The Magician's Book: A Skeptic’s Adventure in Narnia‏ by Laura Miller

When Laura Miller was in elementary school, her teacher gave her a copy of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe to read, She was instantly captivated. She loved the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis and read the series over and over. She imagined she must reach Narnia or die trying. Naturally, she outgrew that feeling, but could never erase the powerful impact that Lewis had on her youthful imagination.
Revisiting the books as an adult, she was horrified to discover that the Chronicles of Narnia contained Catholic doctrine disguised as storytelling. She felt betrayed and turned away from them. After much deliberation and research, she realized that there is much more to the books and came back to them.

In this memoir, Laura tries to make peace with Lewis and his Chronicles. She writes of C. S. Lewis’ life, friendships, beliefs and his possible reasons for writing the book. She interviewed modern authors and readers to explore their feelings and thoughts on the books.

She explores the relationship between J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis and uses it as a stimulus to discuss their similar views on language, literature, and myth. She tries to understand the rudimentary elements of her cherished Chronicles, and from where it came from.

This work is very wordy and has many heavy elements. With all the research, it is to be expected. You need to have some basic knowledge of Narnia to fully appreciate this work. I haven’t read the whole Narnia series, but the magic of Narnia still captivates me. You can tell that Miller did her research by how well the writing flows. A very rewarding read!