Both the Wood Between the Worlds and the earlier scene going through the attics fascinated me as a child. In my last re-read (-listen) I noticed that I know exactly what every scene in this book LOOKS like. It goes well beyond the illustrations, and none of the film adaptations ever got this far, so it must be entirely attributable to the writing!
Have you read Nesbit's 'Story of the Amulet'? While Lewis mentions the Bastables, it seems a stronger influence: the main characters visit different worlds in search of an artefact that will cure their mother, and the Queen of Babylon sequence is an obvious precursor to Jadis in London.
I love the attic scene too - it's pitch perfect, especially the counting the beams.I think I worked my way through all the Nesbit books in the library but don't remember that one - I'll have to add it to my ever expanding list. Thank you!
Of all the Narnia books this is the one which ties on with his Preface to Paradise Lost. One of the Science Fiction trilogy also does. Perelandra, no. 2 in the trilogy. (Are they any good? Nearly 60 years since I read them and don't have copies so can't say!)
The guinea pigs and other themes and elements of The Magician's Nephew reappear in Susanna Clarke's Piranesi. Which I liked a lot although not everyone does...
I read the sci-fi sequence as a teenager but it's not really my genre so I've never felt the need to revisit and can't really remember much about it! I didn't get on with Piranesi*at all* but do keep meaning to have another go as it felt like the kind of book I might see something different in with a reread.
Both the Wood Between the Worlds and the earlier scene going through the attics fascinated me as a child. In my last re-read (-listen) I noticed that I know exactly what every scene in this book LOOKS like. It goes well beyond the illustrations, and none of the film adaptations ever got this far, so it must be entirely attributable to the writing!
Have you read Nesbit's 'Story of the Amulet'? While Lewis mentions the Bastables, it seems a stronger influence: the main characters visit different worlds in search of an artefact that will cure their mother, and the Queen of Babylon sequence is an obvious precursor to Jadis in London.
I love the attic scene too - it's pitch perfect, especially the counting the beams.I think I worked my way through all the Nesbit books in the library but don't remember that one - I'll have to add it to my ever expanding list. Thank you!
Of all the Narnia books this is the one which ties on with his Preface to Paradise Lost. One of the Science Fiction trilogy also does. Perelandra, no. 2 in the trilogy. (Are they any good? Nearly 60 years since I read them and don't have copies so can't say!)
The guinea pigs and other themes and elements of The Magician's Nephew reappear in Susanna Clarke's Piranesi. Which I liked a lot although not everyone does...
I read the sci-fi sequence as a teenager but it's not really my genre so I've never felt the need to revisit and can't really remember much about it! I didn't get on with Piranesi*at all* but do keep meaning to have another go as it felt like the kind of book I might see something different in with a reread.