The Chronicles of Narnia research poll

The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle were my favorites.

bewitchedfencer

Remember might be too strong for some of these, I could probably outline some of the stuff that happens but not in order. I remember having all the books but not caring about 1 or 3 whenever I read them. I think the Silver Chair was my favourite as it was really creepy in places.

Mike Cripps

I've read all of them, but TL,TW,&TW, The Magician's Nephew, and the Last Battle are the only ones I can remember. It's weird, because I keep trying to fix this, but the others leave my brain whenever I finish reading them.

Michael Drzyzga

My mom read them to me as a child but I barely remember most of them.

Cosmic Somebody

Remember them all pretty much due to read them all many many times. But the last battle and horse and his boy are probably the ones that are the most hazy of them in my memory.

Johan Jörtsö

I read all of these more than once as a child and can remember at least a vague outline for all of them except The Silver Chair. I have the strongest memories of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, because we also owned the film adaptations on dvd, but also really strong memories of the Magician’s Nephew because I was a sucker for Creation stories and The Last Battle because even as a sheltered fundie evangelical (I got better) I was pretty damn angry about what old Clive Staples did to Susan and also picked up on the inherent racism in his treatment of the Calormen. Ugh… Horse and His Boy was my sister’s favorite, but that one also felt uncomfortable for the same issues. As an exchristian who has been exposed to feminism, queer theory, and critical race theory, I see more problems with these books every time I think about them. These books were my introduction to fantasy literature and are incredibly nostalgic for me. At the same time, as I understand more of the toxicity inherent in the core principles I was raised with, they no longer feel like as safe and warm and lovely as they used to.

I've read all of them, but only once each & several decades ago, so I don't remember all the plots in detail just vague outlines

I read all these several times as a kid. The Horse and His Boy was always my favorite as a kid, but I lean more towards the Magician's Nephew nowadays. Right now they're on the top of my list of books to read to my daughter this summer.

This is tough. I know I've read some of them, but not all, and I'm not sure where exactly in the series I got to.

Read all but 'The Last Battle' but can only remember the plot of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe'

I read it when i was in middle school so more than 20 years ago. I remember elements of all the books but saying I remember the plot is a bit much (though I remember pretty well the one in which the cousin becomes a dragon for some reason).

I firmly believe that Magician's Nephew should be read 5th or 6th in the series - it's supposed to be one of those "look back to the beginning" moments in the overall narrative. If you haven't already fallen in love with Narnia, its people, and its ways - you will experience half the impact of Magician's Nephew. A cool fantasy world creation story is lovely and all. . . but being able to witness the birth of all the things that would come later - that can be unspeakably breath-taking. Anyway, that's part of why I enjoy & recommend reading "the beginning" right before you go into "the end." The 'chronological' print order always saddened me, no matter what Lewis said in his notes and letters. /kidsthesedays

Amata

in my childhood, my family folded Narnia into our advent / Christmas traditions - my mother would read us one chapter a night from LW&W, lining it up so we finished the book on Christmas morning. these books were a huge part of my childhood and directly impacted my adult life in some profound and meaningful ways. I have all 7 books memorized. Now that I'm an older adult, I am routinely heartbroken by how poorly the Chronicles have aged. As influential and deeply important these books were for me, there is absolutely no way I would suggest, let alone read, these books to my niblings. Every time I hear a rumor or hint that the Narnia license has been optioned, I cross my fingers and hope that it will result in a Narnia updated appropriately for a world that now knows better about many sensitive topics and sociopolitical concerns. A Narnia that is spiritually accessible to all people, not just a very specific flavor of one specific organized religion. In short, a Narnia I can be proud of, again. No hint of Solstice yet, but I still hold out hope. After all, He's not a tame lion...

Amata

While I have read all these books it was more then 20 years ago so I only vaguely remember the plots.

Have read and remember all of them, but I’m shakiest on The Silver Chair and The Last Battle. I suspect I only remember The Silver Chair from the old BBC series as I had that on vhs.

Considering the collection of Narnia books at my bedside ,i am fairly familiar with the Narnia books

Kitty ( The cursed existence of financial instability ) fo

I've got the entire collection and while I've only read them once, I remember them well enough.

