Just thought I'd muddy the waters (after all it's been a while since Heresy was raised)
Way way back when I first joined the Wardrobe, i tended to lurk. Much was being posted about religion and "The Space Trilogy", so ap[art from a very brief "hello" post in the Cafe Wardrobe I didn't really have much to contribute.
Then a series of posts started when someone asked what the true order of the Narnia books was.
At this point I decided to dive in, and post a viewpoint, which was basically the "wonder of discovering just exactly how a Lampost came to be in Narnia" rather than having it presented in the "first book".
In other words.. LWW is read, and there's this Lampost in the wood. "What? How? Why?" and then in subsequent books it just fades away.
And then in the second to last book, the reason is presented, out of the blue, with no reason.
Naturally, after reading the books, the "first wonder" is lost. But if the books are read in "chronological order" then the wonder is lost forever and never to be found.
The result of this initial post of mine was quite effective... It killed the thread
Another result was, that it got me thinking.. and a Heretic was born
However... I got to thinking again.
There's another reason for reading the books in published order, which naturally is quite... long winded.. but hey.. has that ever stopped me?
In summary, reading in published order gives an insight into the way that Narnia "developed"
Basically the first 4 books are a sequence of stories.
Lion Witch Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
Now the continuity breaks, as the first "recap" is told
The Horse and His Boy
So, why have a recap?
Well.. lets work backwards...
The final story, is The Last Battle.
However, this story requires two building blocks...
1) The destruction of Narnia implies a Creation of Narnia. And so, a story The Magicians Nephew is told. In this the basic elements of Narnia are set. The White Witch and the Great Winter, The Wardrobe coming from the wood of the Tree, and of course, the presence of The Lampost.
2) A crucial element is the Calormenes. To tell how Narnia falls, an insight into the Caloremes is needed, and hence. The Horse and His Boy.
So.. reading in the published order not only gives the sense of wonder as Narnia is unfolded, but also an insight into how the story is formed.
Sooo...
I stand by THE PUBLISHED ORDER
Ohh and this is the order they are listed in the back of The Last Battle published by PUFFIN which i have.
/me rests his case.