As someone who has been known to start series smack in the middle—with both books and television shows—I tend to be a bit agnostic on the question of “what order should I read/watch these in?” With three exceptions:
Legends of Tomorrow, which everyone, without exception, should start in the second season, only tackling the first season much, much later after getting a chance to realize that these characters can actually be fun.
Blackadder, which everyone, without exception, should also start in the second season, only in this case, never return to the first season at all.
And The Chronicles of Narnia, which everyone, without exception, should read in publication order.
That is:
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- Prince Caspian
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- The Silver Chair
- The Horse and His Boy
- The Magician’s Nephew
- The Last Battle
At least for the first read.
It’s fair to say that not all readers, or even all publishers, agree with me. After all, the story of Narnia—its very very earliest beginnings—technically starts with the sixth book on that The Magician’s Nephew, which tells the story of the creation of Narnia, in a scene C.S. Lewis pretty much ripped off straight from the then-unpublished work of his close friend, J.R.R. Tolkien. (Tolkien later noted that he did not think overly highly of the Narnia books, with this sort of thing presumably partly why.) The events of The Horse and His Boy happen during the last few pages of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, featuring various characters from that book in various cameo appearances. And lots of people like to start a story at the very beginning.
Plus, reading the books in publication order does mean smashing head-on into arguably the weakest work of the entire Narnia series, Prince Caspian, a work that not only contains several bits that really don’t make a lot of sense, once scrutinized, but also is largely told in a flashback format, and has a comparatively weak ending that can and has left readers dissatisfied. So perhaps not the best approach.
Also, to be fair, the publication order doesn’t always match the written order. The Horse and His Boy is not just set in the last few pages of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but was also written before The Silver Chair, despite being published afterwards. It’s the sort of publishing thing that happens all the time, but for readers focused on following a writer’s development and reading books in the order that they’re written, well—publication order isn’t the best way to do that for the Narnia series.
And C.S. Lewis himself once told a young fan that chronological order was probably the best way to read the series.
This all presumably explains why several editions of The Chronicles of Narnia now list the books in chronological order—to the point where many readers now think that the chronological order is the publication order.
This is still wrong.
I say this, because in later rereads, I did try to read the Narnia books in chronological order. And let me tell you what happens when you try this:
The Magician’s Nephew pulls away quite a bit of the magic.
Part of the joy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is just how much is left unexplained—that lamppost shining in the trees, for instance, with presumably no source of gas or electricity; Mrs. Beaver’s sewing machine; why, exactly, Father Christmas is visiting a land which shouldn’t even have Christmas. Aslanmas, sure, but Christmas, no.
The Magician’s Nephew tries to explain quite a bit of this, in the process robbing the scenes of their wonder (and screwing up the geography of Narnia; the Lamppost should not be as far away from other places as it is)—while, aggravatingly, still leaving other elements—like that sewing machine—unexplained, or for that matter, making even less sense—like Father Christmas—than they did originally.
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Across the Green Grass Fields
And reading these books in chronological order just spotlights how inconsistent they are. For instance, at the beginning of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Tummus the Faun is not certain that humans even exist—he even has a book on his shelves that asks that very question, presumably in the negative, given his surprise upon seeing Lucy. In The Horse and His Boy, which, again, takes place during The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, we find out that just south of Narnia—no more than a couple of days riding on horseback, is an entire empire filled with humans. That is something, frankly, a little easier to overlook, or at least accept, when you have a few books to read between these moments, including books that showcase other humans, rather than trying to suggest that the Pevensies are the only ones around.
Worse, just because The Magician’s Nephew was written and published after the other Narnia books, it includes several elements that don’t appear in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe because C.S. Lewis hadn’t thought of them yet. So, for instance, Polly and Digory look at what will be Archenland and other lands, mentioning them—places that, if you read in chronological order, won’t be mentioned for a few more books.
