Narnia Question

[drew]

Okay, I've read The Lion and the Witch, to my oldest son sometime last year.
I've just started a Horse and his Boy; and MAN, is it even by the saem author or what?

Heart of Darkness is easier to follow.
I mean the story is not that confusing, but I guess it's the High Style that it seems to be written in...although we're only a few chapters in.

Did ny other faithfull readers find this one to be written quite differently or what?

Also--I have an old collection of the Narnia works..but only three of the books: The Lion and the Witch, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and the Magicians Nephew. On these books, Lion is numbered as book 1; Treader as book 3, and Nephew as book 7.
But in newer collections I've seen, Nephew is listed as book 1; while Prince Caspian omes before Dawn Treader.
What is the best way to read these books?

[I'm Murrin]

Also--I have an old collection of the Narnia works..but only three of the books: The Lion and the Witch, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and the Magicians Nephew. On these books, Lion is numbered as book 1; Treader as book 3, and Nephew as book 7.
But in newer collections I've seen, Nephew is listed as book 1; while Prince Caspian omes before Dawn Treader.
What is the best way to read these books?

I'm not entirely sure of the order of the full set, but the original order had Lion, Caspian, and Dawn Treader as books one, two, and three. Voyage of the Dawn Treader kind of follows on from Prince Caspian, it that IIRC there's an older Caspian in the book.
After those three I'm not sure, but think it was The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew, and finally The Last Battle.

The Magicians Nephew is in some collections labelled book one, because it is set chronologically prior to the other books - it shows a young Professor and the creation of Narnia. I think the original order works better, though.

[Menolly]

Also--I have an old collection of the Narnia works..but only three of the books: The Lion and the Witch, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and the Magicians Nephew. On these books, Lion is numbered as book 1; Treader as book 3, and Nephew as book 7.
But in newer collections I've seen, Nephew is listed as book 1; while Prince Caspian omes before Dawn Treader.
What is the best way to read these books?

This site on geocities.com lists both ways of reading them. ITA with the site owner, and recommend the original order.

www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/9451/chron.htm

[Warmark]

I read them like so :

The Magicians Nephew
The Loin the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Horse and his Boy
Prince Caspain
Voyage of the Dawn Trader
The Sliver Chair
The Last Battle.

[drew]

From Menolly's link I foundout the following:

ORIGINAL

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

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

Perhaps that's why it seems Horse is written so much more detailed the Lion--Lewis had three more books under his belt before he wrote it.
I think We'll stick with th new order-except we'll read Nephew last.

[variol son]

The Magicians Nephew comes first chronologically but I suspect it was written after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Horse and his Boy takes place while Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are still reigning in Narnia, so it would make sense to read it third.

[Romeo]

I'm just finishing The Last Battle. I'd suggest you read Magician's Nephew before this one, and not last.

I wondered why all the other books sort of ignored the stuff that was in Magician's Nephew. It makes much more sense now that I know it wasn't really the first one written. Looks like Lewis wrote the first four to tell the key stories of Narnia, but before he wrote the final story he had to get two prequels worth of information out. Magician's Nephew is about the beginnings of Narnia (adds some info about travel between the worlds, the origins of the Wardrobe, how the Witch came to Narnia, etc.) and A Horse and His Boy introduces us to the Calormenes. So info from both of these books is needed in order to really understand The Last Battle.

[lucimay]

I'm just finishing The Last Battle. I'd suggest you read Magician's Nephew before this one, and not last.

I wondered why all the other books sort of ignored the stuff that was in Magician's Nephew. It makes much more sense now that I know it wasn't really the first one written. Looks like Lewis wrote the first four to tell the key stories of Narnia, but before he wrote the final story he had to get two prequels worth of information out. Magician's Nephew is about the beginnings of Narnia (adds some info about travel between the worlds, the origins of the Wardrobe, how the Witch came to Narnia, etc.) and A Horse and His Boy introduces us to the Calormenes. So info from both of these books is needed in order to really understand The Last Battle.

i agree, Romeo....and will add that in my opinion, the books should be read in original order, as they were originall written. just works better for me.

[Xar]

I read the books in the "today"'s order (thanks to the fact I bought them as an omnibus, and I didn't know about the different possibilities for the order in which to read them, so I presumed the omnibus order was the correct one). So, I guess now I'm biased towards today's order. From that point of view, it certainly makes an emotionally compelling story to read the books "chronologically" from the beginning to the end of Narnia. And although there are differences in style, I didn't really notice them that much, being much more interested in the story itself than the way it was told.

Then again, that's one of my quirks... I'm known for liking books and movies which are horrible from a technical point of view, but which I find compelling nonetheless because the plot, or ideas within the plot, are very intriguing to me.

[Lord Mhoram]

Always read The Lions, the Witch, and the Wardrobe first. That's the way Lewis wrote them to be read, but the publishers changed it posthumously.

[dANdeLION]

Which is another reason authors should outlive heir publishers.....

[drew]

Well we've the liona dn the witch..
WE're finishing up Horse/Boy right now...then. If he wants to continue with Narnia, we'll go back to Prince Caspian, and then Dawn Treader.

Another question, are Silver chair and Last Battle more adult, or still suited for kids. I'm finding that he's not getting Horse/Boy as much as other novels we've read..largely becasue any time one of the four (Susan et al.) speak, it's a really hard to follow.
Is the rest of the series lke this or what?