The Narnia Reading Order: The Argument That Never Ends

No reading order in fiction is argued about more than Narnia's, and it is one of the rare cases where the publisher and the author appear to disagree.

Published order starts with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and ends with The Last Battle, with The Magician's Nephew arriving sixth. Chronological order — the numbering printed on most modern editions — puts The Magician's Nephew first, because it tells how Narnia was created.

Read it in published order. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is designed as a first encounter: the wardrobe is a door for the reader as much as for Lucy, and the lamppost standing inexplicably in a snowy wood is meant to be a mystery. The Magician's Nephew explains where that lamppost came from. Read as book one, it answers a question you were never given the chance to ask, and it turns the best opening in children's fantasy into a footnote.

The counterargument is real, though. Lewis himself once wrote to a young reader that he rather agreed with reading them chronologically, which is why the numbering exists. And if you are reading aloud to a child who wants events in order, chronological is perfectly defensible.

Our take: published order for a first read, chronological for a reread — the second time through, watching the world get built is genuinely rewarding.

Which order did you first read them in? And does anyone actually defend putting The Last Battle where it lands?