When Digory and Polly try to return the wicked witch Jadis to her own world, the magic gets mixed up and they all land in Narnia where they witness Aslan blessing the animals with human speech.
It has just been announced that one of my favorite childhood book series, The Chronicles of Narnia, will be made into a number of films for Netflix. It has already been made into a BBC live action series, an animated film, and of course the recent theatrical movies. This novel received adequate reviews but wasn’t as popular as the other series' novels. It is one of my favorites. It was published as the sixth book of the series, but its actually a prequel to the first book, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. It is an origin story of how Narnia came to be and takes place 1000 years before the events of Lion.
The story begins in the summer of 1900. A young boy named Digory whose father is away and whose mother is ill befriends a girl named Polly. Digory’s Uncle Andrew who claims he dabbles in magic gives the children a set of yellow and green rings. The yellow will transport them to other world and the greens will bring them back. The rings transports the children to the Wood between the Worlds. There are different pools there that will transport them to parallel worlds. The first universe they visit is Charn, a dark damaged world full of statues of kings and queens. They awaken one of the statues Jadis who will eventually become the White Queen from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The children flee from the tall, intimidating, evil Jadis by returning to their world via the green rings but the evil queen comes with them. Jadis then runs amok in London stealing from a jewelry store. The children take her back through the portal along with a London cabman named Frank, his horse Strawberry and Uncle Andrew and they soon end up in another dark world that has not been created yet. Aslan the lion is turning the world into what will soon become Narnia. I am not going to reveal anymore of the plot but the story is masterful.
This story is creative, fast paced, and exhilarating. Fans of the Lion book will find many easter eggs here and seeing Jadis before she became the Snow Queen is fascinating. Children as well as adults will find much to like in this novel. The origin of Narnia is very similar to garden of eden creation story. There is much Christian symbolism in most of Lewis’s books. Lewis, the author, was friends with Tolkien and he creates a magical land and mythology all of his own with his fantastical and extraordinary characters. Readers will find the Narnia series exhilarating. I give this prequel 4 out of five stars.
- Van, Reference Librarian