Rating: 
Summary: How Narnia Became
Review: In this, C.S. Lewis's 6th Narnia book, he comes full circle to explain the origin of the land called Narnia, and how it came to be that the wicked witch of the first book (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) had Narnia under her icy spell. Again with a whole new cast of characters, Lewis takes us along the adventures of two young children from London, who go through a remarkable series of journies into other worlds. Once again there are Christian themes underlying the story. The young boy Digory is faced with numerous choices between good and evil, his Uncle Andrew and the Queen Jadis both speak of being above the law (which Digory quickly realizes is false), and Aslan is the creator of life in Narnia. Digory's moral dilemmas are akin to the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where God had created a perfect world (like Aslan with Narnia). And we also today delude ourselves into thinking we might be above the law (or certain laws don't apply to us), as did Uncle Andrew or the Queen Jadis, but in the end we find that there are consequences for our actions. Thanks to God, He sent Jesus Christ to suffer those consequences, and that those who believe will have eternal life with Him. Digory felt a similar burden of consequences when he realized in the book that he had brought evil into a new and perfect world. Yet Aslan forgave as Christ forgave, and in the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (chronologically after the Magician's Nephew), Aslan becomes the sacrifice for wrongdoing as Christ was for us. The storytelling in this book is wonderful, and Lewis imagines fantastic and improbable stories that are full of real truths in allegorical form. It's also a great story about two children being swept out of there dreary lives into a great series of adventures in and out of this world.
Rating: 
Summary: Not one of C.S. Lewis's Best Works
Review: Even though C.S. Lewis has written numerous fantastic novels for all ages, the one titled "The Magicians Nephew" was not his best. He included great description, which helped the reader to create a clear, detailed picture of the scene that was trying to be described. However, C.S. Lewis made the story drag on and on so that it seemed to take forever to get a picture full of description of what he was trying to say. I also do not think that this book had the best plot. I would recommend "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," C.S. Lewis's most famous and best (in my opinion) books written, for children, teenagers, and adults to read. This is because it is not only a Newberry Award winning book, but includes phenominal descriptive phrases and easy vocabulary for people of all ages to understand. He also makes this book seem like you are one of the characters actually in the land of Narnia, interacting with all of the other characters.
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Summary: The Beginning of a Journey
Review: "In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction it was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought that it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard." ~C.S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew When Digory Kirk comes to stay with his elderly aunt and uncle in London, he is prepared for what he expects to be the worst time of his life. With his father in India, his mother on the brink of death, and no one to turn to for comfort, Digory feels like he has no hope for a better life. Then one day, he meets his next-door neighbor, Polly Plummer, who turns out to be a sweet girl with a mind for imaginary adventures. Little did either child know that what would start out as an imaginary expedition, would end up being the greatest adventure of their lives.
Although not written first, The Magician's Nephew is the beginning of a series of seven books that tells the tale of children from our world who travel to another one and there learn about what it means to believe in those things which seem impossible. This particular book is about the creation of Narnia and how on the day it was born man brought evil into it. C.S. Lewis, a devout Christian, wove many of his Christian beliefs into the story. Written for the entertainment of children, these books are simple to read but full of many great things to think about in concordance with our own lives. Begin The Chronicles of Narnia with The Magician's Nephew so that you can see how and why Narnia was created in the first place.
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Summary: Noel's The Magician's Nephew Review
Review: This was a very interesting book. It had a lot of action in it and there were several good parts. I recommend this book to people who are just beginning to read the set because then after this you can read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. When you start the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, you'll find out what made the wardrobe magic and who the professor was because you already read The Magician's Nephew and that tells you. C.S. Lewis has a magic in himself for writing these marvelous books!
