The Magician's Nephew (The Chronicles of Narnia #1) by C.S. Lewis
In this unforgettable story, British schoolchildren Polly and Digory inadvertently tumble into the Wood Between the Worlds, where they meet the evil Queen Jadis and, ultimately, the great, mysterious King Aslan. We witness the birth of Narnia and discover the legendary source of all the adventures that are to follow in the seven books that comprise the series.
Read chronologically, this is the first book in The Chronicle of Narnia series, telling the origin story of the creation of Narnia.
This was a great start to The Chronicles of Narnia series. I really enjoyed reading it! I had a hand injury when I started doing this buddy read, and was in a bit of a time crunch to complete it - so I actually read the print version and listened to the audiobook version in order to finish it on time. And I would recommend either version of this book.This is written for young readers. I know you're wondering, "How do you love it so much when you're not a young reader?" First of all, don't be rude. Secondly, I really enjoyed the writing style! I was nervous that the old english would overtake me, but because it was written for kids it was a lot less intimidating!This book features great quotes, amazing life lessons and a lot of Christian allegories throughout.My favorite part about it, was probably all of the snide references about people who think they're better than everyone else.Shout out to Polly (why isn't that name more popular by the way? What a cute name!) and to Aslan. They were my favorite characters in the book!The last big pro of the story for me was the final chapter. It was a great wrap up for the story- almost more epilogue-ish. And I love a good epilogue!Now, I know I mentioned this is a kids book, but I also feel the need to mention that the queen was SCARY. Lewis did a great job with her, I had no compassion for her whatsoever because - wowzah- that woman was out of control. This isn't in the pro or con column for the book- but I wanted to mention that if you're thinking about reading this book to your kids.
Diggory was so completely annoying in this story. He is one of our main characters and oh boy, I found him so frustrating. The uncle in the story was also way too much for me, but it made you really dislike him and he wasn't supposed to be likable so that's not necessarily a bad thing.There are a lot of statements about women being lesser than men throughout this book. Insults to girls overall. Now, this book was dedicated to a girl, and I feel that Lewis overall does have the girls stand above the boys as far as plot goes. So if you're studying the book, you would probably notice that and let it go. However, since this is a book for children, I'm not sure if they would easily separate the girl insults from the overall character arch.
Do: go on a walk in the countryside.Listen: Zero by Hans ZimmerDrink: tea. (this is an English book, afterall)