Which order do you think the books should be read in?

What order?

  • Written (LWW, PC, VoDT...)

    Votes: 87 46.0%

  • Chronological (MN, LWW, HHB...)

    Votes: 89 47.1%

  • Other (Please specify)

    Votes: 13 6.9%
  • Total voters
    189
I'm too young to be old!!

*cough* Returning to topic now.

Personally, I prefer reading them chronologically now that I've read them all, but published order, I think, is better for first-timers. But really... I don't make much of a big deal about it, so long as people read them. :p (And keep reading them, too, you get more out of them the more you read them.)
 
I read LWW first, then I reand MN, HHB, PC, SC, VotDT and I'll read LB when I have time, but I think the Pevensies' story should be read in the right order, but the others don't matter, I mean MN and HHB aren't the same thing at all !! so you can understand them in the order you want , plus everytime Lewis mentions something already happened, by a "this happened in the previous book, when Lucy opened the Wardrobe" ... etc
 
The way I see it is: you have to read LWW first. It's SO MUCH better that way. Then, you really should read PC afterwards, and VoDT is the logical choice to come next. SC, HHB, and MN can be mixed up a little, and then you would probably want to read LB last.
 
If you've already done your first read-through of the series, it doesn't matter as much. I like people to start with LWW when they've never read them, because that's how the original audience experienced it, but once you already know what's happening, it's more of a preference thing.

It's worth giving the publication order a shot, though, just because I think reading them that way helps recapture the original enchantment better than chronological order.
 
Chronological. It's the best way to tell any story instead of jumping around, reading a prequel, getting back to the story, then reading another prequel... it's too confusing, and Lewis actually prefered the chronological order anyway according to a letter he wrote.

Some people say, "You won't understand a lot in TMN if you read it first." Well, I read that one first and understood it perfectly fine. :rolleyes: Plus, TLB is more climactic, since you feel you really did see the story of Narnia as it happened, instead of "looking back." That's my take on it. Chronological order! :D
 
Believe me the best way to read it is the Chronical way, I say this because of expirience because I read them in desorder and didn't like it so much so I recomend CHRONICAL WAY!!! :cool:
 
I just wish he'd had time to go back and revise them for inconsistencies the way he wanted to. It might have taken care of this debate, because statements like (in LWW) "And none of the children had heard of Aslan any more than you have," or (in MN) "That wardrobe was part of other adventures, which you've already heard about" wouldn't exist.

While I do mostly prefer publication order the only thing I'm adamant about is always, ALWAYS reading LWW before MN. Partly because of the quotes above, and partly because if I read the wardrobe's backstory BEFORE Lucy finds it, the magic feels less special. I mean, the wardrobe is THE way into Narnia. It wasn't until PC that Aslan revealed there were other ways in. And, since the Pevensies are the High Kings and Queens, I like to start with them.
 
I always read them in chronological order,not sure which is better though. Reading them in publication order will turn things into a bit of a mystery as you won't know exactly how or when Narnia was created and so on,while,if starting with MN,you'll know all of that from the start. I'd have liked it to be a bit of a mystery so if I were to read the books for the first time now,I'd definately read LWW first. That just might be one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made in my life,reading MN first. Lol. :D
 
I dunno... To me, after I read TMN and went into LWW I felt like I knew why the wardrobe had any significance at all. I'm sure, if I had just read the books in publishing order with LWW first I would've been more mystified, true. But I would've also been asking all sorts of questions to myself, like, why a wardrobe? I'd be wondering who Jadis was, even after explained to.

I read a negative review of the movie by a guy on Amazon, who said he could not understand most of what was going on, why animals could talk, where the white witch came from, etc. He had not read the books, describing the movie to just assume all the cliche elements of all fantasy tales. He said, "I'm sure it's explained in the book..." But when I come to think of it, the book really doesn't explain anything at all. You'd have to read TMN to know what's happening. I bet that's why the movie wasn't exactly "loved" by the majority of viewers who hadn't read the books. That's my opinion, anyway.
 
Last edited:
But, see, not knowing was the point. The Pevensies didn't know either. They just had to trust in Aslan to know they were doing the right thing. Which is the whole point of the series anyway, isn't it?

