NARNIA READING ORDERS (Part 2): The Text

[Book spoilers!] Which of the CHRONICLES OF NARNIA should be read first? Is 'The Magician's Nephew' #1 or #6? Why are there two different orders? Which order works better? What did the author have to say? All these questions and more will be answered in this series.
This video takes a look at examples from the text itself. The next video will focus on the myth that C.S. Lewis wished for the order to be changed.
Publication order:
1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
2. Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951)
3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
4. The Silver Chair (1953)
5. The Horse and His Boy (1954)
6. The Magician's Nephew (1955)
7. The Last Battle (1956)
"Chronological" Order:
#1 The Magician's Nephew
#2 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe*
#3 The Horse and His Boy*
#4 Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
#5 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
#6 The Silver Chair
#7 The Last Battle
*HHB actually takes place during LWW, not after.
C.S. Lewis ("Jack") died on November 22, 1963, just over thirteen years after publishing the first Narnia book.

[@aSongScout]

Oh man, those power tools in the background...

[@ThePreciseClimber]

The atmosphere-building power tool sounds.

[@erikabutterfly]

About the Horse and his Boy being mentioned in the Silver Chair, I wasn't at all confused when I read this in chronological order, BECAUSE I already knew the story and I was thrilled to find out that it was one of the traditional stories passed down in Narnian folklore.

[@Crazface222]

A girl I babysit has a Narnia box set that she hasn't read yet. I was thrilled to see that they have no numbers on the spine. They were in chronological order so when she was in bed I re-ordered them.

[@erikabutterfly]

I really don't think tht was necessary. In either order the story is great (speaking as someone who read them chronologically myself)

[@QuartztheOne]

u a goat for that fuck what they say

[@hismile8319]

I agree. I think for the a first experience you should read them in publication order, though after I found it fun to reread it chronologically

[@gordonwieland2133]

I prefer the publication order. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is such a beautiful introduction to Narnia. Some of the magic is lost if The Magician's Nephew is read first.

[@Glumpuddle]

I often "fix" the Narnia books at a bookstore, haha.

[@marryanncalubaquib9801]

lmao same

[@gumbo342]

The box set I have at home is in chronological order, but I changed the order to publication!

[@Glumpuddle]

Right, obviously I don't have a problem with ADAPTATIONS of Lewis' work being different. That's fine. But no one should be allowed to revise Lewis' own work and claim he wrote it. Narnians, if this happens, meet me in front of the HarperCollins headquarters in New York to protest!

[@PhelanVelvel]

I wish I could give this video more upvotes. I am forever telling people to READ LWW FIRST. "BUT IT SAYS IT'S THE SECOND BOOK THOUGH." Ugh.

[@Elyk91388]

I just started re-reading the series, I am going off of your advice and starting with The Lion, witch and wardrobe. Three books in, and I am really excited to read the backstory in later books, thanks for edifying what Lewis hopefully intended.

[@andrewnewman5945]

I was caught up in Tolkien’s literature recently, but sometimes you have to appreciate the simple genius of Narnia as well as the dramatic epicness of Lord of the Rings.

[@kingx101]

I guess you could say there are some similarities between this issue and the Star Wars prequel trilogy. I am a strong advocate of starting with episode 4 through 6, then going back to 1 through 3. In a way, the prequels are "sequels" because they specifically focus on characters from the original trilogy. In fact, I'm not sure I would have watched the prequels if they weren't teasing out Darth Vader's origin story.

[@seansmith5996]

The worst part of the chronological order: KIDS are reading this, Magicians nephew is not that good of a book, if they start with it they might not want to finish the rest. Same thing almost happened in my personal experience. I did not want to continue because I was bored, "I mean, why would the next one be better?"

[@alltimelowbro227]

Here's a interesting way I just thought of you read the book that were adopted in media 1-The Lion,The Witch And The Wardrobe 2-Prince Caspian 3-The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader 4-Silver Chair

[@donskiver]

Yeah the publishing order is the better way to read these. Just like it's better to watch the original star wars trilogy first before you watch the prequel trilogy. A few really big plot twists get ruined if you watch the prequels before the originals. Not sure how many people haven't seen star wars at all but I know they're out there. I was engaged to a chick once who hadn't seen any of them and waited until revenge of the sith came out to finally see them all. 😒

[@erikabutterfly]

Also, you said you'd give pros and cons on both orders, but you only listed pros for the one mixed with cons for the other, which I think is neither honest nor fair, because the cronological order has some great pros and fixes some cons of the publication order. Either way, I'd say neither is "wrong" and insisting on someone reading them in a certain order is (in my opinion) ridiculous and unnecessary. The message is there and no matter which of the two logical ways of sorting the books you prefer, the story remains the same and is powerful and amazing both ways.

