One of my favorite Narnia tales
From Amazon
This is the third novel in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, following The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, if you go by the time-line of the stories.
This Narnia book is more of a side-story than a continuation of the main story. It takes place in the fictional world where the other stories are set, though most of it occurs in two kingdoms neighboring Narnia: Calormen and Archenland. The Pevensie children, now adults in Narnian time, do play a role, but the main characters are Shasta, Aravis, Bree, and Hwin. Shasta is an escapee, who fled the indentured servitude of a fisherman, to avoid being sold into outright slavery. This occurs in Calormen, a neighboring kingdom to Narnia. Shasta leaves mounted upon Bree, a talking Narnian horse, captured long ago and brought to Calormen. They head toward Narnia and freedom, and are soon joined by Aravis, a high-status girl escaping the prospect of an arranged marriage to a man whom she detests. Aravis rides Hwin, another Narnian horse stuck in Calormen, where animals do not talk.
As the two people and two talking horses make their way through enemy territory, across all of Calormen, hiding their identities, they encounter palace intrigue, life-threatening eavesdropping, deserts, ghosts, tombs, mistaken identities, military plots, and Aslan, the Great Lion who created Narnia. Will they survive? Will they make it to Narnia? Will they end up staying elsewhere?
I find it interesting that even though this story is not part of the overarching story focusing on the Pevensie children, it is, in my opinion, a better story than the previous two. Why is it better? The story is more descriptive of everything. There is plenty of action, but it is not just a series of connected events, but a true tale. As I read, I could easily imagine the setting, as there was plenty of descriptive detail.
More importantly, the descriptions of the characters was much more thorough than in the previous books. They came off as three-dimensional, real people, with personalities. The main characters also developed across the story, especially Bree and Aravis. All four, though, are quite changed from how they started the story. They not only went through a series of events, but experienced them, and had relationships, and were changed. The only character that seems a bit two-dimensional is Prince Rabadash, the villain. He is a pretty standard villain: arrogant, power-hungry, ruthless, conniving, greedy, and petty.
Some people feel that the book was racist (anti-Arabic), as the kingdom of Calormen does have many Arabic-resembling names and cultural aspects. Who knows if Lewis meant it that way, or if the bad guys, needed for the story to exist, just turned out resembling Arabs in certain ways? The entire series does have pro-Christianity symbolism, mixed unusually with aspects of religions that preceded Christianity.
If you enjoy the Narnia books, try The Book of Names: A Novel (Legends of Karac Tor)
An excelent story
From Amazon
With "The Horse and His Boy," Lewis introduces a new scenario that deals only with happenings in Narnia, unlike "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." In this story, the focus is on a young boy named Shasta who lives in a country neighboring Narnia. When a rich Tarkaan comes to Shasta's village, Shasta learns that the horse he rides on is an enslaved Narnian horse--one that can talk. The horse and the boy both hate the situations they are in so they decide to escape. Upon doing so, they encounter many adventures, and eventually encounter the original siblings (Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Susan) from the first book, who are in the height of their reign in this time setting. Further on, the horse and Shasta meet Aslan, and discover Shasta's true identity, as royalty.
"The Horse and His Boy" is unlike many of the other books because it focuses on the time period when Peter and his brother and sisters are ruling Narnia. Instead of following those 4 characters, the book is in a new part of the world of Narnia and follows new characters, giving a general idea of what life in Narnia was like during Peter's reign. It is a great story for children and adults, and as with all the Narnia books, holds a spiritual message within its symbolism. As always with Lewis, it is simplistic and deep at the same time, an excellent story that everyone should read.
Beautiful and Touching
From Amazon
This is an exciting story with such a beautiful picture of the theology that Lewis held dear. This book is a masterpiece and may be the finest work in the Narnia novels. Reading this out loud to my daughter nearly brought me to tears at times. This is a great, great book.
Amazing!
From Amazon
"The Horse and His Boy" is my favorite book in the Narnia series out of the first four books (that's how far I've gotten so far). Highly recommended!
Not Quite What I Expected
From Amazon
The Horse and His Boy is a great adventure, but is different from the other Narnian tales. Even though it is set during the time when Peter, Susan, Lucy, and Edmund is in Narnia ruling, it is not really geared towards them.
The horse's name is Bree, and the boy name is Shasta. They run away from their masters to live free in the north. Shasta and Bree do have someone join them on their journey along with another talking horse, but the girl doesn't really like Shasta. Shasta proves in the end to be a braver person, a more selfless person from everyone else. I liked Shasta from the very start, and I was glad to see him become something more than he thought he was.
This is a book of travel and adventure, much like most of the Narnia books. It is good to read about familiar characters. It's like you feel connected to them because you read about them in other books.
Another C.S. Lewis book I immensely enjoyed.
Thanks.