The Horse and His Boy

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Engrossing
Review: Shasta is a boy in Calormen, a realm to the south of Narnia. He is perhaps not quite a slave -- but he's pretty close. His life is basically barely worth living, and he suddenly learns it is about to get far worse, because he is about to be sold into outright slavery. Desperate, he chooses to make a break for it, and is assisted by an amazing encounter with a talking horse, named Bree. Together, they flee toward Narnia and the North, meeting on the way a high-spirited girl named Aravis, with a horse of her own. The plot thickens as they become involved in a race to reach Narnia before an army of Calormenes, who, they learn, are preparing a sneaky, and potentially devastating, invasion of Narnia. Aslan, readers will be relieved to hear, figures prominently in the story.

One interesting element of this story is that we have a few chapters to see what Lucy and Edmund are like, as adult Narnian kings and queens. Fans of Narnia will remember from "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" that Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan went to Narnia as children, but due to the freaky laws of Narnian time, they became adult kings and queens over the course of a single afternoon. The action in this book apparently takes place during that afternoon (in Earth time,) because Shasta and Aravis meet Lucy and Edmund and are able to help them... Another point about this book -- if you have met Eilonwy in Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books, and if you liked her character, then you will enjoy Aravis. They are quite similar.

Children reading this review, be aware that C.S. Lewis is NOT considered to be the most tolerant, understanding person of Islam, or Islamic people. Many of the characters in this book reflect this outlook. If you are interested in Calormen and its desert-dwelling, turbaned people, I recommend going to an encyclopedia and looking up the word "Islam." C.S. Lewis drew quite a bit upon this subject in creating Calormen, for better or for worse. Especially these days, children need to be extra-careful about what attitudes you may be subliminally picking up. It's a good adventure story, but be very careful when you're booing at the "bad guys." Adults reading this review -- if you are curious about the intellectual traditions out of which C.S. Lewis was operating in creating this book, let me recommend "Orientalism" by Edward Said. For a different view of the kind of battles portrayed in the latter chapters in this book, I recommend "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes" by Amin Maalouf.

Rating:
Summary: The Horse and his Boy
Review: This book is about a boy named Shasta and a horse named Bree. Bree is a Narnian that was captured to by used as a war horse, and Shasta is a boy that is like a slave.They run away together to try to ger to Narnia, but touble learks ahead. If you want to know if they make it to Narnia read the book THE HORSE AND HIS BOY

Rating:
Summary: Dull
Review: This book is not near as exciting as the 2 before it in the series. I think I almost fell asleep reading some parts. It did have a pinch of spice to it. I wouldn't recommend it though.

Rating:
Summary: Go North, my son, Go North
Review: Shasta discovers one day that he is not the son of the person he has always called "Father". Instead of being sold as a slave to the lord, he decides to go north, over the hill, and to the almost legendary and enemy land of Narnia. . . Full of talking horses, happy endings, lords and ladies, kings and princes, this is the classic story of the terrors of Narnia's southern neighbour, and how to escape it. It is the third book in the wonderful Narnia series and all of the Narnia books are Don't-Miss-These stories. Buy them now! (no, really, NOW, before it's too late) Sutible for all ages.

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: Although C.S. Lewis is a great storyteller he didn't write well enough to pacify me. I have to admit the last 50 pages of the book were enthralling but the rest of the book was just a plain bore. He could've worked up more plots while they were running to Archenland to warn the king of the prince's attack. Sorry Mr. Lewis, better luck next time.

Rating:
Summary: "The Horse and his Boy": The Best in the Series!
Review: "The Horse and his Boy" is definitely the best tale in "The Chronicles of Narnia" series by C.S. Lewis. It is the first title to stray from the progressing story, and the first to begin with characters already living in Narnia, or thereabouts at least. The 5th original, before the publisher resembled the series, it remains my favorite to this day.

The story is of a boy's flight with a horse across the dangerous lands north of Narnia, taking him through the city of Tashbaan, one of the marvels of the world, through a bleak desert, through Archenland which is on the very southern tip of Narnia, and finally into the land we all know and love so well. While it is quite different from it's predecessors, it's still refreshing to know that Lewis could diversify with little difficulty.

This IS the best story of the original seven, and shouldn't be slipped. Lewis' imagination shines forth brilliantly throughout the tale; it's the kind of imagination you would expect from a child, which is perhaps why the Narnia books are so warmly welcomed into many walks of life. The book also contains some of my favorite Aslan quotes, and is worth the read just for those if not anything else.

A definite classic in my book!

Rating:
Summary: A great story(for adults, too)!
Review: You probably already know that C.S. Lewis wrote seven "Chronicles of Narnia"; while it's hard(and really not necessary)to choose a "best" in the series, this may be it. "The Horse and his Boy"(wonderful title)is a rollicking, breathlessly fast-paced adventure, with each character-both villains and heroes-completely believable and multi-faceted-especially Bree, the talking war-horse. And if you're new to C.S. Lewis' work, rest assured his fantasies are as far from "cute" as you can get; his protagonists always have quite a lot of tough adventures they have to endure, sometimes in the form of violent battles(though they never got too violent for an 11 year old at her first reading). Wonderful language, incredible imagination, characters who become friends-what more could you want? I defy any reader to be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Take the journey
Review: Ok, before you even bother reading my review, buy the book (I'll wait here).

I hope you bought it. If you haven't, let me tell you why you should: The Horse And His Boy is an outstanding story. And that's not all-you can read it without having read any of the other Narnia books; not that you'd want to do that. All the Narnia books are wonderful.

The Horse And His Boy follows the adventures of Bree (a talking horse) and Shasta (a slave boy) who run away from their masters and journey to the magical land of Narnia. Along the way they meet a nobleman's daughter, another talking horse, a king and a queen, and a very special Lion (he's not a tame lion you know).

I love this book. I love all the Narnia books. C.S. Lewis is a great writer (now in glory). However, heed this warning: this book is only for children and those adults who are old enough to love fairy tales again. I hope that means you.

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing book
Review: C.S. Lewis is a genius, and this is one of the best out of the chronicles. I love this book, because it gives you a better understanding of how horrible Calormen was. In this story a young boy who was adopted by a Calormene fishermen escapes to Narnia with a talking horse Bree. On their dangerous journey, they meet a Tarkheena named Aravis and her horse Hwin. They are on an amazing adventure and have to face the challenges of getting through the busy city of Tashbaan and crossing the desert. Their most difficult challenge is to get to Archenland before the Calormen army to warn the king about their surprise attack. This book introduces new characters and has the lovable old ones. I recommend this book to anyone who can read!

Rating:
Summary: South of Narnia and Archenland, an adventure begins....
Review: The only installment of the Chronicles of Narnia that doesn't involve the main character(s) being pulled from our world into Narnia. Instead, this tells the story of a boy born in Narnia himself and his travels through Calormen, the desert land far to the south and then to Archenland. This is one of the better of the Chrinicles of Narnia novels in my opinion. It's so much more about the people of the world of Narnia than the others, because they always involve people from our world. This book takes place after The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and before Prince Caspian. It has a very interesting plot and is hard to put down. Five stars-definently!