[@chrisamador1216]

Erika Butterfly yes! I totally agree with everyone saying that you should read LWW first, but honestly after that I don’t think you NEED to read it in publication order. Especially if (like Lewis intended anyway) it’s a young kid who’s reading the books. Maybe for adults it matters more, but when I read it as a kid I always liked it better in chronological order. But you do whatever you want - just saying that the publication order isn’t neccessarily always better!

[@Glumpuddle]

Only CS Lewis should have the right to do that. LWW and HHB were never meant to be one story.

[@theunholyone2505]

It works for me either way but for average readers they would get confused specially those who are not fans of Narnia.

[@hajenzoo29]

i get your point but the average reader won't notice them. just us "hardcore fans".

[@tomn6800]

1. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe 2. Prince Caspian 3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 4. The Silver Chair 5. The Horse and His Boy 6. The Magician’s Nephew 7. The Last Battle

[@juliepedersen182]

I started it out with, The lion ,witch and the wardrobe, couse my mom used to read this to me,when i was a bit to young.then when I got older I kind of forgot about the whol story.sadly when i was around 10 or 11 harry potter came out.but suddenly I remember I found a book. Christmas time,and i was helping my mom clean when i saw a book,and it was my children book.narnia. I read it,and found out there were more books.so I asked for more.My mom got me the whol series.I started out reading about the four children but then,started reading the Hores and his boy,then price caspian....so erm,haha.

[@TinyMiniStealth]

6:30 Good thing i watched the movie :) I got to experience that

[@timrob12]

I have a big book with all the Chronicles that was published in chronological order, however, I read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe seperately before I got that book, 'cause at the time the Disney movie was coming out and I wanted to know what the story was about before I went to see it. And I wanted to get familiar with the franchise.

[@hayhay713]

I’m going to read the narnia story’s in the way that cs Lewis publishes it but I already now who he is because I watched the movies

[@RiverNaiad]

Thanks for researching this topic so well. There's a small C.S. Lewis section at the bookstore where I work. I'm going to put up a little guide about the publication vs. chronological order scenario. Maybe then customers will stop fixing a "pub. order" Narnia shelf when it doesn't need fixing! Those darn numbers on the spines...

[@jasminelaury736]

I've read the Narnia series in chronological order, though I was aware it wasn't published that way. I don't think there are that many series that has a beginning and an end as the last two books. Maybe if I ever have kids of my own, I will read to them the series in publication order.

[@maryjapon]

Agree agree agree agree agree agree agree agree

[@robertthomson1587]

I agree entirely with your arguments. The books should be read in order of publication.

[@NostalgiNorden]

Most people today know who Aslan is tough. It's kinda like reading Jekyll & Hyde today. Everyone knows the twist.

[@Glumpuddle]

We cannot allow this to happen. Period. Changing Lewis' words and keeping his name on the book is simply unacceptable. He was alive for seven years after completing the series. If he really wanted to edit the books or change the order, he could have.

[@TequilaMockingBird91]

We actually CAN change the words in the books if absolutely necessary. It’s happened to thousands of books before to fix typos, continuity errors, misleading sentences etc. it legally can happen and I support the change in favor for chronological order.

[@PaladinThunder02]

Aslan is not safe, but he is good

[@buckfozos5554]

Good one! Kind of a funny line, because to the children I think safe = good. So what is the truth here, that Aslan is essentially good but he might maul you accidentally?

[@misseli1]

Great video, can't believe I only just found it now!

[@DSAS1946]

Hell yeah! You're right. :)

[@bradfordwilson2264]

Magicians Nephew and Silver Chair are my favorites from the Chronicles.

[@MegaDcmp]

Excellent case for reading them in the correct order. Well done

[@ChocolateisIsNice]

I agree with everything you said!

[@DyrianLightbringer]

I read through the entire series in my teens, so about 20 years ago, read from 1 to 7 in publication order in the span of a summer, I think. I didn't know Horse and His Boy took place during the Golden Age. That line in Silver Chair didn't really register with me as I moved from book 4 to 5, and consequently, 5 ended up being the most boring story to me. To this day, I remember at least some parts of each of the other 6 books, even though I only ever read 4, 5, 6, and 7 once each, but I couldn't tell you anything about Horse and His Boy.

[@childfreepoet]

I never thought about this so deeply. I always said chronological order, failing to realize LWW was the first book I read, and I'm pretty sure I read Magician's Nephew after I read The Last Battle. Thank you for converting me (and making me realize I was a hypocrite).

[@louietheswan9689]

Chronological order is better

[@TinyMiniStealth]

God bless! :)

[@TinyMiniStealth]

I forgot what order i read them. I believe it was Chorn, :P But i loved the scene of Kurt and how i knew he went to Narnia! I was excited for them to know that they were not alone. Also, i have already watched the movie LWW, so it was kind of Publc? :P Good times as a kid!!! Man i cried when they were tying Aslan.

