Tales of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew; the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; the Horse and His Boy by Robin Lawrie

Tales of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew; the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; the Horse and His Boy Reviews

• 
  Shaun Lake

  I decide to re read the Narnia series after coming across a beautiful boxed set of all seven novels. Mainly this was out of nostalgia, as these were some of my favourites when I was young, and I was interested to see how they held up as adults. I found them all to be written very clearly with provocative descriptive prose, and narrative that often draws the reader immediately into the story.
  
  "The Magician's Nephew" is more clearly a children's tail than any of the other stories. In terms of construction is it relatively formulaic compared to the other novels, beginning with the children discovering strange rings which transport them to Narnia in its period of creation.
  
  This is where the book differs from the others in the sequence. We get to see Narnia created from almost nothing, the birth or "arrival" of the godly Aslan, and the seeds of "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" in particular. The Christian metaphors are laid on a little thickly here, but a child wouldn't notice them, nor would the allusions to Christ or Adam and Eve spoil their enjoyment. As an adult I found the story very readable.
• 
  Michael Sorbello

  The Prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. i was surprised to find that I enjoyed this little prequel story a bit more than the most famous novel in the series.
  
  Two children, Diggory Kirke and Polly Plummer cross paths one fateful summer evening and quickly become friends. They retreat to the attic of Diggory's eccentric Uncle Andrew the (magician's)? house where they're whisked away to a magical land after being tricked into touching some strange rings that Andrew keeps in his secret study. Led astray into a mysterious land by Diggory's crazed uncle, the two children get wrapped up in a conflict against an evil sorceress named Jadis that follows them back to their own world and threatens the denizens of all the worlds linked together by invisible magic forces.
  
  The story is a fun and simple adventure story about two kids saving the world from a sorceress and creating a paradise with the help of goofy adult companions and magical creatures from other worlds. This has more of a whimsical and upbeat feel to it than Lion and the Wardrobe in my opinion. It gave me the same type of warm feeling as stuff like Alice in Wonderland, Kiki's Delivery Service and the early Harry Potter books.
  
  A lot of the dialogue and jokes were actually very funny, especially the commentary from the adult characters remarking on all the whacky stuff that's happening around them every second. These little tidbits are what makes this one of the better Narnia books.
• 
  Ky

  I borrowed this book from my school library in elementary school but never finished it. I remember the day I read the back of the book and was so intrigued by the synopsis. As I got through the first two chapters it was like I was back in elementary and no time had past. His words had stuff with me all this time that I felt like I had just read it recently.
  
  I enjoyed the chaos that developed as the story went on. I found myself thinking how is this the prequel for the Chronicles of Narnia. But as the story wrapped up it was a beautiful unveiling of their deep connection. It put a wide smile on my face when bits and pieces of Narnia came into this story.
  
  I recommend to read this book before The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It sets up the world of Narnia in such an important way and I was glad I was able to get some information about Narnia’s history before I started to read the next book.
• 
  Zani Yu

  A very magical and special story to read at first. The story has a lot of depth and it has a use of very power full language.
  
  I love all the animals inside the book and it is a very good story. Whilst reading the story I lost track of time and it is very easy to transmit yourself inside the story. The first time I read this book it looked boring because it was like any other story but that changed when I kept reading and it felt like a charm.
  
  Overall I love this book, I soaked it up in every way possible.
• 
  layla

  awful. hated it. dont read it. worst book ever. waste of time.
• 
  MDCA

  Just a great story. Read it with 5 and 8 year old nephew and niece and they mostly enjoyed it. It was for bed time and they tend to sleep well.
• 
  Melissa Hamm

  Narina is one of my favorite/comfort series. I didn't know this was a thing until I accidentally found it at the library.
  The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and I love seeing another unquie interpretation of what Narina & those who live it would look like.
• 
  Rachael

  Next to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, this is my favorite in the Chronicles of Narnia.
• 
  Jenny

  thanks to claire for encouraging me to start reading this collection. her copies are old-school and have awesome pictures : )
  Images that will stay with me.
• 
  Lillian

  Graphic novel/comic book retelling of the Magician's Nephew by Robin Lawrie. My 9yo sister loves this.
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  Anastasia

  Loved it-ready to dive into the magical world of Narnia!
• 
  Danae

  *I actually read the regular Magician's Nephew, but GoodReads'll take it off another year's list if i put it on this one.*
• 
  AmyBob Stevens

  Meh, it's no Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe, but it'll only take you an hour or two and it tells how Narnia began, and why the Professor is so cool.
• 
  Seth Faye

  How can I read this book? Is this book's just a cover or what?