[Reading in chronological order, #1]
Can’t believe I never ready all the Narnia books growing up. We had The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe but none of the others. This is exactly the type of story I would’ve adored back then. Still quaint, and silly of course.

Kenneth Branagh narrated this in audio and performed it splendidly. ( )

The prequel origin story of Narnia as told through the point of view of what I can only assume is the aforementioned Professor from the first book. A lot more visually interesting than some of the previous entries, with little of the buffoonish fantasy characters, so I quite enjoyed it. I can’t imagine I’d care even half as much, however, had I read it in the publisher’s order. The whole curiosity of the lamppost is more intriguing in retrospect to me than if it was explained prior to Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe. The text even refers (albeit vaguely) to the past five books, so there is a sense of creative development from one to the next that wouldn’t connect if I jumped around chronologically. ( )

I'm biased against Christian fic, I admit it. I only read this because I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything obvious about [b:Piranesi|50202953|Piranesi|Susanna Clarke|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1609095173l/50202953._SY75_.jpg|73586702] (I wasn't). I now get more about what [b:The Magicians|6101718|The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)|Lev Grossman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1313772941l/6101718._SY75_.jpg|6278977] was referencing, as a bonus.

EDIT: OK but isn't it idol worship to suggest that Jesus/Aslan, that guy with the statues and pictures everyfuckingwhere, was also the Creator in Genesis? I assumed the reason that statues of Jesus (/depiction of Aslan as an animal) are not graven images is because he wasn't literally god at that point (or something), but if Aslan/Jesus was there physically gardening in Eden, that doesn't work anymore. I stg I will never understand Christians.

EDIT 2: It turns out that the reason that statues of Jesus that you worship aren't idols is because a) *this* god is totes real, it's only idol worship when your god is fake, and b) it's (theoretically) chill to deface and destroy them. ( )

Fantasy

This is a great story, but it's probably the "dryest" of the seven books (perhaps because I'm not a history buff). Read it after reading a few of the other books but before The Last Battle (basically read the books in the original published order). Once you've been in Narnia and you read this, it makes the story more powerful.

2024 Reread.
The narrator POV, breaking the fourth wall, is relatively unique and the description is fantastic. I read it as the first one. It's dry but a fabulous story. ( )