[@beccaboo_]

Though I see the points you are making, as someone who read MN and then LWW I do disagree with some of them (though that might be partially due to me taking a long break from the series before rereading them in that order again). However, your videos have opened me up to agreeing that publication order is better. HHB was confusing and off putting to the series as a third book and is probably why I never got much farther in to it. Now that I know why it was written, it makes a lot more sense!

[@Crazface222]

I agree. I saw a beautiful illustrated edition of LWW. When I say illustrated I don't mean Pauline Baynes illustrated, I mean full on picture book. When I got a closer look I saw that it was abridged. Not only was it abridged but the language was modernised far more then it needed to be. Naturally it lost half it's charm. To it's credit though it did say "based on the book by C.S. Lewis" I'm not happy.

[@GregoriusTheBrown]

I like to think that during all the time that passed between now and your older videos, you were just sitting in a dark room, painstakingly honing your video editing skills to the absolute peak of visual perfection.

[@Graceisnotasuperhero]

I think it might be good if they put LWW an HAHB in the same book: after the coronation, start HAHB and then after that finishes, have the Pevensie hunting the stag and falling out the wardrobe. However I'm not sure it would work that well...

[@uranusprincess6827]

“None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do.” Even if you had read MN first, this is very specific. Any more than you do. So the children do not know more than you. It could be true that they know the same (nothing at all) or, it could be true that they know less than you do. It makes perfect sense✨

[@ShyyGaladriel]

Welcome back! Yay!

[@ckalbfus]

What I did was watch the movies first, then read the books in chronological order, that way it didn’t ruin the movies, or spoil too much of the books. And I prefer chronological order because when books jump between different periods of time it confuses me alot

[@blindeyes9385]

I read them after i saw the movies so i kind of already had experienced all the suprise and mystery from the film so chronological order was good for me

[@trueedge2097]

I take it you read the books in publication order. The problem I have with these arguments is your assumptions about these characters. Aslan is less mysterious in chronological order, but he is NOT less majestic. Having prior knowledge of a thing does not diminish the presence of a thing once revealed. I read in chronological order, and I was still very excited to see Aslan in LWW. Why? Because I had read about him previously, and I knew how awesome he was. You don't lose anything from this. Professor Little doesn't react to Aslan's death because. . .we don't know that the kids told him about that aspect of it. All we know is they told him they had an adventure in another land. Given that he didn't react, we can conclude they didn't tell him about it. Or they glossed over it. Or just. . .he wasn't worried. If he heard that Aslan came back to life, that would fit so well with his understanding of Aslan. No need to react. The Horse and His Boy line from Silver Chair makes actually makes more sense if you have already read that book. That book is so disconnected from the others that an acknowledgement here gives you the sense that what you read wasnt just a throwaway. It actually had significance. Again. Nothing lost. What you are describing is not pro and con, positive and negative. These are simply matters of different perspectives. That is simply it. Reading either way does not diminish the magic, wonder, or majesty of any character or plot. But there is one distinct advantage to chronological reading. Lewis's original order is messy due to the last three books. He introduces aot of characters in those last three books, specifically the last two, that all of a sudden have significant purpose in the finale. The sense of significance can be greatly diminished if you literally just met those characters. But having some literary space between them takes that away and makes these characters aspects of history, as we are supposed to see them in the end. It's a huge advantage for the chronological reading order. In the end, none of these arguments you've presented, saving only for the literary discrepancies, really add up to anything significant. It's not a failure. It just comes across as misguided, arrogant, and assumptive.

[@bettyamiina3933]

It is not what the reader thinks but what The Author thinks.!!!!!!!

[@bettyamiina3933]

Which is better the chronicle or the publication so read the story in the order of the Chronicle!

[@ChocolateisIsNice]

In order for chronilgocial order to work beter, I don't think that would be such a bad idea, but it shouldn't be changed too much.

[@PipsKay]

We know who Aslan is but Pevensies don't, so it does makes sense

[@daca8395]

I did something strange by accident: I red it in chronologicle order, exapt for TLTWATW, that I red first, and then Magician's Nephew. I think its the best! Also, skip the Last Battle, its not good...

[@danck941]

I still prefer chronological order. Just my opinion.

[@ckalbfus]

In another video, you said that each book was a separate story, therefore, it shouldn’t matter which order you read it

[@peterholden2016]

Doesn't The Horse and his Boy suffer in the publication order the same problem as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe does in chronological order? In that in the reference to it in The Silver Chair it is described as the story of Prince Cor spoiling the Shasta twist.