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Summary: A Whole New world
Review: A Review by Crystal
Two little people meet eachother for the first time in their whole lifes, in the beginning of this story. They become the best of friends because they live right near eachother.they spend the whole summer hanging out and exploring. They start their little exploring too much to the point where it gets them into deep trouble. They get tricked into being sent into another world. They go through many problems they have to take on thierselves to solve. This book hits just about the same thing. It seems lilke it is trying to be a cliffhanger but the author tried a little too hard. For example, throughout the whole story something is happening and it does get a little confusing. There about five or sox different situations going on that you have to fallow. Honestly, I didn't like always trying my hardest to understand what the heck is going on. Also, at the end of the story the parents didn't even ask where their children have been the whole time they were gone. You cant honestly say that if your children had been gone for the amount of time these two children were gone, you wouldn't ask them where they had been. This story is kind of reflecting off of some other books that I have read about magic and magic related books. It is just kind of a worse version of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". Its defiantly not worth reading. If you like magic stories, I recommend you try something else besides this one.
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Summary: Read "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" First!!!
Review: "The Magician's Nephew" is about more than just the creation of Narnia. It is an exciting adventure story in its own right, though it does begin deceptively, dragging its feet. Digory Kirke is the nephew; Andrew Ketterley is the magician; and Polly Plummer is the girl who lives a few doors down. The two children have been warned to keep away from eccentric Uncle Andrew, which they do gladly. One day, however, they accidentally enter his private study and get tangled in his mad experiment involving magical worlds. Here the adventure begins in earnest. Digory and Polly visit a "deplorable world" called Charn and awaken the Queen Jadis. When they try to return to Earth, Jadis follows them, intending to conquer and rule their world, as she had conquered and ruled Charn. In their desperate attempts to take Jadis back to her own world, the children accidentally bring her--_and_ Uncle Andrew--into Narnia, on the day of its birth. What follows is the longest bit of Narnian history since the story of the Telmarines in "Prince Caspian" (unless you count "The Horse and His Boy", which _also_ preceded "The Magician's Nephew" in the original ordering). There is the creation of Narnia, the selection of the talking beasts, the story of Latern Waste, the coronation of the first king and queen, and the entry of evil . . . It is THIS history which makes "The Magician's Nephew" so wonderful. The history breathes new life into the Narnia that readers (ought to) already know and love. Learning about the creation of this magical world and about the past of the already-intriguing Professor Kirke of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is most fun when one has already been to Narnia and met Professor Kirke, so to speak. There are other great things about this book, of course, such as the description of Charn (especially the room of figures), the conversation of the animals, the subplot involving Digory's mother, and many other elements. Discover them for yourself and experience the magic. What I like most about "The Magician's Nephew", however, is how a paradox of good and evil is twisted into the plot. We all know that Digory and Polly weren't supposed to have awoken Jadis, much less brought her anywhere near Narnia. Yet it is precisely because they did it that Narnia became so special. The paradox is that it took a sin--or rather, the forgiveness of a repented sin--to truly bless Narnia.
Rating:
Summary: The Magician's Nephew
Review: Digory lives in London with his Uncle Andrew. He was sent to his Uncle's house after his mother became extremely ill. Throughout his time living with his Uncle, he has heard frequent mysterious noises coming from the attic which his Uncle uses as a study. Strangely, Digory is forbidden to go to his attic. Little does Digory know, his Uncle will be the reason that he is about to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.
As the story commences, Digory meets a young girl named Polly. While together exploring the tunnel connecting Digory and Polly's houses, they accidentally stumble upon Andrew and his study. Andrew tricks Polly into touching one of the rings he has lain out on a table. She immediately disappears into thin air.
Digory and Polly find themselves in a dark and evil world. After ringing a mystifying bell, a once inanimate woman comes towards them. She informs them that she is a sorceress named Jadis and had destroyed the once beautiful world of Charn that she lives in.
Digory, Polly, and Jadis go to yet, another new world. Here they find a lion, named Aslan, whose song is able to create a new world which he names Narnia. The world is extremely peaceful and beautiful.
