Book #21 of 2021:
The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #1)
I always think that I like this prequel more than I actually do, because in my memory, only the strong parts stand out. The devious uncle, the rings that take you to the Wood Between the Worlds from which you can travel on to anywhere, the dead realm of Charn, the waking of Queen Jadis and her escape to our plane — these are all deeply cool elements that are strikingly distinctive even by the loose standards of this series. Unfortunately, however, they represent the first half of the novel alone.
Once the child protagonists arrive in Narnia proper, the action slows down into a generic fetch quest and a tiresome Genesis allegory. Author C. S. Lewis is too focused on explaining minutiae like the lamppost that really need no justification at all, and his efforts at setting up the later volumes are curiously full of contradictions and details that just spark further questions which will never be answered. It’s supremely unsatisfying, and a particular letdown after that terrific beginning establishing and exploring the wider multiverse of the setting.
Fans continue to debate what order to best read these books; on my current approach, I’ve opted to go by original publication date rather than internal chronology. That has the benefit of reaching this title and picking up its references to the wardrobe and Archenland and so on immediately, but it also tends to highlight the weakness of the inconsistencies. I’m not sure there’s an ideal solution here.
★★★☆☆
–Subscribe at https://patreon.com/lesserjoke to support these reviews and weigh in on what I read next!–
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 