Which order do you think the books should be read in?

[wonderings]

I wonder if anyone ever tried to convince him to write an 8th story?

How could there be an 8th? They are in heaven and heaven will lose all value if you add conflict and sin into that perfect reality. I guess there could have been some in-between story, but I think all good things should have a beginning and an end, not gone the American way of TV series where they drag things on as long as possible and in the end ruin which was once good by drawing it out and diluting it.

 

[Specter]

How could there be an 8th? They are in heaven and heaven will lose all value if you add conflict and sin into that perfect reality. I guess there could have been some in-between story, but I think all good things should have a beginning and an end, not gone the American way of TV series where they drag things on as long as possible and in the end ruin which was once good by drawing it out and diluting it.

This is true.

I agree with all of this to a point. But yeah, there could have been an in-between story. Afterall, he wrote The Magician's Nephew twice. The first version he wrote, he shelved, then he wrote The Last Battle, and then The Magician's Nephew, version 2, if I'm not mistaken.

That said, there are shows and movies that I don't mind having more and more of. At all. And no amount of additional stories takes anything away from the original. I say that because there have literally been hundreds of Star Wars stories, in films, TV, comics, books, with more new stuff releasing every month. I won't (and don't) like it all, but I don't have to.

There could be more Narnia stories set exclusively within the world of Narnia, like The Horse and His Boy. That's something that HarperCollins Publishing once explored. And there was also an author who did write an 8th book... he published only 100 copies of it (probably a minimum for a run) and only gave copies out to his friends and family. It was called The Stone Table, and it was about Susan Pevensie, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[wonderings]

This is true.

I agree with all of this to a point. But yeah, there could have been an in-between story. Afterall, he wrote The Magician's Nephew twice. The first version he wrote, he shelved, then he wrote The Last Battle, and then The Magician's Nephew, version 2, if I'm not mistaken.

That said, there are shows and movies that I don't mind having more and more of. At all. And no amount of additional stories takes anything away from the original. I say that because there have literally been hundreds of Star Wars stories, in films, TV, comics, books, with more new stuff releasing every month. I won't (and don't) like it all, but I don't have to.

There could be more Narnia stories set exclusively within the world of Narnia, like The Horse and His Boy. That's something that HarperCollins Publishing once explored. And there was also an author who did write an 8th book... he published only 100 copies of it (probably a minimum for a run) and only gave copies out to his friends and family. It was called The Stone Table, and it was about Susan Pevensie, if I'm not mistaken.

The author who wrote a Narnia book for his children, or child if I remember correctly is Francis Spufford. He was not given a release by the Lewis Foundation to sell the book or release it. I have heard he tried very hard to write as Lewis did and from someone who had read it, they said he had done an amazing job. No minimum runs when self publishing, yeah book just costs goes down with quantity. I work in print and work with some small publishers as well as people who self publish.

I used to read a lot of the Star Wars books when I was young, the more you bring out the more it slowly dilutes. You also get tired and need a break from the stories as they go on and on with no ending ever in sight. Star Wars is a perfect example of this, they have been releasing consistently garbage movies and stories set in that universe. The only exceptions would be first 2 seasons of the Mandolorian, Rogue One and the Andor series. The rest are sloppy poorly written stories that are purely made to sell merch and pay service to fans who have no standards. Could go on about the issues with the prequels as well as everything after 6,7, and 8. People are tired of this world, the shows do poorly, the movies flop. When you think Star Wars, or at least the way many many many fans now thing of Star Wars is in a negative light. A good story needs a beginning and an end. We have that with The Chronicles of Narnia.

 

[MrBob]

"Afterall, he wrote The Magician's Nephew twice. The first version he wrote, he shelved, then he wrote The Last Battle, and then The Magician's Nephew, version 2, if I'm not mistaken."

Specter, According to wiki, he started MN right after LWW after being asked about the origin of the lamppost by his friend Roger Green. He started in 1949 but stopped and didn't return to writing it again until 1951 after finishing TSC. He got through most of the story before Roger told him there were some problems with his story. He then returned to writing it in 1953 after writing TLB and finally finished it in 1954.

There was an alternate opening for TMN with Mrs Lefay being Digory's godmother and interacting with him, but there is a question regarding the authenticity of that opening including handwriting differences and quality issues matching Lewis'.

 

[Benisse]

I vividly remember listening to my 4th grade teacher read through the Chronicles in publication order when I was a child. Hearing them in this way created so many "Aha! moments" as we worked our way through with the joy of wonder and discovery... So I have a particular fondness of being first introduced to them in the order in which they were released. Although I agree with many who have mentioned before that a chronological reading is beneficial too, I would not trade my first read-through experience of being introduced to Narnia (by way of publication dates) for a whole roomful of Turkish Delight!

 

[tirian_son_of_erlian]

Somewhere a few years ago I was reading an article about that "8th chronicle" from an entirely different author. From what I remember reading it stated that that was another story about Digory and Polly. I clearly remember it emphasizing those were the only characters that author felt free to expand on; because of the fact that Aslan told the Pevensies they would never return to Narnia again there simply wasn't any room chronologically for additional Narnia stories regarding them or even Eustace and Jill.

I agree with almost all the commentary about Star Wars, with one exception. I liked the prequels more than the originals. The Original Trilogy was, in and of itself, rather repetitive in look and feel and even in several plot points, not to mention troubled young adult characters that were great at shouting matches made my head hurt. It's still good and classic but at least the prequels took risks in other directions expounding on numerous new environments and characters, all while weaving together a cohesive backstory. The sequel trilogy only seemed to subtract. Rogue One was phenomenal as a superior standalone and as an 11th hour prequel. I haven't seen anything since Episode 9 The Fall of Skywalker as I've long lost interest in the franchise.

 

[Sir Godfrey]

I stand by Chronological is best. Though technically to do that you got to pause reading TLWW at the last two chapters, and read TH&HB since it takes place between those chapters and the years the Pevensies are adults.

 

[Peepiceek]

I wonder if anyone ever tried to convince him to write an 8th story?

Well, if the 'Planet Narnia' hypothesis is correct (and I think it is), there could never have been other than seven. Or certainly no more than seven (the person who came up with the Planet Narnia hypothesis thinks Lewis did not originally plan to write a whole series when he wrote the first couple, but later decided to).

For those who are unaware, the 'Planet Narnia' hypothesis is that Lewis decided to write each book with the character of one of the medieval planets: LWW = Jupiter, PC = Mars, VDT = Sun, TSC = Moon, HHB = Mercury, TMN = Venus, TLB = Saturn. I'm sure there will be a thread or two about it on the forum, though I'm not going looking at this moment.

Peeps

 

[ShastaoftheNineRealms]

Well, there are two unofficial sequels to Narnia and, Lewis himself is said to have abandoned an 8th novel.

As for Michael Ward's "Planet Narnia" theory, it makes use of both the sun and the moon. Meaning that there are other celestial bodies at work that could be used.