And although reading in publication order does mean contending with Prince Caspian fairly early on, starting with The Magician’s Nephew means beginning with another weak link in the series. Granted, in either reading order, it takes awhile to reach the best book in the series, The Silver Chair, but with publication order, you at least get to lead off with a good book. With chronological order, you get weak book first—and one that spends very little time in Narnia. Oh, the London stuff in it is all very amusing—some of the best comedy stuff that Lewis ever wrote—but it’s not Narnia.
No. Read in publication order, so that you can read along as Lewis starts discovering this world—a world that can be reached if you just find the right sort of wardrobe. A world that in many ways resembles a dream, what with the talking animals and the inexplicable sewing machines and the parcels apparently just purchased by a Faun in a land that seemingly has no stores—but is, the author assures you, quite quite real. And then, in the next book, find out that yes, it’s a world that you can return to—not on your own, but with help. Maybe. For one more trip. A world that is just a bit larger than it initially seemed. A world with dragons. A world with giants. And an entire empire that managed to go unnoticed on your first visit.
And then—only then—read how it was created, right before you read how it ends.
If you do, however, continue to wrongly insist that the books be read in chronological order, here they are:
- The Magician’s Nephew
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- The Horse and His Boy
- Prince Caspian
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- The Silver Chair
- The Last Battle
Originally published December 2017
Mari Ness Lives in central Florida.
Yes. Thank you for this article. I won’t be adamant about most literary debates that don’t really matter. But. This hill I will die on. Publication order always.
(And thank you for stating your reasons far more eloquently than I could!)
Indeed, the magic of reading LWW for the first time is something I never want to diminish for another soul.
Preach! Seriously, I went and bought an older set of these books just so the volume numbers lined up with the publication order. Trying to read these as a kid in the order they are currently presented made me stop reading after Magician’s Nephew and LWW due to the inconsistencies. I harp on this for every author now. Publication order always!
I agree completely that publication order is best to preserve the magic of discovery.
However, while I love The Silver Chair, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my favorite of the chronicles.
I know it gets bashed a bit, and even the cast don’t talk about it, but I quite enjoy the first season of “Blackadder”. The tone is different compared with later series, it’s got less of a Ben Elton edge to it, but the humour is more Pythonesque. There’s the witchsmeller, three fingered Pete, death by snails, Peter Cook, and Brian Blessed. Brian Blessed!
Trying to find a clever way to say that I agree completely, but coming up short.
Despite their faults, I wouldn’t part with either Prince Caspian or The Magician’s Nephew. Edmund’s quiet redemption, Peter’s duel with Miraz, and of course Reepicheep all make Caspian worthwhile. As for the Magician’s Nephew, it has one of the sweetest endings I have ever read that makes me weep whenever I think of the obvious parallels between Digory and Lewis. The Magician’s Nephew also gives us a glimpse of our world with just hint of leftover magic about it.
If we allow a Father Christmas, perhaps a sewing machine is not so hard to explain….
Everyone should read Lord of the Rings the way I did when I first found a copy of it lying on a counter in our home: Start with the one with the cover with the volcano exploding and all the weird dragon dudes flying around, then flip through the table of contents until you find the really cool chapter title: “Mount Doom.” That hasn’t affected my appreciation of the book at all!
I would omit The Last Battle entirely, it does my Susanspiration the dirty. Also it is just plain bad.
I too tend to be a publication order purist. Your explanation for why it is important for Narnia is beautiful.
I agree with publication order, and I wonder what was going through C.S. Lewis’ head when he gave that answer to a young reader. Maybe he was humoring him? Or did he genuinely think that chronological order was better?
I absolutely agree with this article, 100%. (Except that my favorite is actually The Horse and His Boy, not The Silver Chair.)
But to put it succinctly: This is the Way.
Agreed! Especially with your assertion that you lose the magic if you read The Magician’s Nephew before The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. That said, we do not agree on The Silver Chair being the best book of the lot. I have a hard time picking which one that actually is, but I do adore Voyage of the Dawn Treader. And I agree with kayom that The Last Battle is the worst. The preaching comes a bit too much to the forefront on that one.
