When I read these stories about a decade or so ago, this was NOT book 1 of the series, I believe it was book 7. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was book 1.
I believe the renumbered them for the recent releases, since it kind of gives the creation of Narnia.
I am pretty sure the L, W & W was number 2.
Peter.
These comments from The Last Battle board may be of interest:
"The Magician's Nephew" HAS to be read later on in the series. Reading it before "The Lion . . ." ruins everything-- the mystery of Aslan as well as the Professor. - norman
I agree with norman regarding the order that these books should be read in! I recently re-read them (when I bought a gorgeous boxed set of hard- covers) and read "Nephew" first. I had never read it, and I was so disappointed in it. It didn't feel like Narnia at all! I still love the others, of course, but "Nephew" definitely needs to be read last! Or not at all. - rachgd
I personally think that nothing written as a prequel should be read before the books that follow it chronologically, but that's just my opinion. (This can make varying amounts of difference, natch, but in "Star Wars" it's especially true. I wouldn't have been able to make sense of any of Ep 1 if I hadn't seen the others.) - Chris Ashley
MN is my least favorite of all the Narnia books. And I was so disappointed when I saw that now kids are going to be stuck (if they read in order, like I did) trying to get through it when all the fun stuff happens in LWW. MN is a good book, but it provides backstory, and should be read later. Or someone may give up on it, after all getting an apple is not the same as fighting a battle. Not nearly as interesting
I dunno...I read 'Magician's Nephew' before LW&W, and it didn't impair my enjoyment of the latter any.
In fact, having all that Narnian background info actually enriched the LW&W experience, as I immediately knew what was going on - so could follow the kids right on into the action and at the same time be excited to learn more about this nifty fantasyland.
After all, IIRC (it's been awhile) it's not like there're any major secret in LW&W that needs protecting, is there?
IMHO, the many subtle nuances and references that come full circle in Magician's Nephew become meaningless when you read it first...
It makes the detailes in the other books sound like references to pre-established material in MN, as opposed to the clever tying-together of so many plot threads that it actually was.
This also alows the previous books to maintain a sense of mystery... why is there a lamp-post flourishing in the middle of a forrest? From whence did this mysterious White Witch come? Why would the wardrobe transport people to another world?
Having MN sixth offers the best of both worlds- allowing these things to lend an aura of magic and other-worldliness to the first few books, then coming full circle and explaining their meaning right before the end of the series.
If they had adapted MN in the 1970s or 80s, Jon Pertwee would've been the obvious choice for Uncle Andrew.
This novel revealed that Jadis was not a native of Narnia. Her home world is called Charn, and it orbits a red super giant sun.
Charn did orbit a red super giant, before the sun became too large and destroyed it... if memory serves.
Oh Charn, we hardly knew ye!
Jadis got off the planet just in time.
If the events of this novel not happened, she would have perished with her world.