The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia)

None of the sheer magic of the Horse and His Boy has faded since it first delighted a generation of children in the 1950s, and anyone who has ever savoured the peculiar delights of Narnia will love this special edition, published in celebration of the centenary of CS Lewis. With its stylish, larger format featuring fine, hand-coloured illustrations by Pauline Baynes, all the magic of the originals can be found in this delectable tale which will continue to enchant hosts of new readers long into the future. --Susan Harrison

Reader Reviews:

Another Underachievement (1/2 people found this helpful)

C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898. He was Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge, where he counted J.R.R. Tolkien among his friends. "The Horse and his Boy", the third book of the Chronicles of Narnia, was first published in 1954.

Although the series is known as the "Chronicles of Narnia", much of the action takes place in the neighbouring countries of Calormen and Archenland. Shasta, the boy mentioned in the book's title, is introduced first - he's been brought up in Calormen by a fisherman called Arsheesh. One evening, a local prince stops with the pair and demands hospitality. Later, when Shasta overhears the prince and his father bartering for Shasta himself, he decides to run away. Luckily for Shasta, the prince's horse is a captured Narnian horse called Bree - and, as a Narnian, Bree can talk. Bree has also set his heart on escaping and returning home and agrees to take Shasta with him - recognising the boy as either a fellow Narnian or an Archenlander, rather than being native to Calormen. The pair make off together that night and, before long, they are joined on the road by another fleeing pair : Aravis and Hwin. Aravis is a Calormen princess being forced to marry against her will while Hwin, like Bree, is a captured Narnian horse. The four escapees must make their way through Calormen's capital, Tashbaan, and then across the northern desert to safety.

It's possible I'm seeing more in this book than was intended, and I know it's supposed to be a kid's book - but I'd have to describe the portrayal of Calormen's people as not only the book's big flaw but also very questionable. Physically, they're described as having dark faces and wear turbans, while their favoured weapon is the scimitar. As individuals, only Aravis is portrayed in anything vaguely resembling a positive light. Arsheesh, Shasta's foster-father, had no qualms about selling him into slavery, while Aravis' father was apparently happy to arrange her man to the Grand Vizier - someone old enough to be her grandfather. Meanwhile, the Tisroc - Calormen's ruler - is the sort of cheap and easy villain others have tried to fabricate again more recently : he actually sneers at the concept of freedom. Narnia's King Edmund and Queen Susan also appear briefly - Queen Lucy's appearance is barely even fleeting. Edmund, who didn't exactly cover himself in glory in "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe", maintains his low standards when his refers to Prince Rabadash as Susan's "dark faced lover". He isn't long in adding that Rabadash is "proud, bloody, luxurious, cruel and a self-pleasing tyrant". (From only a slightly different perspective, of course, the very same thing could be said about Peter - Narnia's High King and Edmund's brother). All of which is a great pity, as the bones of this story are much stronger than those of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe".

The Horse And His Boy (1/5 people found this helpful)

Its an interesting book but there are some boring bits in it.
But its a brlliant book but to understand the book you have to read the boring bits

A good story, albeit with some difficulties... (9/11 people found this helpful)

I had no intention of writing a review until I saw the number of readers who responded indignantly to the first reviewer's mention of "racism." Look, I've read "A Horse and his Boy" more times than I can count- in fact, it used to be my favorite Narnia book- until I slowly came to the conclusion (probably when I was about 13 or so) that I had some problems with the way that the Calormenes was portrayed in this book. There is a definite patronising tone in the descriptions- Calormenes are described as "cruel" and "ruthless," as opposed to the "free" and tolerant Narnians, their religion is blasphemy (the worship of Tash is revealed to be the worship of the devil in "The Last Battle"), they are under the rule of despots like the Tisroc (may he live forever), they are vain and overdressed, and even the good token Calormenes, i.e. Aravis, find aspects of Calormene culture to be inferior to Narnian- for example, when she is in hiding in the Tisroc's palace, she suddenly thinks, out of the blue, how Narnian men's fashions are much "nicer" than what Calormene men wear. Huh? After a while, this all gets to be a bit tiresome, especially when Calormen is contrasted, over and over again, and never in a positive light, to good, green, hardy, Aslan-loving Narnia. If one has heard of Edward Said, and his book "Orientalism," one realises (as I did) that C.S. Lewis was really working out of a very old European tradition, of using Middle Eastern cultures merely as a mirror, the dark side, of all that is allegedly good and true in western societies. This doesn't make the Narnia series bad, or not worthy of being read. On the contrary, C.S. is still one of of my favorite writers. His children's stories have a depth and a delicacy unsurpassed by anything else on the comtemporary market. I can only wish his Calormenes weren't quite so... two dimensional. But, "The Horse and his Boy" is still worth a read- but IMHO it should be approached with a little bit of caution.

Better for the older Narnia reader (3/3 people found this helpful)

I remember this book being the worst book of all the Narina books when I read them at the age of twelve but re reading it makes all the difference. The book was both interesting and the characters were very captivating I think that its one definitely for the older reader rather than the younger readers because the magic of Narnia is captured in a different and unique way which it is not in the others book. I would question the portrayals from the book a little bit but it's not racist rather it has a subtle dig at some non - Christians but it does not in anyway flood the book with them. It is all in all a good book which I would highly recommend it.

Missing the magic (6/7 people found this helpful)

This is the third book (chronologically) in the Narnia series, and the fifth one published. It is vastly different from "The Magician's Nephew" and "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe", given that most of the story unfolds outside of Narnia, and it's missing the magic that permeated the first two books.

I hasten to add here that it is a richly descriptive novel, my best description being "Moses" meets "The Prince and the Pauper" and "Alladin" in "Arabian Nights ".

Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah, aka Bree, the horse in question does not live up to the "star" billing of the title, being a touch vain, proud and conceited and a little chicken in times of trouble, but without him there would not be a story, and Shasta (his boy, as you may have guessed)would still be a Tarkaan's slave.

They are joined in this adventure by Aravis Tarkheena, assisted by her stable and sensible horse Hwin. Aravis is fleeing an arranged marriage to an ugly old brown-nosing Grand Vizier-designate with a humpback.

Together they defy the odds, fight and squabble a lot, uncover a treacherous plot and finally crawl across the desert into Narnia via Archenland to help save the day.

A grand battle ensues to satisfy the rejection issues of hot headed Tashbaan Prince Rabadash, and Queen Lucy and King Edward (of Book 2) are right in the middle of the fray. High King Peter is off fighting somewhere else, and Queen Susan is staying out of this one, even though she more or less started it. All our friendly mythical creatures appear at this point.

Shasta finds his true identity, his real family, and secures his future job, and everybody lives more or less happily ever after, except Rabadash, who makes a jackass of himself.

No story of Narnia is complete without the presence of the great and powerful Aslan, who appears in various guises throughout the story, guiding, calming, disciplining and protecting his children.

The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia)

C. S. Lewis

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