Reviews

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

fawnarose's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

‘The Magician’s Nephew’ is an adorable little read, which acts as an introduction to Narnia and how Narnia came to be. With witty humour and interesting dialogue, this small book makes for a brief overview of how Narnia grew into the world we know from other books in this series. I enjoyed learning about the beginning of this world, and am excited to return to the nostalgic series very soon.

oeystein's review against another edition

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5.0

Narnia-bøkene er nokon av dei bøkene som gjorde størst inntrykk på meg i barndommen. Eg oppdaga denne boka igjen som 13-åring, men hadde då allereie lese ho ved minst to forskjellige høve tidlegare i barndommen. Dette er "den som ikkje vart filma av BBC" og skil seg ein del frå dei andre bøkene - tidlegare i historien i vår verd og skapingsberetninga for Narnia. Ei fantastisk bok.

zoeythekat's review against another edition

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5.0

This book is poignant and beautifully written. It lays great foundation for the rest of the series.

mattdavenport's review against another edition

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4.0

A refreshingly brilliant installation in a series that has overall been kind of disappointing. None of the blatant racism/sexism problems found in some other books are found here, and the smaller issues I've had of distractingly off-track dialogues and pointless plot points are lessened dramatically. Instead, we meet two kids who's interactions and motivations are actually interesting, and we get an amazing allegory for the Creation story, the temptation/detriment of sin, and God's grace all in Lewis's creation story for Narnia. Along with this, we get some incredible tie-ins to questions about the series I hadn't even thought of much (such as how the Witch came to Narnia, how other humans are in Narnia, and how the Professor knew about Narnia).

Overall, this is as good of a children's fairy tale as you can write, and it was a great addition to the series. I don't think I'll ever read the entire series to my hopeful-kids someday as I had planned, but "The Magician's Nephew" joins Books 1-3 as stories I will want to make sure they know.

jitter's review against another edition

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5.0

I just finished re-reading this with my 5 year old son. He absolutely loved it and I think he's the best critic about this. We had three chapters left and he kept dozing off and waking up and asking me to "please finish it tonight!". I think I'm raising a new bookworm <3
People sometimes claim The Chronicles of Narnia are a Christianity allegory and try to force religion on people and I see where they might base this but for me, it's a great magical story that can make children how to act and to think to be better people. The values that are hidden between the lines in this book are wonderful and it's all disguised in a fairytale!

littlemei7's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Simple read. Parts of it were a little humorous or interesting but overall it was a light read. Very easy to get through and provided a good foundation for the following books.

whimsytay's review against another edition

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4.0

This uncle is the worst.

Fun adventure with the kids, though a little slow at some parts in the story. I enjoyed the children’s relationship well enough. The book served as a nice prequel to the Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. It takes the unexplained like the random lamppost and explains it. My favorite scenes were with the White Witch/Queen and her unruly behavior. It could be quite comical. lol I would have loved for a book that followed her as the main character. The way she's written in this one is very amusing.

I give it 3.5 stars.

lgv97's review against another edition

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3.0

Oh, the nostalgia! I am excited to rediscover this series as an adult! The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was my favorite book as a kid! As an adult it is interesting being able to pick up more of the biblical parallels, symbolism, and metaphors and I’m looking forward to the rest of the books!

The Magician’s Nephew, being the first book in the series, is definitely meant for world building and setting the scene for future books so while it was a lot of fun to read it wasn’t as exciting as I anticipated!

reading_dancer2024's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sahcloudy's review against another edition

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5.0

I have read and re-read this book continuously since the day I was gifted it.
It isn't the highest grade of fantasy, the writing is informal and simple. My addition is littered with pretty pictures depicting whichever scene is relevant at the time. But still this book always makes me feel young.
It has that vibe to it, that makes you feel like a little kid just starting to learn about magic and fantasy all over again.
Despite obviously being written for a fairly younger audience I still enjoy this book as much as I did in my first read.
I should definitely read the others.