Chronicles of Narnia...book order

  • Thread starter Thread starter adamhovey1988
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Thinking about it, each story does more or less stand on it’s own pretty well. It’s not like Harry Potter where reading them out of order would be thoroughly confusing. So it probably is possible to read them in any order.
 
Logically, it might make sense to read The Magician’s Nephew first. That said, I’d still start with the LWW…it’ll pull you into that world best. My favorite book is The Last Battle. Enjoy the books! Come further up, come further in!

BTW, if there’s any homeschooling parents here…there’s a great unit study on the Chronicles of Narnia called “Further up and Further In” by Diane Pendergraft. My kids loved it. Hope it’s still available as my homeschooling days are far behind me.
 
I actually think I have “The Magician’s Nephew” (I got a couple of Lewis books for free, somehow). I need to find it. (I don’t like ebooks and the like). It’s not a big deal, as I don’t pay a lot for books.
 
As someone who read them as an adult in chronological order, I too would recommend publication order.

Caveat: I haven’t actually finished. 5 of 7 done, so for chronological order, that means I still have The Silver Chair and The Last Battle to go.

Here was my problem with doing the late-written Magician’s Nephew first: it diminished some of the magic for LWW that others certainly got by reading it first.

Because Magician’s Nephew was written near the end, the White Witch is a fully fleshed out character, which you’d expect. I got used to her there and then when I got to LWW, she felt like a total caricature with little depth in comparison. I’m sure nobody reading LWW first feels that way.
 
Last edited:
I’m glad you shared that; so I am probably going to read them in publication order first, then chronological.
 
Last edited:
This article will help.

www.cslewis.com

The Narnian Order of Things - Official Site | CSLewis.com

One of the great schisms of our time goes hardly noticed by the press. But it threatens the very foundation of the order of things…well at least of Narnian things… (Okay, it’s not threatening at all and probably not very important except to C. S. Lewis fanatics like me.) And ...
www.cslewis.com www.cslewis.com
 
Last edited:
adamhovey1988 said:
If you did that with Stars Wars films, in a chronological order, instead of order of release, you’d start with the worst first.
Click to expand...
On the bright side, you’d probably shut it off after half an hour, and save yourself the time of watching the rest . . .😜:roll_eyes:🤣

For Narnia, chronological order just doesn’t make sense. The Magician’s nephew requires the rest to be coherent.

hawk
 
DO NOT READ THEM IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. Publishing order is much, much, better.
 
I don’t know why you would want to read them in chronological order - or alphabetical order for that matter - but at the same time I don’t think it would be the end of world. I guess I’m neutral on this matter.
 
That’s fine; but a lot of people aren’t. And I like the diversity of opinions on this very topic.
 
After you made your pause I went to see some of you videos and really liked them. You put a lot of work into your reflections, and I appreciate the results. I also like your posture because I think it’s balanced. If we’d ever met in person the conversation would probably be endless.

God bless.
 
Thank you. Eventually, I’ll do some on the topic we’re discussing here. May take a while.
 
Some inspiration and a place to visit the next time you are travelling to Italy.

 
I gotta get there sometime. I remember seeing that! (Not in person, on EWTN)
 
Has anyone said “publication order, fer sure!” yet? 😛

Honestly, reading them in Chronological Order only differs from Publication Order by shifting two books earlier into the series: pulling “The Magician’s Nephew” from its #6 slot and sticking it into the #1 slot, and pulling “The Horse and His Boy” from its #5 slot and sandwiching it between “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” and “Prince Caspian”.

But I like publication order best, because that’s the order in which things get fleshed out, if that makes sense? Basically, you’re discovering the world in the same order that Lewis discovered the world. There’s a nice logic to it-- you start with the four Pevensie children; you stick around with them for a second book; you ditch two of them and bring in Cousin Eustace; you ditch the last two originals but bring back Cousin Eustace and bring in a new friend.

The last three books, on the other hand, are more about developing what-Narnia-is rather than the outsiders’ experience of Narnia. “The Horse and His Boy” is about turning to some other countries and cultures in that land, with only the very slightest connection to the four Pevensies at the end. And, of course, “The Magician’s Nephew” and “The Last Battle” are less about the characters, and are more like Narnia’s Genesis and Narnia’s Apocalypse. So, basically, “The Magician’s Nephew” answers all sorts of mysteries that cropped up earlier-- and who wants to read the solutions to mysteries before you even know there’s a mystery built up around it?
 
The most common response I’ve seen (in general, not just CAF) is publication order. I intend on doing both, but reading in publication order, first.
 
Not for the first read-through.

After the first read-through, chronological is just fine.

But for someone getting introduced to the series, publication order is best.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top