You are absolutely right. Published order is the way to go the first time through. prequels are never uninfluenced or uninformed by what was written before. The author introduces the reader to characters and concepts and cannon change those introductions later.
I just don’t think we can be friends anymore :) Not only is the Magician’s Nephew by far and away the best of the Narnia books, without stupid Santa etc, but Blackadder season 1 is its own kind of wonderful. But I agree it doesn’t bear much resemblance to the remaining series. The last episode of season 4 should only be watched with lots of hankies. And no one should ever EVER read the Last Battle which imo is the one that totally destroys all the Narnia magic.
As I noted when this article was first published (and to DanielB@11:) if you read the published book of C.S. Lewis’s letters, he wasn’t telling the fan that internal chronology order was better. The fan asked him if arranging the books that way on his shelf and re-reading them in that order was okay, and of course Lewis said yes to that.
I picked up Prince Caspian in the library when I was about 11 years old and it immediately became my favorite book — until I discovered the rest of the Narnia books, and I read them not in any order at all, just whichever ones were available. I have since re-read each of them literally dozens of times, possibly even hundreds, and I have to say I disagree entirely with both “approaches,” because I really don’t think it matters one little bit what order you read them in; if you’re going to be enchanted with Narnia, you are, and if you’re spending all your time going, “Oh, this is inconsistent, I guess all these books suck,” that’s your loss.
Being under the age of ten also helps enormously.
Read through Chronicles of Narnia at least twice…first time in publication order, second time in chronological order….
Which is 100% absolutely, logically true.
But I will also subjectively, emotionally be glad that I found Silver Chair and read it first before I read through the whole series the right way. To me, it was the story that sold the others.
Even Jove nods. Heinlein once told a reader of Starship Troopers that just working for the government at a civil service job was the equivalent of Federal Service , screwing up a major point of the book.
When my library here in Taiwan got a one-volume English-language copy of the Narnia books, I sneaked it off the shelf and and defaced it by writing a note on the table of contents page explaining why it should be read in publication order, and giving the alternative listing.
I’ve just begun a reread (actually a listen) of the Narnia series after many, many years, and I started with the Magician’s Nephew, which I don’t think I ever read before. I loved Uncle Andrew as a villain (great bit of character writing), and I loved the stuff in Charn (very evocative and scary), but I definitely agree that this is not a good book to begin with:
The creation of Narnia is clearly written for people who already know what Narnia is. You’re supposed to be moved by seeing this place you love come into being. If you don’t know that you are watching the beginning of the White Witch and Aslan and Narnia, the Magician’s Nephew seems like a meandering and purposeless book. (Not that it isn’t meandering and a little purposeless either way.)
I found myself cordially disagreeing with you almost everywhere here! I read my set in the renumbered order before I knew there were any others, and I was utterly enchanted with the vast universe presented by Magician’s Nephew and appreciative of the special place that Narnia still held, having been there at the creation. Chasing it with LWW I got goosebumps at the lamppost and realizing the Professor was Digory despite the immensity of time that had clearly passed (which covered over any other inconsistencies for me).
Then continuing through the series, I loved Caspian the most for the Arthurian parallels and the action, while Silver Chair was an almost unbearable slog for my youthful self!
I haven’t revisited these in quite some time…like many of you I found Last Battle to be a whimper of an ending, and I became much more of a Philip Pullman kid…but I loved reading your perspective and it’s really something to have a series inspire such wide opinions so many years later!
Aslan bless you, Michael Newsham!
Unpopular opinion of how to read Narnia books:
Read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
And then stop.
I seem to remember reading that at the time of his death, Lewis was considering significant revisions to the Narnia books to reconcile inconsistencies between them. Does anyone know how far he may have gotten, or whether he even got started.
It is also my understanding that there are some differences between the British and American editions published during Lewis’s lifetime. Does anyone know if they deal with some of these issues?
