author:C.S.Lewis

Category:Fantasy

Although, I really liked C.S.Lewis' Narnia books, the first and the last parts were my least favourite. This one is a bit too childish for my liking. To put things more clearly, I had heard someone describe C.S.Lewis' style as JRR Tolkien trying to write like Enid Blyton. This book, The Magician's Nephew is the other way round - Enid Blyton trying to write like Tolkien, a major mistake. I'm sure many people after having read this book would have steered clear of Narnia. And I don't blame them. I, too, would have, if I haven't bought the entire collection together. I was lucky. The rest of the books (excluding the last part) are 10 times better than this one. Lewis had written the second part (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) before The Magician's Nephew (TMN) and I wish he had maintained that form into this book too. But while the other books focus on the adventures taking place inside Narnia, this one has a major portion outside it. But I guess that's understandable since Narnia had not been created then.

Hold on... Maybe I'm moving too fast. I guess most of you readers would be thinking - what exactly is Narnia? That's a simple question which has a very complicated answer. Narnia is a magical land outside earth. According to Lewis, there are many worlds which exist together and are linked with magic. Narnia was created by Aslan (The Great Lion) who breathed life into trees and animals. The land is inhabited by talking animals, dwarves, humans, dryads, hamadryads, giants, hags etc... Narnia follows a different timezone than ours. A person might leave our world and enter Narnia and spend 20 years there but return back here within the same hour. Complicated, isn't it? Don't worry, just don't look for minute details while reading these books. Just enjoy it as a child would.

TMN introduces us to Narnia. Digory and Polly, who lived in London, somehow stumble into Digory's uncle's private rooms. Uncle Andrew was a magician who tricks them into putting on magic rings that would teleport them out of our world. Digory and Polly then enter a dying world where they save the Queen, who was really an evil witch and they return to our world, where the Queen starts creating many disturbances. Digory and Polly somehow manage to go back to the Woods which link different worlds and they enter another world which was yet to be created. They witnes its creation by Aslan, the Lion. They watch as Aslan breathes life into animals and gives them the ability to talk and walk on two legs. But the Witch plans to make Narnia her own and so Aslan gives Digory, who brought the witch to Narnia to bring a magic healing Apple which would protect Narnia. The book then follows the conflicting thought in Digory's head - Should he do what the Lion asked him to or should he take it to his mother who was mortally sick? I guess I should also mention that the book also has a flying horse, a cab driver who becomes king a jackdaw who made ''the first joke''.

I wouldn't recommend you to read this book first, though it is the first part. It would be better if you read the second part first. That way you would already be enjoying Narnia by the time you begin this book. If you didn't like the second book, I'm sure you wont like this one. So trust me in this. But considering the fact that I read this book before the rest, and still liked The Chronicles of Narnia, I guess you all might like it too. The book as such is very nice. It is only on comparison with the other parts that I rate it low. As it was written after 5 other books, I would guess that the main purpose of writing this book was only to clear up a few details and it does do that. So, I guess it succeeds in its aim.

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