I've read LWW, Prince Caspian, Dawntreader, and the Magician's nephew well over a decade ago. I remember the entirety of LWW, a fair majors of the Magician's nephew, and barely anything from the other two. The LWW is the only one of the movies I've seen.

Allie Lent

I'm fairly sure I could recite all the plot points of 'the horse and his boy' in correct order without much trouble, even though I don't remember any names exept the main boy (and the Pevensie siblings, but they hardly count in this one). For the first three books, I can list the main characters, how they got to Narnia, what they needed to do and how they got back. Silver chair I remember most of the above, except how they defeated the villain and got back. From the last two books I remeber who was involved, and a few random scenes. You can probably guess which book was my favorite :D

Syntia13

I can't remember which I have read other than I am sure I read The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. There's a good chance I read all of them but I'm not sure since that would have been more than 20 years ago at this point! I've also watched the BBC movies a bunch of times more recently than I would have read the books so I think that muddles my ability to remember at all if I am remembering the books or if I am remembering those movies.

Shannon D

I had to look up if there's even a book called 'The last battle'... But yeah turns out I read it but only remember the ending.

It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve read them, but I could give a pretty accurate account of each, I think, especially once I got into it.

I know vague plots, but that's thanks to you and fanfiction (except for LWW, which I was obsessed with once. I definitely listened to some of the audiobooks at one point, and saw the films, and watched the BBC versions, but mostly it's very fuzzy)

Read all of them, listened to all of them on audio tape many many times, watched the old BBC tv adaptions every time I was ill as a child (which was a lot).

In my defence I read them 40 years ago and had forgotten the plots in the meantime. I tried rereading them but gave up as they seem so dull and turgid now. You should also have a category for "they are sitting in a box set on my shelves, with the best will in the world, I will never reread the set.¨"

Eustacia Vye

They were my direct gateway to Tolkien in, I think, 1985, when 11-year-old me needed MORE THINGS TO READ OMG because they were in pieces [except for Last Battle which vintage Art Deco-covered copy I still have in actual saleable "Fine" condition], and then Shannara because dammit, you take what you can get when you are little and jobless and not yet old enough for a city bus pass to get you to the library/Waldenbooks, and then the L'engle ouevre, and so on, and I've been a huge big SFF nerd ever since. Though a *considerably* less religious one. ;) )

Camille R

The Lion the witch and the wardrobe is likely one of those stories, like Peter Pan, that everyone knows but probably didn't actually read the original book themselves.

That happened to me the first time too, I gave them a second chance and got through them

The first time I read them was in middle school and I could not remember the plots at all, but I re-read them a couple years ago and now I can remember basic outlines of the plot

The Space Trilogy, I think it's called. I've read the second of the books (Perelandria IIRC). It was bizarre. I enjoyed it way more for the mood and prose than for the story.

Chris Nokai

I've also read the trilogy (I think?) where the protagonist travels to Venus... Wonder if anyone else did?

Gerda Strobl

Same here. After all, I read these books some 30 or more years ago...

Gerda Strobl

Read all the way up to The Silver Chair and then got bored of the books.

Mitch Thatcher

I read all the books as a kid but can only recall a few scenes from the ones that didn’t get movies

I didn't read them, but I remember the plot of Lion witch and wardrobe, and prince Caspian because of your videos

Wednessday L Ezaki

I've read them too many times as a child! The Horse and His Boy is my favourite, and I still quote it sometimes.

The Silver Chair is my personal favorite out of all the books and the only one I can’t remember the whole plot to is the last battle (other then everyone goes to Narnia Heaven but Susan)

You just click all of them

Dominic Noble

Where is the yes to all button?

Micaela Sparrow

Sadly I never had the pleasure of reading them. Just never got my attention.

Jorel Hamilton

Could I give a brief summery of these books? Yes. Would it be good? No

Maurice (The Space Cowboy) Pete

I read them for the first time during quarantine over a week, so I remember the general plot(s), but I’m not sure I can remember which stories are in which books.