@15 – The Last Battle . . . I don’t remember Narnia magic being destroyed, but the last time I tried to read it, I couldn’t read most of it (I skipped to the end) because of how Shift treated Puzzle–it wasn’t anything I’d noticed the first time I read it, but it’s triggering for those of us who have mental health struggles because of similar treatment . . . I wonder how Lewis came up with the characters? I usually don’t read much bio interp into anything, but still . . . .
Blackadder-last episode of Season 4- Yes, lots of hankies!
I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first, but I don’t remember the order in which I read the rest! It’s been years since I’ve read all of them and really need a reread.
I completely agree. Like many commenters and readers, I didn’t start with LWW; I was first given The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by my godmother, and being sea-and-boat lovers, we love that one and it was my favorite for a long time.
As I’ve aged, though, I do find The Silver Chair most moving. The resurrection of Caspian still makes me cry.
And The Last Battle is as prescient about the world we live in now as any spec-fic or sci-fi ever written: If Shift the Ape isn’t a perfect prediction of the Cheeto-in-Chief, Donald Trump, I don’t know of any character that is.
The murder of the trees in TLB is actually happening, and every time I see a clearcut of forest, I hear that dryad wailing: “Woe for the holy trees! The woods are laid waste. The axe is loosed against us. We are being felled. Great trees are falling, falling, falling.'”
@20. Michael Newsham: As somebody who works at a library, it is my Sacred Duty to speak on behalf of my kind and warn you REPENT! REPENT of such vandal follies and make amends before you are condemned to suffer the Hell of Eternal Bureaucracy & Infinite Papercuts (as is only fitting for those who deface books, cheat on their taxes and feed their homework to the dog!).
I believe that Lewis told John W. Campbell, Jr.’s nephew (and that’s who Lawrence Krieg was) that it was fine to reread Narnia in internal chronological order; this is quite a different thing, of course, than reading them for the first time in that order.
I do feel the need to point out that The Black Adder (the spelling for season 1) has Brian Blessed and Peter Cook in the cast, so it isn’t ALL bad.
I like The Magian’s Nephew a lot and don’t consider it a weak entry at all.
I agree that starting with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, followed by Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is preferable – its lets the reader stick with characters they’ve already met and follow them through a character journey.
After that, it really doesn’t really matter in what order you read Magician’s Nephew, Horse and His Boy, and Silver Chair, but it’s best to read The Last Battle last.
But I don’t think it’s absolutely essential to read them in any particular order; it’s not as if they’re super lore-heavy, so someone could easily start with Dawn Treader and enjoy it and then read the remainder in any order they pleased. I do that with tons of book series – not tightly-woven series (trying to do that with LOTR or The Stormlight Archive would be a mess), but ones where each book forms a reasonably self-contained series. I hopped all over the place with Jim Butcher’s Dresden File books based on which ones happened to be at the library at any given moment, to the horror of the series’ online fandom. (I’m glad I did! I’d never have gotten into Dresden Files if I’d started with the first two, which are quite mediocre.
I read the Chronicles of Narnia in publication order as a child but now read them in chronological order when I reread them. My children never read them at all except for LWW – although I believe one of them read another one but not sure if it was Silver Chair or Dawn Treader. They simply preferred the Harry Potter books which I think of as Chronicles of Narnia for their generation. My own personal favorites in Narnia are Silver Chair and Horse and his Boy. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has some great moments though including Eustace’s transformation and unexpected friendship with Reepicheep and the island where things turn to gold. Both series have really great moments.
I agree to read LWW first, but I am a big fan of Magician’s Nephew and would probably say read it second or fourth (after PC and Dawn Treader). That way you are getting a good quality book early on while still getting the references to LWW. I agree that PC is kind of weak; it was really hard getting through the flashbacks as a kid, and I think I dropped it as a teen after reading LWW for the second or third time. I can’t say I’m a big fan of Silver Chair, but I was quite a bit older when I finally read it and Last Battle.