The Horse and His Boy (The Chronicles of Narnia) Audio CD – Unabridged, 19 Nov. 2013

I am reading these books in published order so this was the fifth book I read in the series. This is the first book that I have read in my reading order were I have had to think back to previous happenings in the earlier books. Things in this book happened after Prince Caspian. However I didn't get confused or mixed up between the two and it was easy to read still. I actually enjoyed thinking back to previous books and linking a few things up. Like that Peter is mentioned in the books only in conversation not as himself because he is away fighting the giants.I really enjoyed this book just as much as the others and can't wait to read the next, which is the magicians nephew. The first book to read in the other rather than published!! Was a brilliant adventure and was a bit of everything in it.Please read. Thank you C.S Lewis!

I enjoyed the Narnia Chronicles as a child many, many years ago, and still find the series as magical today. I revisited the first two books in the series (at least in the order that Harper Collins recommends) and only picked up this third book.For readers who have already read the two books, especially "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (arguably the most popular of the series), they would already have been familiar with how the four Pevensie children stumbled into Narnia through an old Wardrobe in the English countryside during the Blitz of WWII, discovering their destinies as the rightful Kings and Queens of Narnia, after overthrowing the White Witch, who had been keeping the free creatures under her oppressive rule.While in that book, the real world connects with Narnia, in "The Horse and His Boy", the Lewis sets his story squarely in the fantasy universe. It centres on Shasta, an adopted son/slave of a fisherman from Calormen, one of the neighbouring lands of Narnia, who escapes with a talking horse in search of the free land of Narnia, when he discovers he was about to be sold to a Calormene nobleman. In their journey, they come across a young Calormene aristocrat Aravis, who was also escaping on her mare from an arranged marriage.Without being preachy, Lewis doles out nuggets of wisdom about pride, courage, and what it means to be a friend. When Bree feels discouraged about entering Narnia, an old hermit who helps them escape their enemies tells him: "Of course you were braver and cleverer than (the rest of the regular horses). You could hardly help being that. It doesn't follow that you'll be anyone very special in Narnia. But as long as you know you're nobody special, you'll be a very decent sort of Horse, on the whole, and taking one thing with another". What a gentle yet firm way to tell someone that with a good head on your shoulders, you'll do fine, rather than thinking the world of yourself. A good lesson for both adults and kids alike.

The story is slow to begin with and does take a little while to build momentum however it is worth the wait as the second half of the book is filled with excitement. This book has a very different feel to it than the previous two in the series which makes for an interesting read and continuation of the Chronicles of Narnia. The only disappointment I have is that the 4 brothers and sisters weren't in it much and Peter not at all. The book has left me feeling happy and wanting more, a recommended read.

What a lovely story, Shasta and Bree are two characters which travel a great way together. But the story of what they and their friends learn on their journey is much more important than the journey itself.Excellent story and a great read. What a joy to read such a well crafted tale.

It’s super problematic and gross about rave & non-Christian religious practices and yes it was written half a century ago, but Lewis was a renowned scholar and it’s not like brown, non-Christian people didn’t exist both in England and the world generally when he was writing.

This book is an excellent edition and can highly recommend...that is what the five stars are for....Amy’s books finally sent me this after sending me two books...the wrong edition. And then a very poor condition copy...so my experience with Amy’s books has been very mixed...I could not preciously recommend but hope they have now cleaned their performance ...

This is the story of a Narnian talking horse and his boy, Shasta, who decide to run away from the rather stereotyped southern land of Calormen. This is largely tempered by the dry tone in which it is written, emphasised by the even drier tone of the Tisroc (may he live forever) in criticism of that particular epithet. They encounter a girl and her horse who are going the same way; all are freed by going north into Narnia and Archenland and, through various encounters with the Lion, learn much about themselves and what they must do. This is a lively tale, with a freshness that allows for the changes in the fifty years since it was written; it fairly bowls along, with a few moral episodes along the way.

Once I got to grips with C.S Lewis's style of writing, I really enjoyed it. Apart from one or two of his more theological books, I've not read much of his work. I confess I've not read any of the Narnia books. Seems I've started with the right one.I enjoyed it, and will have to read some of the others.