I remember scenes from most of them but probably couldn’t give a good summary of most of them

Spencer

Woops read and remember all of them. I think the two fuzziest are the horse and his boy and last battle but I still have a pretty good recollection. I especially remember some major parts in both and the endings

Deegcakes

I read them all in fifth grade, 15 years ago and have a vague memory of the plot of three of them, but honestly I'm not sure how much is me remembering the books and how much is me thinking of the movies (side note, God I'm old I had to look up how old you are in 5th grade it's been so long ago)

Read them multiple times, then audiobook - bbc production and the movies. One of the first books I ever read. Still love them.

I haven't read the books in over 20 years, but I feel like the plot of each book is pretty easy to remember.

Hedron Master

Read them all, but over a decade ago now, keep meaning to reread but never get around to it, alas. I only really remember the plots of the first two, and the Magician's Nephew is fuzzy.

MelvinTheDepressedRobot

I actually listened to the audio books in the last couple of years, so it’s all pretty fresh for me. The Last Battle was even worse than I remember, while The Magician’s Nephew was the best (it gets big points for having Polly there and calling Digory a dumbass when appropriate).

I've read them all at least twice, with The Last Battle being the one read the least. I remember some better than others, but I do remember at least the important parts of all.

That's the one where they were escaping bullies

I'm afraid I'm not very useful on this poll. I won't swear I've never read them as I read a lot of stuff I forgot about since as a kid, but having seen at least a couple of the movies, I still don't remember what even they were about.

Inka Reunanen

This is pretty accurate to me. In very BROAD strokes I remember the plot of all of them. The details on all but "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" and "The Magician's Nephew" are pretty blurry. But given I read too damn fast and skip details and forget equally quickly, that's pretty par for me.

I can remember a lot of the details of The Silver Chair but I can't remember why they were in Narnia.

Nathaniel Williamson

We read/watched the movie for the first one as a class project for english class in, I'm guessing here, grade 4 and I was so enthralled that for the next 6 school days I would take the next one in the series out of the school library and finish it that night allowing me to return it and get the next one the next day. I mostly remember all of them but the ones that have had movie adaptations are much clearer in my head as I've also watched every movie adaptation made so far. The religious symbolism is much less clear as I never really got any of that until it was explained to me, and even then I have to take their words for it since I know very little about the bible.

Kevin Bartelen

I'm a little foggy on the details of some of the books but I think I remember the important points well enough. I was obsessed with these books when I was a kid (despite being Jewish, I think mostly I just ignored the allegory).

Anirien

I always really loved The Magicians' Nephew and was disappointed it never got adapted.

cosmotron

I definitely sat down and read all of them at one point, I only remember lion, the witch and the wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and the magician's nephew. And I think magician's nephew was the best one.

As a child I used to read these in the bathtub until they fell apart. (I am the only person in my friend groups who got the Jesus allusion because a teacher used to read them to us for morning worship in a Christian school, and I then forced my father to buy me the series.) This was back when the series was acknolwedged to begin with "Lion, Witch and Wardrobe," and the only one I didn't read to soggy yellowing pieces was "The Last Battle" because, I will not lie, I hated it. Possibly a contradiction... I really liked Walden's "Prince Caspian." Reeeeeeallly liked it. The "Dawn Treader" adaptation did Eustace AND Will Poulter super dirty.

Camille R

Started "reading" the omnibus audiobook of them and stopped part way into the magicians nephew. Been meaning to get back to it but I'm terrible.

I read the entire series, but that was a LONG time ago i.e. 45 years. I didn't find them worth rereading or reading to my kid. I do remember Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, because I saw 2 adaptations of it. I remember pieces of The Last Battle, not any details, other than Susan getting screwed and everyone being dead. The Christian allegory became increasingly heavy handed and I didn't like that at all.

percysowner

Same! I was sure I'd be able to remember all of them, I've reread them so many times! But drew a blank on that one. I'm sure if I picked it up I'd be, "Oh YEAH, that was it!"

I remember the characters in every one of them, and the inciting actions, but I'm a bit hazy on the actual conclusions of the Silver Chair and the Horse and His Boy.

Though not lately, I have read the whole series numerous times: enough that even my ageing brain remembers most of the details (I think!) My childhood boxed set was ragged.

