If your set starts with the Magician’s Nephew, move it to second from last. Read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe first. The Magician’s Nephew is chronologically first, but the wrong order to tell the story. Which is why the author didn’t put it first.
It all makes sense if you read Magician’s Nephew first, but it removes mystery from the others. And the reveal of the events in Magician’s Nephew was more exciting after reading most of the rest of the series, instead of being the intro to that universe. It takes some of the magic out of the series. As someone who has read most of C.S. Lewis’s books more than once, I’m pretty confident he’d be pissed about it.
What order should they be read then? I started with “The magician’s nephew” and though that made sense back then (probably when I was like 13).
If your set starts with the Magician’s Nephew, move it to second from last. Read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe first. The Magician’s Nephew is chronologically first, but the wrong order to tell the story. Which is why the author didn’t put it first.
It all makes sense if you read Magician’s Nephew first, but it removes mystery from the others. And the reveal of the events in Magician’s Nephew was more exciting after reading most of the rest of the series, instead of being the intro to that universe. It takes some of the magic out of the series. As someone who has read most of C.S. Lewis’s books more than once, I’m pretty confident he’d be pissed about it.