Chronicles of Narnia

CS Lewis later wrote to a young fan and told him that he should read them chronologically...he didn't have the whole series planned out when he wrote them, The Horse and His Boy just came to him.

So read them like this:

The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle.

I've never cared much for Lucy, the movie actress got on my nerves.

Far be it from me to disagree with the author, but I must. I believe the best way to read them was the way they were originally printed. I realize that books like "The Magician's Nephew" don't follow the series like a true series, but that's way it's called the prologue chronicle.

Just my opinion, though.

David

These books really stand up to the test of time. I didn't read them for the first time until I was an adult. Loved them first time around and still love them. Read straight through the series (in order published) almost every year.

One of my favorite scenes is in the first book when Christmas finally comes. Can you imagine -- always winter but never Christmas!

Edmund becomes quite a noble character, but I've always felt a little sorry for Susan. How sad that she chose to deny her experience.

Awww... Stupid Edmund and the Turkish Delight...

I think ultimately one of the children had to give up their experience, writing it off as childish. It was just another allegory on the part of Lewis.

David

I personally loved the original. TLTWATW was definitely something that captured the spark to get me reading all those many novels again. Always such great stories that went on and on and on.

inSANaTEE, love your quote.

aryne *

I've been reading these since I was about 4 or 5, love them nearly to death. I've had two sets because I wore out the first!

Regarding the debate over which order to read them in, I always read them in order of occurance, not order of publishing. Magician's Nephew is first because Digory (sp?)
is the professor from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The Wardrobe is made from the wood of the tree that grew from the apple core the kids planted by the buried rings. That's why it's a doorway.

The Horse and His Boy happens during the story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, just a few years before the kids go back home.

I think my favorite characters have to be Polly, Peter, Shasta/Cor, Reepacheep, Rillian, and Jewel the Unicorn.
I don't have a favorite book 'cause it's all one story to me.

Ah...Narnia. I absolutely loved these books when I was a kid and I still do. I read the whole series every few years and I always find new things in them. This is why I didn't understand someone's comment that they enjoyed Narnia less because they found out it was an allegory? I dont know....I guess its all a matter of taste but to me the fact that something can be looked at on more than one level adds to my enjoyment of the story, poem etc. I never had someone say, "hey lookey here this is an allegory" but rather came to realize it over several readings. I guess you could say that it grows with the reader.


It's hard for me to pick a favorite character since they are all so wonderful and unique. I think it would have to be Puddleglum or the White Witch, simply because her character has so much depth to it if you look at the overall development of it.

One thing about the series that has been bugging me a little is Mr. Tumnus, as in faun Tumnus. Then a few years ago I found out what a faun is in mythical stories. Apparently they're um....I dont know what word to use here...lecherous? It kinda threw me for a loop and made me look at Mr. Tumnus differently. So is he just outside the norm or did Lewis mean something different when creating Mr. Tumnus or what? Can anyone help me out with this?

As far as I know, Mr. Tumnus is simply meant to be seen how he is portrayed. All creatures suffer from greed in at least a minor amount, and no doubt the Witch's offer sounded good at the time. He knew what he was doing was wrong, and was truly sorry when he discovered how wrong, and that it wasn't too late to change. He was partly a victim, and partly at fault himself. It was his choice to do wrong, because all wrongdoings come from a direct choice. He did see that is was wrong, but wouldn't admit it to himself. And the Witch is very cunning, and very deceitful. I believe that is the only way Tumnus was meant to be seen.

Lewis wrote him as something different from what the actual definition of a faun was. Or he understood it as something different back then, and that definition apart from his has changed over time.

Thanks aryne, it is funny how much we forget about how much our soldiers have done for us over time. That impression of the soldier has been lost over time. And they should be, at least IMHO, looked upon with some respect. For all that they have to deal with for one, and considering that their responsibilities are expanding amid the cutbacks, it is even more astounding.

soldiers have done amazing things for history, more than any other profession, possibly.

I guess it would be possible to read the books chronologically and enjoy them as much; I guess I always think of the order they were published in as the order that different truths about Narnia are revealed to the reader. I remember how amazed I was the first time I read The Magician's Nephew, realizing that Digory would become the Professor, and about Jadis' past. I don't know if I could have enjoyed tLtWatW as much, or in the same way, if I had read tMN first. I guess the Horse and his Boy could be read at any time during the series, as long as it's after TLWW, and before the Last Battle, when the characters show up again.

I really identify with Jill, having experienced similar feelings of self-doubt and rejection in school. I first read tLtWatW when I was a kid, and my parents told me that Aslan was supposed to represent Jesus Christ. I thought that was very cool and read the rest of the books with that in mind. It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th reading that I realized how much more allegory there is! I think it really enriches the story, which is already a fine fantasy for non-Christians, but with even more meaning and depth because of the allegory. I love the Last Battle and how all the characters from the different stories and settings meet up and have this big party! Is it just my imagination, or did Tirian have a crush on Lucy?