Kelley Runyon

I was going through and summarizing each plot in my head, until I got to the Silver Chair. I can't for the life of me remember what happened in that book. I re-read the series about 10 years ago so I should be able to pull it back, but it's a blank.

I got very into the Chronicles as an elementary-school child who was the victim of constant horrendous bullying. It sounded wonderful - crawl through a wardrobe or a painting and leave all of the scapegoating behind. I re-read them many times over the next few years, as the teachers carefully ignored the physical violence and the principal called my mother "hysterical" when she tried to get him to do something - anything! - about it. So... yeah. I remember them.

jaciem

I can't even remember if I read Prince Caspian or The Voyage of the Dawntreader. I've seen several adaptations of them multiple times and I don't think I can remember the plots.

Sarah Brody

The Magician’s Nephew is such a strange book. I remember elements (mainly the connected attic spaces, the ponds and the guinea pigs (?))

Molly McDade

Currently in the process of reading the series through, so if you'd asked this in a couple of months I;'d have ticked a lot more lol

I have a very beautiful illustrated copy of all seven books. Had it for as long as I can remember and I've read it a lot! Did need to buy smaller copies as well at one point though, it's a little heavy... Love them all, don't think I have a favourite.

I only remember the part at the end with the door, and the whole "what happened to Susan' thing. I assume at some point there was probably a battle though...

FizzPlease

I remember rough plots, but probably not too many details. But Narnia were some of the few fantasy books that my mother couldn't argue with because ~christian allegory~, so I read them a fair bit as a kid. Voyage of the Dawntreader was my favourite.

Anything I remember is either from watching the BBC adaptations, or from my primary school days of obsessively reading the books over and over again lmao

Meribeth Gater

Method: I know I don't remember any of the books cover-to-cover and in-order, but I considered it "remembered" if I could recall (without looking) enough plot points to fill ~50 pages of each of the books.

khaliqtessi

I have only read the one where Narnia is made as it was the first in the huge book. The magicians nephew I think it was. I remember not liking the style so I stopped reading after that one. I do remember the contents reasonably well considering I read it about 10 years ago.

Odayin Gold

Not sure if I even finished The Horse and his Boy, it was terrible

I think I’ve only read the first two books and the magician nephew as a child but can barely remember anything. I can only remember the very first book cause of your video on it.

i KNOW i’ve read the whole series bc i distinctly remember how pissed off i was about susan being left behind in the last battle, but god if i could tell you about anything other than that part.

Did the Last Battle even have a plot?

Buc Reviewer

I'm pretty sure the only reason I've read / can remember the lion, the witch and the wardrobe is because we read it as a class multiple times throughout my school years.

Jenni Banks

The Magician's Nephew and Voyage of the Dawn Treader are the ones I remember most vividly. The Wood Between the Worlds and the Silver Sea images have never left my imagination.

E. T. Young

I will say that a lot of the plots of books I can remember is due to the BBC Narnia live action series I saw during the 90s. They never made A Magician Nephew into live action but I do remember the plot from reading it. I know I read A horse and his boy but I actually can't remember what it is about.

J. MacGillivray

Also, I finally had the budget to become a Patron! Whoot! (And my favorite was "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" ... Reepicheep is my hero, now and forever!)

Sylvan Scott

I recall the Marsh Wiggle in the Silver Chair but, other than him, I can't recall much else. And, honestly? The Last Battle? All I remember is what happened to Susan.

Sylvan Scott

A Horse and his boy was probably my favorite of the books, with the Silver Chair as a close second, I read the books several times over in middle school, and again in college.

I remember all of the books except for a Horse and His Boy. I could give you basic rundowns of all of the plots, except that one. I've read it two or three times and the plot, with the exception of Aslan turning the dude into an ass at the end, never makes any impression on me.

Daniel Allen

I've read The lion, the witch and the wardrobe multiple times through out the years but never had the opportunity too read the rest of the series I only remember the plots to the books that had movie versions made of them however I recently purchased the entire collection on Audible and can't wait to delve into it.

kristinlyn patricia pyne

I remember that I read all but the Last Battle, but I only really remember the first two and A Horse and His Boy. Everything else is a smattering of plot points I vaguely recall.

