The Chronicles of Narnia
#1754.14 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 7 books Status Complete 1950–1956 Reading commitment High C.S. Lewis Last reviewed 2026-08-05
Overview
The Chronicles of Narnia is C.S. Lewis's seven-novel series (1950-1956), illustrated throughout by Pauline Baynes, following different groups of children drawn from our world into Narnia across its history from creation to apocalypse. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) introduces the Pevensie siblings and the land's imprisonment under the White Witch's endless winter; later books move both backward, to Narnia's creation in The Magician's Nephew, and forward, to its end in The Last Battle, with recurring child protagonists crossing between worlds through different magical means in each installment. Lewis, a close friend and Oxford colleague of J.R.R. Tolkien, wrote the series with explicit Christian allegorical undertones alongside its more overt debts to Greek mythology, medieval romance, and fairy tale. With more than 100 million copies sold in 47 languages, it is among the best-selling works of children's literature ever published, and publication rights are held by The C.S. Lewis Company Ltd.
Portal fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (7 works) counts toward ranking
The Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | 1950 | 2 | core | 4.24 (3,227,420 ratings) |
 | Prince Caspian | 1951 | 4 | core | 3.98 (499,896 ratings) |
 | The Voyage of the Dawn Treader | 1952 | 5 | core | 4.09 (520,138 ratings) |
 | The Silver Chair | 1953 | 6 | core | 3.96 (341,185 ratings) |
 | The Horse and His Boy | 1954 | 3 | core | 3.91 (405,323 ratings) |
 | The Magician's Nephew | 1955 | 1 | core | 4.06 (628,638 ratings) |
 | The Last Battle | 1956 | 7 | core | 4.01 (315,250 ratings) |
Dual ordering: publication (1950-56) vs internal chronology (HarperCollins renumbering, 1994); scholars generally prefer publication order.
Excluded (0 works)
Boxen (juvenilia, not Narnia) and scholarship such as Past Watchful Dragons.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Chronicles of Narnia? The Chronicles of Narnia's Core Canon is 7 books.
- What is the reading order for The Chronicles of Narnia? Publication order, starting with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Chronicles of Narnia finished? Complete (1950–1956).
- How much reading does The Chronicles of Narnia take? High reading commitment (estimated from 7 Core Canon books · ~1,670 pages).
- How is The Chronicles of Narnia ranked? #175 in this site's official ranking, based on 5,937,850 reader ratings across 7 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #175?
Ranked #175 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.14 across 7 core books.
- Backed by 5.9M reader ratings.
- Less than 0.01 behind #174, The Chronicles of Damar / Spindle's End (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Highly rated · 7 books · Complete · 5.9M ratings · Ranks #175 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running portal fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (7 Core Canon books)
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
- Prince Caspian (1951)
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
- The Silver Chair (1953)
- The Horse and His Boy (1954)
- The Magician's Nephew (1955)
- The Last Battle (1956)
Documented internal/story order
- The Magician's Nephew (1955)
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
- The Horse and His Boy (1954)
- Prince Caspian (1951)
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
- The Silver Chair (1953)
- The Last Battle (1956)
Awards (verified)
- Carnegie Medal, 1956: won: The Last Battle
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- Tales of Magic Portal fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.00
Official resources
- narnia.com(HarperCollins): fetch-blocked, registered for reference
- cslewis.com: official estate site
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.14 across 5,937,850 ratings on 7 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Chronicles of Narnia Core Canon accepted 2026-08-05
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia (English) Tier 2
- C.S. Lewis official sites (cslewis.com; C.S. Lewis Foundation) Tier 1
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Narnia
Last reviewed: 2026-08-06
Rule: First universe to populate the internal chronology field. The famous ordering controversy: HarperCollins renumbered by chronology in 1994 (suggested by Lewis's stepson, citing a 1957 letter to a child); most scholars prefer publication order; this project records both and uses publication order as primary.