NarniaWeb Community Forums

Much has been said and written about whether publication order or chronological order is best.

At dinner tonight, the thought of what would the WORST possible order be. The debate was no less serious than the real debate, but was probably a bit more fun.

For those who don't know, the original publication order is:

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

Chronological order is 6152347.

I thought reverse chronological order would be the worst, because there would be spoilers in every book, pointing to something that hasn't occurred yet.

My son thinks that's too obvious, and proposed moving 7 and 1 closer to the center of the list. His order would be 2765314.

So, let's get out our thinking caps and see if there's any other reading order more horrendous than my order (7432516) or my son's (2765314).

Don't you think, to be perfectly even-handed, that it would be best to put slips of paper in a hat, and draw them? That way there could be no accusations of favouritism, and each book would have to take its own chance.

The problem with that, of course, is that they might get chosen too close to the proper order, and we couldn't have that now, could we?

Some possible worst ways are:

Reverse publication order:

LB, MN, HHB, SC, VDT, PC, LWW.


Reverse alphabetical order

VDT, SC, PC, MN, LWW, LB, HHB

Putting PC as the first book would be HORRID. . . Let's follow that with. . . LB because there are no recurring characters until the end. Let's follow up the destruction of Narnia with the beginning of Narnia and do MN. Then, let's see the Pevensies as kings and queens in HAHB. Then go to Silver Chair, because Eustace will have popped up twice with him having never been introduced yet. Then we'll go to Voyage, since all of the spoilers from SC will have just ruined a lot of that book. . . and end things up with LWW.

PC, LB, MN, HHB, SC, VDT, LWW

The worst possible order

Whichever order you put the books in, it would be horrendous to put 7 (LB) first whatever other order you put the books in. It can be read as a standalone book, maybe, but there is a finality to it which would put casual readers off from reading the others. That is just my opinion.

PC, VDT & SC are the Caspian trilogy, though one of these books are also part of a LWW, HHB & PC Susan Pevensie trilogy. It makes my braincells rattle to think of where the very worst place is to put 6 (MN), probably somewhere random, between PC & SC. HHB might actually be quite good as the last book, because it has a faraway standalone feel to it, like a memory recalled. The main protagonists are Shasta & Aravis who never leave the world of Narnia, for instance.

I think that Prince Caspian is absolutely the wrong book to read last. By that time we know the explanations for much of the story. The deliverance from the Telmarines is somewhat less gripping than deliverance from the Calormenes in HHB & who will beat them in LB anyway. Not to mention rescues from Witches, whether white or green. And we already know that the 7 lords are found.

My order might be:

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

I can't remember the exact order I first read the books in when I was 6 or 7 (nearly 50 years ago) but I do remember I read The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader first and Prince Caspian last.

Thanks for some very amusing comments!

(I like this discussion better than "what should the proper order be?", because nobody can get offended when trying to find the WORST possible order. There is, of course, no right or wrong answer, so it's hard to imaging someone getting their dander up over it. )

Chronological Order.

Just kidding.

Starting with LWW and then skipping to the SC as second. SC is the only book in the series to contain NO characters or references to LWW except for Aslan - and he’s completely different in SC, cold and distant, instead of warm like in LWW. Actually, SC is cold and distant when compared to the LWW, and believe me, there WILL be comparisons if no other book is read second.

LWW, SC, PC, MN, VDT, HHB, LB

I have a terrible idea: how's about we take inspiration from Michael Ward's Planet Narnia theory (where each book represents one of the seven heavens) and order them accordingly?

The pre-Copernican order, which assumes all the books orbit the Earth:

SC
HHB
MN
VDT
PC
LWW
LB

And the heliocentric post-Copernican order:

VDT
HHB
MN
SC
PC
LWW
LB

At least The Last Battle is still in its proper place.

The pre-Copernican order, which assumes all the books orbit the Earth:

SC
HHB
MN
VDT
PC
LWW
LB

Looking at this one was the first time I experienced actual emotional and physical discomfort in this forum. My choice is set

I guess Michael Ward is a constant cause for Narnian brain crunches.