Thing I have learned: the book I remember as The Silver Chair was actually a different Narnia book, and the only other one I remember well outside of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (which gets referenced enough its hard to forget) is the last one, simply because of how much I hated it.

Ryan Williams

Never read but saw a movie or two.

Amy Poli

*ten = the Magician's Nephew. Silly Autocorrect

Denise L

So annoying: I can remember the rest, but while I remember the main characters, the plot of the Horse and his Boy escapes me!

SJ Chariot

Read the whole series twice in elementary school, once in publication order and once in chronological order. I only remember the plot for TLTWATW but the creation scene from TMN has stuck with me. I remember being vaguely disappointed by The Horse and His Boy since I was a huge horse girl and the plot wasn’t sufficiently horse-y, but can’t remember why.

Jen

3rd grade reading book had a smidge of tLtWatW and then included the information for finding the book (ah the 70s). I dived into our school library and never looked up. Overall I like Dawn Treader the best and tMN is my second. Knowing Jadis helped after the fact. I noticed that the newer collections have that listed as the first book--my son got the series a few months ago but we have my old copies from the 70s (except ten which disappeared) as well as digital text and audio versions. I've tried to introduce him to things I loved as a kid but when he hit middle school his focus changed away from books to computers. So....shrugs. I'll keep trying.

Denise L

It's kinda funny, I remember The Silver Chair being my favorite, plotwise. I just enjoyed its concept most. ^.^

Enntropy

Well, actually ... just sitting here looking at the titles, I do remember. The Silver Chair was about those kids who needed to remember a series of answer keys from Aslan so as not to be tricked along their quest, and they more or less fall for every single trick. I remember the horse was called Bree, and he had to teach the boy everything, but Bree worried that he'd learned to behave 'clownishly' from Earth horses. They are more memorable than I gave them credit.

Crescent Minor

What I mean by my ticking of the boxes is that I have read the whole series and barely remember it; it's frankly more through cultural re-osmosis that I know the plot of the first and second. I know that Reepicheep needed to go to the far eastern edge of their flat world, but I can't remember which book that was.

Crescent Minor

A lot of them, the "remembering the plot" are very vague sort of one sentence things. (Granted, some of them, one sentence is all you need "Road trip to the edge of the world, only on a boat" really says a lot) It has been... probably a good 20 years since I read these, but I still have them all. In the original printed order. Because dang it, they work better that way. /oldtimer cane shaking.

Fran B

Same

I remember "The Horse and His Boy" the best, because for a long time, that was the only volume I owned...and it received frequent re-reads. XD;; I've re-read "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" and "The Magician's Nephew" multiple times, as well, so I remembered them... but otherwise, not much. I remember when It switched over to their cousin and the girl he hung out with, but that's probably my limit. Should really revisit these.

Aviva Godfrey

The Horse and His Boy was my favorite

I’ve read them multiple times, even have a nice hardcover set of them.

Christopher Powell

I’ve loved these stories since before I could read. My dad would tell me them as bedtime stories growing up. I think his favorites were The Horse and His Boy and The Magician’s Nephew, since he told them most often, closely followed by Dawntreader. After I could read, The Silver Chair became my favorite.

ElizabethJustElizabeth

I've read all of them but most of them are just foggy recollections.

I bought the full collection in one giant volume. Silver chair is my favourite in the series. The great battle is my least favourite because that’s were c.s. Lewis went full Old Testament. Boy and his horse has some pretty cringey references to Arab culture but if you can overlook that as just being a product of the time, it’s my second favourite book.

Paul ferancik

Maybe you should clarify that remembering the plot is only about the books and not the movies, because there are currently more patrons in the poll remembering the first plot than have actually read the first book. :D

Mokarokas

You should've included 'all of the above apply'. Or did you and I'm just too drunk to see it

Sakuya-han

I listened to the audio version of them last year. (It had been ages since I read the books.) It struck me just how short the life of Narnia itself was.

Gary Leigh

I don’t think I ever read any of the books but I did see an animated movie of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as a kid. The scene where Aslan is killed was fairly traumatizing.

Quixotic Raven

I can remember most of the books pretty clearly, despite the fact I haven't read them since Highschool. Last Battle is the only one I'm not really clear on. Mostly just the general gist of it and a few key plot points.

