The Horse and His Boy (adult) (Narnia) by C. S. Lewis Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Horse and His Boy (adult) (Narnia)
Book Review: loved this story
Summary: 5 Stars
i liked this even better than the lion, the witch, and the wardrobeBook Review: The Horse and His Boy
Summary: 3 Stars
The horse can talk! Shasta lives with Arsheesh, who found him as a baby. A day, a Tarkaan, great lord, comes to Arsheesh's house and wants to buy Shasta as a slave. While the two men are talking, Shasta pets the Tarkaan's horse. To Shasta's surprise, the horse can talk. The horse, who's name is Bree, tells him that he wants to escape to Narnia, a country to the north. Shasta decides that he wants to go with Bree so he unties him and they leave. Bree teaches Shasta how to ride him. One night, after traveling for weeks, they hear the roar of a lion. Bree takes off in the other direction. Soon, they realize that there is something running beside them. It turns out to be another horse. Riding the horse, is a girl about the same age as Shasta. Bree figures out that the other horse, Hwin, is a Talking Horse, too. It turns out that the girl and the horse are running away, too. They end up traveling together. After a few more weeks, they come to the city of Tashbaan, the last city before they get to the desert that separates their country from Archenland and Narnia. While in Tashbaan, one of the visiting Narnian kings mistakes Shasta for Prince Corin. The Narnians take him to where they are staying. The real Prince Corin shows up. The Narnians are away, so the two boys switch. Shasta makes it out of Tashbaan and waits for Bree, Hwin, and the girl at the Tombs. Soon after, a Tarkheena recognizes the girl, Aravis, and Aravis goes with het and takes Bree and Hwin with her. Aravis gets the Tarkheena to help her get out of the city.While trying to get out, the girls almost run into Tisroc and Prince Rabadash. They over hear their conversation. It turns out that Prince Rabadash wants to take over Archenland and then Narnia and take Queen Susan, one of the queens of Narnia with whom he is in love with, and make her his wife. He plans to take two hundred men and horses with him. When Aravis gets out of Tashbaan, she finds Bree, Hwin, and Shasta at the Tombs. She tells them what Prince Rabadash is going to do. They cross the desert and then are chased by a lion. They go to a Hermitage. The Hermit sends Shasta to warn King Lune, the king of Archenland, about Prine Rabadash. While Shasta is gone, the Hermit heals Aravis, who the lion had wounded. Shasta gets to King Lune and warns him. While traveling with King Lune, Shasta gets lost in the fog. A lion by the name of Aslan leads him to Narnia. Shasta tells the woodland creatures what Prince Rabadash is going to do. The stag goes to Cair Patavel and warns the king and queens that are there (Peter the High King isn't there). The Narnians go to Archenland to help fight Prince Rabadash. Prince Rabadash loses. King Lune sees the similarity between Prince Corin and Shasta and figures out that Shasta is his long lost son, Prince Cor. Prince Cor goes to get Aravis. He brings her back to his castle. Bree and Hwin go to live in Narnia. Prince Rabadash is a prisoner at the castle. Aslan comes and turns him into a donkey. Then, they send him back to Tashbaan. This book is full of fantastic creatures, friendship, and travel.
There are many fantastic creatures in The Horse and His Boy. Bree and Hwin are Talking Horses. Aslan is a giant Talking Lion. The woodland creatures are all Talking creatures. There are giants that fight in the battle. There are fauns and centaurs that fight in the battle, too.
The Horse and His Boy has a lot of friendships in it. Bree and Shasta become friends as soon as they meet. Bree and Hwin become friends as soon as they meet. Aravis and Shasta don't get along at first, but they later become friends. The Narnians and the Archenlanders are friends.
There is lots of traveling in this book. Bree and Shasta travel together until they meet Aravis and Hwin. They four of them travel to Tashbaan and to Archenland. Shasta travels through Archenland to find King Lune. Shasta travels to Narnia.
Fantastic creatures, friendship, and travel is all through this book. All of the fantastic creatures can talk. Pretty much everyone has friends in this book. Shasta does most of the traveling. If you like fantasy books with a little bit of a twist and a little war, The Horse and His Boy is the book for you.
Book Review: The Horse and His Boy
Summary: 3 Stars
I would recommend not only this book but the whole Narnia series, to anyone who has seen the movie The lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. These books go into so much more detail, and expand on the plot more than any movie can, thanks to the swift writing of C.S. Lewis. The Horse and His Boy is a somewhat easy to read fantasy in which the reader can be drawn into a couple of different stories at once and experience different living styles, such as princesses and slaves. As each of the stories join, the diverse characters form a small group facing a big challenge where adventure and being able to trust the future play two important roles. This book should be suggested to anyone looking for a good read that puts clear pictures of deserts, mountains, kings, queens, wars, and even talking horses into your mind. It's hard to believe but The Horse and His Boy, even though it is a fantasy, is easy to relate to everyday life and still brings you into a completely different world.Book Review: The Horse and His Boy
Summary: 2 Stars
The Horse and His Boy is an adventurous book about a young boy named Shasta, who was raised by a poor fisherman named Arsheesh. I really enjoyed this book because it's not obvious. For example, Shasta went his whole life thinking Arsheesh was his father, but when a great lord shows up, Shasta finds that he was found at sea and is going to be traded. So seeking a chance to escape, Shasta runs away with the lord's amazing talking horse, Bree. I could have never guessed that was going to happen. I also liked how the book had several main characters. On their way to Narnia they meet up with a young girl named Aravis and her talking horse, Hwin. On their way Shasta gets mistaken for a prince and the others are in danger of getting caught. I also enjoyed the suspense of the story... will they escape and reach Narnia in time to warn the king of the danger that lies ahead?
This is a wonderful book of friendship and loyalty and shows you the true meaning of love. I would recommend this book to children of any age. If you are into action packed books this is your kind of book.
Book Review: Another Underachievement
Summary: 3 Stars
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".