Let's delve into the world of Narnia at long last. Spoilers ahead.
A boy named Digory and his best friend Polly are forced by Digory's creepy magician uncle to try out some magical rings, which end up transporting them to different worlds. Here, they face the creepy witch Jadis, but also meet the lion Aslan, who in turn creates a new realm: Narnia.
Okay so, fun fact, around 2019 or so I actually already read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with the intention of it being the start of my Narnia book series reviews. But then I felt so disappointed and didn't connect at all with the book that I never ended up reviewing it. Now, a few years later, I feel ready to give the literary world of Narnia another chance. As some of you probably know, I love the first two Narnia movies by Disney, so obviously I do have some hopes for the books going in.
Also, regarding the order of which I'm reading and reviewing these: I've decided to go chronologically in order of the series rather than in order of the books being published. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is technically the first published book, but with this being chronologically the first in the Narnia omnibus I am borrowing from the library, I decided to go with The Magician's Nephew and work my way further into the series from there.
Now, as for this actual book: I liked it. Way more than I liked The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I read it in 2019. I don't know why; maybe I just wasn't in the right headspace for Narnia at that point in time, but I felt way more of a connection to the book and the characters here.
The plot and world is inventive: with Digory and Polly discovering various worlds and doing both rights and wrongs. They do awake Jadis, the evil witch queen, but at the same time they also do good things for Aslan once the lion comes into play and creates Narnia.
The creation of Narnia in and of itself was of course also great to see. I'm already familiar with the world because of reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and of course watching the movie adaptations, but it was really fun to see things come to life here. Now that I also do know of Aslan basically being the Jesus of Narnia, the parallels between the two also become a lot more obvious especially in the text (the movies were a tiny bit more subtle about it). But I still think this was a great and inventive way to show how both Narnia but also the evil that is Jadis came to be. The way the magic rings worked was also unique and fun.
I also quite liked the characters, with Digory and Polly being great protagonist. Not flawless, but by all accounts really fun to follow and I love how they play off of one another. Jadis and Aslan also both commend fear and respect, though one is definitely evil and one is definitely good.
Honestly the only aspect of the book I didn't really vibe with is uncle Andrew, he was just kind of a creep (even towards underage Polly) and just rubbed me the wrong way. Obviously he's an antagonist, but still. I also found him too much of a coward to be anything of a really effective antagonist. Sure he's kind of threatening in the beginning when he sends Polly and Digory quite forcefully on their way to the different worlds, but after that he was just kind of a wimp who constantly got bossed around by Jadis and later the talking beasts.
I guess that if you're not super into christian allegory or whatnot maybe this book isn't for you, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying it. Lewis' Narnia works (at least from what I've read and heard) definitely have a lot of christian themes, allegories and elements, but even with me being agnostic that doesn't stop me from enjoying them. Maybe it's not for everyone, but I don't mind.
Overall this was a good prequel to the other Narnia books! It sets up the world and even gives us a few extra trivia (e.g. just how does a lamppost end up in a fantastical magical fantasy world?) and shows us the origins of both Jadis and Aslan. The final revelation that Digory is actually the professor from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the wardrobe actually being made out of the wood of the tree he planted was just sweet. I didn't know this going into the book, so that was a neat reveal for me. This isn't one of my favorite fantasies I've read, but I definitely consider it good and had a good time reading it.
Rating: 3.5/5
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