The rings and tree were Magician's Nephew, the one legged people Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the letters were Silver Chair, and I don't recognize the train crash so I assume that's Last Battle because I haven't read that one

I remember my high school library10+ years ago having like this big book with all the Narnia books in order of time line. I ready Magicians nephew and lion the witch and the wardrobe, but I never went further, If it was due to school ending or because my brain grew bored of it I don't fully know

Cat Luniscia

I shocked myself by realizing the plot I remember best is the Silver Chair, because that was my second least favorite book.

Anya

Ish on the last battle, but these were some of my favorite books as a kid, and I reread at least one (along with LOTR) once a year between 8-15. Yes I was a nerd, and yes, it was hard 😂

sonorasgirl

read the entire series several times. Remember main bit of the plots for them, though the weakest are Silver Chair and Horse and his Boy...

Vik-Thor Rose

Been 20 years since I read them or more but I actually, when I think about it, remember more than I thought I would. There are holes, but the general plot and quite a few scenes.

Therese Knøs

I mean.... how detailed do I have to remember the plot? I probably couldn't give you an exact chapter by chapter rundown, but I could do a plot points summary of most of them.

The fact that I remember the plots of all of them is probably due to the fact that every few years I reread the series. I'd be interested in how many people read them once as a child (or had them read to them) and found that certain of the books stuck with them and certain ones didn't. As a kid I really liked "A Horse And His Boy", not because it was all that narratively strong or added much at all to the Narnia worldbuilding, but because I was a horse-crazy kid and would read essentially ANYTHING with a horse on the cover with great delight. It was not until much much later that I realized that this particular Narnia book is uncomfortably racist toward the Calormen. I remember Shasta being introduced to butter on toast in Narnia and him finding it delightful because all he'd been given for his bread in the past was "oil", with the strong suggestion that the oil topping was distinctly inferior to the butter topping. But olive oil on bread is delicious (as is butter, to be fair), so why would a kid raised eating, essentially, bruschetta, be so taken with buttered toast?

Maytree

These were my jam when I was a kid. My dad read them to me and my sisters when they were kids. Big part of my childhood.

John Haslach

I picked up Silver Chair in middle school and realized about halfway through that I had read it before. So at some point I read it but didn't associate it with the Chronicles of Narnia

To be fair I read them all about 35yrs ago so I can only remember the wardrobe one. Vaguely remember magic rings and a tree, one legged people, walking in letters, and a train crash but that's three different books and not the whole story for any.

I can remember plot points from The Silver Chair and A Horse and His Boy, but I can’t remember the overall arc of either. The rest I remember somewhat well (Dawn Treader, Caspian) to very well (Wardrobe, Nephew).

Matthew Abbott

Read them all, but yeah, don't really remember much about The Horse and His Boy beyond ethnic stereotypes and that there was a horse and a boy.

Joe Moyer

Read then all more than a decade ago, from most of them I remember only parts, yet somehow the magician's nephew, which I read first, and no movie to remind me of plot, is the one that stuck with me the most

I’ve seen several The Lion and Witch plays plus the movies but no books read

God, I remeber how the horse and his boy ended. (By seeing the Kings and Queens) But the actual plot. Nah.

Amazonian Girl

I never read them as a child, and as an adult I found out that they were blatant Christian allegory before I ever had any interest in them. Now I don't even want to read them.

Gordon Dell

Laughing maniacally as my intricate knowledge of the entire Chronicles of Narnia FINALLY becomes useful

Tim Bates

All of the above.(Except for the not reading any of them obviously)

Tom Hur

It's been over 30 years since I read the series. Don't recall much. Only really recall the first two books because I had a refresher via the first two movies.

Yes, a few of these I definitely don't remember the plot from the books. (Caspian, Dawn Treader), but I know I read them all as a kid. Still have all my original paperbacks on my bookshelf.

I was very young when I read these, but I read them in “chronological” order started with the magicians nephew and went from there

My parents and I tried to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when I was but a wee Arkle, but we all ultimately found it boring and swtiched over to The Hobbit partway through.

What about watching? I've watched the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and remember the plot from that.

Elysia Fields

I sped through this series like crazy.

Ly Jalao