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A review by biscuitcrux
The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
2.0
I loved the Narnia books when I was a child because the whole Christian allegory thing went right over my head. I liked the adventure, the fantasy, the talking animals, the magical worlds. It bummed me out as an adult to discover that the books had been Christian fables of sorts.
My parents got me the whole series, minus this book, so I had always been curious about it. I swiped it from the English bookshelf at my school in South Korea and read it.
The first part of the book reminded me of everything I loved about the Narnia books as a kid. Polly and Digory crawling around in the attic of their apartment row, Uncle Andrew tricking them with the rings, that magical sleepy in-between world with the pool/portals. It was wonderfully written. The entrance of the evil witch Jadis was also exciting. But I can pinpoint where the book started to suck: page 116, with the entrance of Aslan.
Aslan, the magical singing lion who breathes life into an empty world and bashes you in the face with heavy-handed Christian symbolism. I don't think that even little-girl me would have been entertained by the second half of the book. It was just boring and pointless. The last five pages, when they finally leave Narnia, it got good again.
No wonder C.S. Lewis took so long to write this book. It was a turd of an idea. It makes me want to revisit my two favorite Narnia books, [b:The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe|100915|The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #2)|C.S. Lewis|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1308957077s/100915.jpg|4790821] and [b:The Horse and His Boy|84119|The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia, #3)|C.S. Lewis|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1209165084s/84119.jpg|3294501], to see if they have been visited by the suck fairy.
C.S. Lewis is a great storyteller. It's too bad he let his love for Jesus get in the way of writing an AMAZING story.
My parents got me the whole series, minus this book, so I had always been curious about it. I swiped it from the English bookshelf at my school in South Korea and read it.
The first part of the book reminded me of everything I loved about the Narnia books as a kid. Polly and Digory crawling around in the attic of their apartment row, Uncle Andrew tricking them with the rings, that magical sleepy in-between world with the pool/portals. It was wonderfully written. The entrance of the evil witch Jadis was also exciting. But I can pinpoint where the book started to suck: page 116, with the entrance of Aslan.
Aslan, the magical singing lion who breathes life into an empty world and bashes you in the face with heavy-handed Christian symbolism. I don't think that even little-girl me would have been entertained by the second half of the book. It was just boring and pointless. The last five pages, when they finally leave Narnia, it got good again.
No wonder C.S. Lewis took so long to write this book. It was a turd of an idea. It makes me want to revisit my two favorite Narnia books, [b:The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe|100915|The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #2)|C.S. Lewis|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1308957077s/100915.jpg|4790821] and [b:The Horse and His Boy|84119|The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia, #3)|C.S. Lewis|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1209165084s/84119.jpg|3294501], to see if they have been visited by the suck fairy.
C.S. Lewis is a great storyteller. It's too bad he let his love for Jesus get in the way of writing an AMAZING story.