All 7 Narnia books, ranked worst to best

4) The Magician’s Nephew

The Magician’s Nephew is the first book in the Narnia series, although is was published after The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. It’s a source of constant aggravation for me personally when I am asked which book to start the Narnia series with. So here is my definitive answer to the question: If you are reading the Narnia books for the first time, please please start with The Magician’s Nephew.

Lewis may have written this novel later on in an attempt to fill in the blanks from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, but unlike in The Horse and His Boy, where some blanks feel as though they are filled rather haphazardly, in The Magician’s Nephew it’s astonishing at times to think that this book was written later. Setting the scene beautifully for the magic of Narnia and the awe-inspiring power of Aslan, this book introduces us to the long-running concept of humans from our world entering Narnia through secret doorways, as well as offering an explanation for a doorway which appears later (my lips shall remain zipped in case of spoilers).

The protagonists of this book are Digory and Polly, whose surnames I have left out lest they reveal anything about the later novels. We immediately set off on an exciting adventure with two characters you can’t help but love. The Magician’s Nephew is so bursting at the seams with joy and imagination and magic that it barely even feels like an introduction at times. So many things which become hugely relevant in the later books have their seeds sown in this novel, but it never feels like an information dump.

3) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Or as I like to call it, the pirate novel!

We are once again reunited with some of our beloved Pevensies — Lucy and Edmund, specifically — but this time accompanied by a new character: their rather tiresome cousin, Eustance. Or is he actually all that tiresome, really?

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is an adventure novel – and yes, I do realize I have called several of these books adventure novels at this point, but this book is an adventure novel in the most fundamental sense of the word. With a sea voyage and a quest to be fulfilled (plus some pirates to be fought and a dragon thrown into the mix), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader goes beyond the borders of Narnia that we’ve become accustomed to at this point.

Lucy and Edmund truly shine in this book. They’re no longer the younger Pevensies; they are the only Pevensies, and we get a sense of their maturity and how well they understand the world. Where before others were looking out for them, now it’s their turn to look out for Eustace, and teach him the way of Narnia.

A personal favorite kind of storyline for me is the redemption arc, where someone starts as a horrible or annoying character and then goes on a journey to becoming a better person who truly repents for their past actions. It’s why Edmund Pevensie is my favourite Narnia character (though once again, I shall avoid giving spoilers). In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we see a similar arc happen with Eustace. Edmund is fully aware of how he went on a journey to become a better person and is determined that Eustace will follow the same path.

With family relationships at the heart of this story, this book is a rollicking quest with a heart beating firmly at its center.