What order should the Chronicles of Narnia books be read in?

I've heard a lot of good things about C.S. Lewis's series "The Chronicles of Narnia." But I don't know what order I should read them in. Should I read them in the order they were written/published, or in chronological order?

Answer

I would have to say the order in which they were published. For reference:

Publication order                      Chronological order

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

Why?

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the quintessential Narnia story. It explains everything you need to know to understand the other books, providing a great "setting" for the series. You don't really understand what Narnia is like unless you read this book.

The chronological order isn't really important. You need to have read both The Magician's Nephew and TL,TW,ATW in order to understand The Last Battle, but TLB comes last in both orderings. TMN doesn't help you understand or appreciate TL,TW,ATW any more, in my opinion.

C. S. Lewis is awesome and you should read them in the order he intended :P

Comments

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