The Last Battle

The Last Battle is a high fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis published by The Bodley Head in 1956. It was the seventh and final novel in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956). Like the others it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and her work has been retained in many later editions.

    The Last Battle is set almost entirely in the Narnian world, and the English children who participate arrive only in the middle of the narrative. The novel is set some two hundred Narnian years after The Silver Chair and about 2500 years since the creation of the world narrated in The Magician’s Nephew. A false Aslan is set up in the north-western borderlands and conflict between true and false Narnians merges with the conflicts between Narnia and Calormen, whose people worship Tash. It concludes with termination of the world by Aslan, after a “last battle” practically lost.

The Silver Chair

The Silver Chair is a high fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1953. It was the fourth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956); it is volume six in recent editions, which are sequenced according to Narnian history. Like the others, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and her work has been retained in many later editions.

    The novel is set primarily in the world of Narnia, decades after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader but less than a year later in England. King Caspian X is now an old man, but his son and only heir, Prince Rilian, is missing. Aslan the lion sends two children from England to Narnia on a mission to resolve the mystery: Eustace Scrubb, from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and his class-mate, Jill Pole. In the frame story, Eustace and Jill are students at a horrible boarding school, Experiment House.

The Voyage of The Dawn Treader

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a high fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis published by Geoffrey Bles in 1952. It was the third published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956) and Lewis finished writing it in 1950, before the first book was published. It is volume five in recent editions, which are sequenced according to Narnian history. Like the others it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and her work has been retained in many later editions. It is the only Narnia book not featuring a main villain. Lewis dedicated the book to Geoffrey Corbett: he is the foster-son of Owen Barfield, the friend, teacher, adviser, and trustee of Lewis.

     The Voyage of the Dawn Treader features a second return to the Narnia world, about three years later in Narnia and one year later in England, by Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, the younger two of the four English children featured in the first two books. Prince Caspian is now King Caspian X. He leads a sea voyage to the eastern end of the world, which the English siblings and their cousin Eustace Scrubb magically join soon after his ship Dawn Treader sets sail.

Prince Caspian

Prince Caspian (originally published as Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia) is a high fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1951. It was the second published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956), and Lewis finished writing it in 1949, before the first book was published. It is volume four in recent editions of the series, which are sequenced according to Narnian history. Like the others it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and her work has been retained in many later editions.

    Prince Caspian features a “return to Narnia’ by the four Pevensie children of the first novel, about one year later in England but 1300 years later in Narnia. It is the only one of The Chronicles of Narnia where men dominate Narnia; the talking animals and mythical beings are oppressed and some endangered. The English siblings are legendary Kings and Queens of Narnia whom the refugee Prince Caspian magically recalls for assistance, as children once again.

The Horse and His Boy

The Horse and His Boy is a novel by C.S. Lewis published by Geoffrey Bles in 1954. It was the fifth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956) and one of four Lewis finished writing before the first book was published. It is volume three in recent editions, which are sequenced according to Narnian history. Like the others it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and her work has been retained in many later editions.

    The Horse and His Boy is the only book of the Narnia series featuring native rather than English children as the main characters, and the only one set entirely in the Narnian world. It is set in the period covered by the last chapter of the inaugural book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, during the reign of the four Pevensie children as Kings and Queens of Narnia. Although the Pevensies appear as minor characters, the main characters are two children and two talking horses who escape from Calormen north into Narnia. En route they pass through Calormen’s capital city, where they learn of Calormen’s plan to invade Archenland, Narnia’s southern neighbor. When they reach Archenland, they warn the king of the impending invasion.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956). Among all the author’s books, it is also the most widely held in libraries. Although it was written as well as published first in the series, it is volume two in recent editions, sequenced by the stories’ chronology (the first being The Magician’s Nephew). Like the others it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and her work has been retained in many later editions.

    Most of the novel is set in Narnia, a land of talking animals and mythical creatures where the White Witch has ruled for a hundred years over a deep winter. In the frame story, four English children are relocated to a large, old country house following a wartime evacuation. The youngest visits Narnia three times via the magic of a wardrobe in a spare room. All four children are together on her third visit, verifying her fantastic claims and comprises the subsequent twelve of seventeen chapters, except for a brief conclusion. In Narnia the siblings seem fit to fulfill an old prophecy and so are soon adventuring both to save Narnia and their lives. Lewis wrote the book for, and dedicated it to, his goddaughter Lucy Barfield. She was the daughter of Owen Barfield, Lewis’s friend, teacher, adviser, and trustee.

The Magician's Nephew

The Magician’s Nephew is a high fantasy novel for children by C.S. Lewis published by Bodley Head in 1955. It was the sixth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956) series; it is volume one in recent editions, which are sequenced according to Narnian history. Like the others it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and her work has been retained in many later editions.

    The Magician’s Nephew is a prequel to the books of the same series. The middle third of the novel features creation of the Narnia world by Aslan the lion, centered at a section of a lamp-post brought by accidental observers from London during year 1900. The visitors then participate in the beginning of Narnian history, 1,000 years before The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (which inaugurated the series in 1950). The frame story set in England features two children ensnared in experimental travel via “the wood between the worlds.” Thus, the novel shows Narnia and our middle-age world to be only two of many in a multiverse changing as some worlds begin and others end. It also explains the origin of foreign elements in Narnia, not only the lamp-post but the White Witch and a human king and queen.