With the help of Polly and a flying horse, Digory attempts to makeup for bringing Jadis into Narnia. He travels through mountains where he finds himself on a hill with beautiful apple trees. As directed by Aslan, Digory picks one apple and returns it to the lion. While leaving he sees that Jadis was feasting on the apples. A sign on the hill says that anyone who takes an apple for himself and eats it will, "find their heart's desire and find despair." On the journey back to Narnia, he is able to resist his strong urge to eat the apple because of his lack of food.
When Digory presents the apple to Aslan, they plant it and watch as it magically quickly grows into a tree. Digory inquires why the apple tree will protect Narnia from Jadis. Aslan replies that even though the Witch had eaten the apples, she had eaten them wrongfully. As a result, she will forever loathe them. Jadis will never come close to the tree that holds the same apples that she had eaten.
Aslan tells Digory to pick one of the apples and bring it to his mother. He says that by Digory's mother eating the apple, she will be cured. Digory returns to London and feeds his mom the apple which is said to cure her. In less than a few weeks she completely recovered. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. is the book to read if you are looking for good quality writing. Although I do not consider The Magician's Nephew a "must read" book it is very easy to get drawn into the world that C.S. Lewis has created.
If you have already read and enjoyed the other books in the Chronicles of Narnia series, then I believe that you will find this a very gratifying book to read. The best part about reading one of C.S. Lewis's books is that you feel as if you are in the story, even though it is very imaginative and unbelievable.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read, but Read this First
Review: This book is a great prelude to the Narnia series, since it was written after the original series. It is about a girl and her friend who stumble upon an opening to a new world (its way more complex than this). The reason I only LIKED this book was because, like with most beginning stories, the introduction is boring. The intro on this one seems to be a little longer. I thought the book was very interesting once it got to the point. If 'The Hobbit' by J.R.R. Tolkein was unexistant, than this prelude would have gotten 5 stars. But, since it is in existance, then it gets its 4 stars for 'liked it' but not 'fantastic'. If you like fantasy, then 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' is the superior line. But don't take me wrong, the Chronicals of Narnia are Fantastic. (and of course Harry Potter) :)
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting,Fascinating !
Review: I liked this book from the very first page I turned to.I got totally engrossed in this book and found myself in their world.This book is about a girl and a boy named Polly and Digory.They formed a friendship with each other when Digory climbed over his fence and said,"Hello" to Polly.Everyday,they would play indoors as it was a wet and cold summer.Polly got to know that Digory was staying with his Uncle Andrew and Aunt Letty as his mother was sick.Polly had found a hole and stored some of her belongings in the hole which was situated just below the rooftop of Polly's house and other people's house.You see,Polly lived in a row of houses which are joined up together.Digory sort of liked her"smuggler's cave". Then,one day Digory suggested to go further through the hole and see if they could get through every house.They accidentally stumbled upon Uncle Andrew's study.Uncle Andrew maked Polly fascinated with a yellow ring and made her go into another world.Digory has no choice but to go into the other world and rescue Polly.From that world,Polly and Digory went to another world and awaken Queen Jadis,an evil queen who always tries to conquer a world.Digory and Polly try their best to get rid of Queen Jadis and go back to their own world but they accidentally brought her along.Back there,she treats Uncle Andrew as a slave.Queen Jadis was now galloping a cab with a passenger with it.While all these are happening,Polly and Digory quickly took the horse,cabby,Uncle Andrew and Queen Jadis into another world but it is not the world that they wanted to leave Queen Jadis in.It was a world called Narnia which has Talking Beasts in it.I wouldn't tell you the whole story.I couldn't put this book down until I had finished it.Buy this book.I bet you wouldn't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good.
Review: Pretty good book. I enjoyed it very much.. It talks about the forming of a place called Narnia (The Land of Youth) and how it formed.. I especially loved the charecter of Aslan and the understanding he had and his personality. I REALLY disliked Jade.. The EVIL Queen. She really kind of ticked me off by her evil and her cruelness.
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