in the order they were written, it was:
Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Daen Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician’s Nephew.
The Last Battle
Narnian chronologically, it was:
Magician’s Nephew
Lion, Witch, Wardrobe
The Horse and his Boy
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle
<u>The Magician’s Nephew</u> is first according to the Narnian timeline, and <u>The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe</u> is second. <u>The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe</u>, however, was written before <u>The Magician’s Nephew</u>.
You would be most interested in some of the things you can get out of them when you read them at an older, more mature age.
They are good for both children and adults. First thing I noticed different from my reading them as a child and as an adult was that a “torch” was really supposed to be a flashlight (from the book "Prince Caspian).
That was only the beginning… there are many others, but I dare not utter them lest I am labelled a “spoiler.”
Percy, you just had to talk about these books. I just finished a reread minus A Horse and His Boy (since I lost that one, a shame since it’s probably my favorite story-wise). I was discussing them at work with others who have read them, and they were clueless to the Christian parallels in the series.
I love the series, but I can’t read The Last Battle without crying. I know I will if I read it, so it’s a struggle on my part even to open the book.
Originally posted by VickiMints
I love the series, but I can’t read The Last Battle without crying. I know I will if I read it, so it’s a struggle on my part even to open the book.
It is true that that book has some very tragic parts, but I never cried, and I actually liked the ending. Mind you, I understand the philosophy and traditions of Christian mysticism behind it.
It’s not that the ending is sad to me… well, it IS sad in a way, but at the same time it’s so happy to me. Since I’m Christian, the ending appeals to me on a religious level, and it affects me that way. The tears are more of happiness than anything else.
The Last Battle is one of those books which brings things to a clincher by DESTROYING THE ENTIRE WORLD!
Oops… hmm…
searches for Black Spoiler Paint to cover up those words…
Ahh! Here we go…
applies spoiler paint
sigh The Last Battle has some of the best things that you might miss from the earlier versions. Everything from False Prophets to People trying to say all spiritual entities are the same.
Quite a few parallels to Christianity and the real world… mwahahahah!
What I really can’t understand is some dolt wanted to rewrite either Tolkien and/or Lewis’s books to “omit the Christian parallels.”
I think he gave up when sufficient people told him they’d boycott his fakes (that and I don’t think the Tolkien Estate would license him).
Read Them Loved Them.
Originally posted by Chris StarShade
Quite a few parallels to Christianity and the real world… mwahahahah!
All of the books are like that, portraying stages in Christian history, with the three most salient being The Magician’s Nephew, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Last Battle. The other books, however, also allude to other important stages in Christian history/legend as well. These are my interpretations:
Horse and his Boy: Struggle of the Christian against the corrupt earthly state of Babylon.
Prince Caspian: The emergence of Christianity under the Roman Emperor Constantine.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: The Quest for the Holy Grail.
The Silver Chair: Possibly alludes to the Reformation. I was a little unsure about this one.