I read a negative review of the movie by a guy on Amazon, who said he could not understand most of what was going on, why animals could talk, where the white witch came from, etc. He had not read the books, describing the movie to just assume all the cliche elements of all fantasy tales.
Click to expand...
Since Lewis originally started it to just be a cliche fairytale, that neither surprises nor bothers me. Lewis just loved talking animals. If I remember correctly, it wasn't until later in the series that he decided to distinguish between those that talked and those that didn't.

Plus, when Lewis wrote LWW, he didn't know that Jadis came from Charn, or how Narnia had been created. They just were. So when I read them, I just accept them too, and wait for him to tell me the rest when he figures it out.

The Narnia world was an evolving one. He didn't plot everything out ahead of time like Tolkien or Rowling, so the various inconsistiences bother me less when I read the books in the order that Lewis published them.
 
I personnally read them in chronological order, propably cause at the time I didn't know they were written in a different order. Even so, it wouldn't have made a difference.
 
I read them in publication order, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I do think that it keeps more of the mystery (if you read MN first and Lucy finds the lamppost, you don't think "What's a lamppost doing in the middle of the woods?" you think "hey, that's the lamppost that grew in MN." Okay, I must admit, both ways sound good:eek:)

Still, I remember reading SC and reading that one line about HHB and then looking forward to reading HHB because it was mentioned in SC. If I had read HHB first, I would never have noticed this foreshadowing--if that's the right word.

Also, I think it would be highly confusing to read LWW, skip back in time to HHB, then back to PC, regardless of if you read MN first. After all, LWW and PC are similar in style, and HHB is much different. Of course, I read LWW and PC back to back, so I have no experience in discovering the Narnia adventures in this way. Any insight on this?
 
kilendil said:
Also, I think it would be highly confusing to read LWW, skip back in time to HHB, then back to PC, regardless of if you read MN first. After all, LWW and PC are similar in style, and HHB is much different. Of course, I read LWW and PC back to back, so I have no experience in discovering the Narnia adventures in this way. Any insight on this?
Click to expand...

That was how I read them, and I didn't find it at all jarring--in fact I rather liked it, because when Susan is talking about what they've lost at the start of PC I knew what she meant! I knew some of what the Golden Age had been, so I could begin to understand the strangeness of them coming back in PC. I didn't find the style issues to be strange at all.
 
initially i read prince caspian first because my mum bought me that book (back when you could buy them separately and not all as one). it was later that i read them in chronological order,, and then later still when i decided to read them in published order. i enjoyed them everytime in every way. even starting with pc, because when the pevensies talk about how long its been and what used to happen there it had more mystery to me.. and when caspian is being told about old narnia.. that was also MY first introduction to hearing about it...
 
Unforgotten_Memories said:
I too read the books in the way they were written. I couldn't imagine reading them in any other order.
Click to expand...
That's the spirit, UM! Publicaiton order has a certain magic of discovery; we're discovering Narnia for the first time right along with the Pevensies -- and we're introduced to Aslan in that same mystical way -- we hear the name, and our hearts are warmed, even though we don't know who he is ... It's lovely. :)
 
I just finished reading the Chronicles for the first time. Sadly, I was unaware of the 'controversy' regarding the reading order. Since the box set I bought was already numbered (with MN being number one) I just dove on in and read them. In retrospect, I would love to be able to read them fresh again and this time read them in order of publication.
 
I read them in chronological order because that's how they were presented to me. But I think I'd like publication order better because there is that magic of confusion to the odd things that are explained (like Lantern Waste).

However, I like reading HHB between LWW and PC because it confuses me anywhere else. That's why I'm kind of upset that they're doing the movies in publication order, because it just makes sense to me to put a book set in the Golden Age after the book the Golden Age starts in.
 
I would recommend any first time reader to read the books in the published order. A quote from LWW:

"They say Aslan is on the move—perhaps has already landed."

And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite different. Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says something which you don't understand but in the dream it feels as if it had some enormous meaning.

That passage would've all been for naught had you already read The Magicians Nephew.
 
Back
Top