Carola Tapola’s Reviews > The Magician's Nephew > Status Update

We have reached the founding of Narnia. As it stands in this moment, it is bare of trees, grass or anything else, save for the lion who created it all.

"And as he walked and sang, the valley grew green with grass. It spread out from the Lion like a pool."

C.S. Lewis very subtly capitalising “the Lion”, as if the religious parallels weren't already obvious enough.

This is especially harsh for a children's book. Who was the intended target audience?

"I have stood here (but that was near the end) when the roar of battle went up from every street and the river of Charn ran red." She paused and added, "All in one moment one woman blotted it out for ever."

"Who?" said Digory in a faint voice.

"I," said the Queen. "I, Jadis the last Queen, but the Queen of the World."

As it is a book from 1955, there are so many funny sayings. A few so far :
- "By gum, so there is,"
- "Well, don't keep on gassing about it,"
- "Blast and botheration!"
- "Hullo! What's that?"
- "Oh, do stop jawing,"
- "It was a jolly cruel thing to do."
- "I expect anyone who's come as far as this is bound to go on wondering till it sends him dotty."

CH 3

"It was the quietest wood you could possibly imagine. There were no birds, no insects, no animals and no wind. You could almost feel the trees growing."

We get our first glimpse of Uncle Andrew’s newfound other world. Interestingly, we also encounter a new quality that seems to be key to this world: the feeling that you have always been there, as though your life before it ceased to exist.