Chronicles of Narnia/Books

Detailed Plot Summaries

Beginner warning: Details follow which you may not wish to read at your current level.

The links below lead to a full overview of the books and the content contained within them.

There is a great deal of debate about the order in which these books should be read. At each stage in the publication of the series, the author has said he did not believe there would be any others, so the order in which they are written is not the order in which the events within them occur. In order of publication, the seven books of the series are:

• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950)
• Prince Caspian (1951)
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
• The Silver Chair (1953)
• The Horse and His Boy (1954)
• The Magician's Nephew (1955)
• The Last Battle (1956)

Going by the order of the events within the books, the reader should start with The Magician's Nephew, then read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Horse and His Boy. However, by doing so, one misses out on the growing sense of wonder one experiences when first reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, with its gradual revelations of the wonders of the land of Narnia. While this book does not wish to fan the fires of this debate by choosing one reading order over another, the authors feel that because of this slow revelation, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe should be read first, followed by The Horse and His Boy, as the events in that book take place during the reign of High King Peter. The remaining books may then be read in any order, though publication order seems to work reasonably well. The Previous / Next links in the articles about the books will follow that order.