It's interesting how much Greek mythology is in the story, mixed with Celtic, Hindu, and Christian elements, and still making a harmonious whole. Like Bacchus and the maenads showing up to help Aslan free Narnia from Miraz and cruel English-type schoolteachers? Mr. Tumnus, a faun who complains about not having Christmas, and carries an umbrella and packages through the snow? I definitely don't think he's supposed to represent the stereotypical faun--he is simply physically half man-half goat. C.S. Lewis used many different settings, but they are sometimes symbolic or just there for entertainment-interest.

I'd just like to comment that I agree about reading in publication order. (I almost always believe rather adamantly in publication order.) Reading Narnia in the chronological order they put them in now is something close to sacrilige.

Something close to?!? It's just plain wrong!!!

I am militantly obsessive about reading books in the order in which they were originally intended to be read. The Magician's Nephew does not come first. It is not supposed to come first. C.S. Lewis knew what he was doing.

I think reading TMN first would kind of ruin it.

The cool thing about TLTWATW is that you don't know where the wardrobe came from, you don't know why it does what it does, but you never doubt it for a second. It's just beautifully done. Reading TMN first would take away that sense of childish mystery.

You know, authors do<!--EZCODE
ITALIC END--> write backstories later...
Usually they have
an idea that doesn't quite fit in at the moment, but it's the
history of that "world", and does have some importance.
They figure out later how to make it work.

George Lucas
did the same thing, you can't say Episode I is meant to be watched
after IV, V, and VI.

I just read these again - well, I'm not finished yet... I'm on The Silver Chair. I wanted to read them in the originally written order but I forgot what the originally written order was... and I have a one-volume edition, you see. So I gave in to Lewis' second, recommended, chronological order... even though I too am a nut about reading books in the order they were originally written.

So far, I've enjoyed them a lot more this time than my first unsuccessful attempts years and years ago...

I haven't read these books for some time, but I don't think I read them in anything close to either of the given orders the first time through. It made no difference really. I loved them all, except the magician's nephew, which I tried to read when I was really little and didn't understand properly. The witch scared me (we are talking really little here). I read it again, long after I'd read all the others, and enjoyed it properly.

Okay, I've now finished the Chronicles of Narnia, so I can discuss the books properly... for anyone who hasn't read them, spoilers do follow. But of course, that was the case in many of the above posts as well, so hey.

I read them in Lewis' recommended chronological order, but I will certainly read them in the order they were originally written someday.

The Magician's Nephew

This was a nice beginning, and it definitely had the feel of a "beginning". In the chronological order, I do agree with others that this is quite out of place. Even though it touches on the beginnings of Narnia, it simply does not introduce the world as well as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The segue at the very end that reveals the origins of the wardrobe from the Tree of Protection and that Digory is the Professor was clever, but went by so quickly that I couldn't help but feel a little cheated.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

I liked this a lot, to be sure. Edmund was probably the most interesting character to me... this novel, easily the most "stand-alone" of them all as that was how it was originally intended, worked very well in painting a picture of this mythological world.

The Horse And His Boy

Easily my least favorite of the lot. It never really goes beyond being "a story in Narnia" and has little significance alongside the rest of the Chronicles, in my opinion. In fact, all it really does is cover Archenland and Calormen in more detail, setting up for the role of the Calormenes in The Last Battle in a way. And yeah, the allegory to the Book of Exodus was definitely on the excessive side.

Prince Caspian

Perhaps my favorite part of the saga. From beginning to end it is an exciting journey that does a remarkable job of following up TLWW, and the long transition that occurs with the passage of time since the Golden Age of Narnia is well done. Reepicheep rules. And those Black Dwarfs hinting that they had a way of calling back the White Witch? That was great... it was (sort of) developed again in The Silver Chair, and I liked how that tied in together...

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The only Narnia novel that really gave me the feeling that a quest was going on... and one with ambition, to be sure. The part when they sail as far east as they can and... well, all that... one of my favorite parts imagery-wise, alongside the end of Narnia in The Last Battle.

The Silver Chair

Pretty decent... I thoroughly enjoyed the return of the Witch in green (yes, I interpreted it as being the same witch as Jadis). Very interesting indeed.

The Last Battle

Now this one I have a couple of qualms with... particularly, the fact that it took a stance of "Aslan is God, Tash is Satan" when really, Tash never figured into the saga at all, and the recurring symbol of villainy was the Witch. This sudden shift in focus just didn't work for me... of course, anything to do with Calormen didn't really work for me (see The Horse And His Boy).

However, what I absolutely loved was the ending... the VERY ending, when we find out that the "friends of Narnia" have in fact, quite literally "died and gone to heaven." It was disturbing, yes, but in a hauntingly memorable way. Wonderful. And the end of the "shadow" Narnia itself was really cool, imagery-wise. I mean... holy paradigm shift.

Overall... I liked Narnia a lot more than I last remembered upon reading it this time. Still not among my favorites in terms of fantasy sagas - maybe because I couldn't really connect with the abundant Christian allegory very well. It was definitely worth reading, though, and I do intend to read the books again in the future in the originally written order.

Well, I guess I`m kinda the oddball in this topic. For some reason, this series of books just didn`t excite me that much. I read the series through once. A few years back, I started to reread the series thinking that maybe I would get more out of them. I read a couple of the books but never finished the series the second time. I had a hard time keeping an interest. To each his (or her ) own, I suppose.