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Jun 06, 2011

K.D. rated it:

The story is so simple but it took me awhile to appreciate what's going on because I am reading the series not in its proper sequence. I read Book #2, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe last year and now this Book #3, The Horse and His Boy without reading Book #1 The Magician's Nephew first. Reason? I misplaced my copy of Book #1 and I had to search for it.

Well, it is quite hard to rate this book. It is a simple fantasy story. The horse in the title is Bree, the talking Narnian hor More...

5 comments like (14 people liked it)

Mar 01, 2011

Δx Δp ≥ ½ ħ rated it:

baca ulang edisi terjemahan jadulnya

Inilah buku Narnia yg paling meresahkan yg pernah saya baca dan membuat saya mogok baca serial Narnia ketika SMP kelas 3 dulu--saya sampai harus konsul dulu ke seorang "mentor" untuk memberi masukan

Seperti yang semua orang telah ketahui, CS Lewis telah menciptakan sebuah negeri dongeng yang ajaib. Negeri permai yang bernama Narnia ini hidup dalam kedamaian yang melenakan, dipenuhi makhluk-makhluk baik hati bak malaikat dan hew More...

12 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Rob rated it:

This is probably my favorite of the Chronicles. It takes place during the Golden Age of Narnia, with the Pevensies reigning in their prime, although the story is actually set in the countries to the south of Narnia, which provides for a rather different feel to much of this novel. I always find the visual imagery captivating: riding across the moors at night, entering the towering city of Tashban, spending a night among the tombs of the ancient kings.

1 comment like (12 people liked it)

Jan 28, 2011

Kelly rated it:

The perfect book to yap about on a day when I cannot see straight.

To put the record lineal, I have always been, and always will be, a sucker for equine esque adventures. It's just something uncurable. And I know no one who knows they don't have something insufferably pestiliant. My abiding love of this particular Lewis book might have something to do with the absence of this nonsense:

If that were not the case, I would be nursing a deep and unfathomable hatred for More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 04, 2009

Nic rated it:

(As with all the Narnia books, I read this years ago, but am rereading it now.)

I have to say, having now reread all of the Narnia books except for The Last Battle, that this is my favorite. It's coherent, exciting, and has likeable characters. I even found Aslan much more likeable in this one; I think it's because he does less scolding and more helping, and he's better integrated into the plot than in, say, Prince Caspian.

I've also decided that I kind of like Lewis' wei More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 18, 2008

Vincent rated it:

My second grade teacher, Ms. Cook, at Gisler K-8 introduced this series to our class. She read to us everyday. I bought the series and read books 1-7. I still have my box set from then.

Reread: May 17-18, 2008
As I mentioned in my updated review of "The Magician's Nephew" I skipped over "the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," because I've read it a couple of times and am so familiar with the story, to read this one again which comes next in the original seque More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2007

Sara-larus rated it:

I wanted to finally read this series. As I kid I was given The Chronicles as a gift. I didn't own very many books and I was in love with the set and, especially, the box that it came in. So much in love that I only wanted to LOOK at the box on the shelf. I did read the first book about the wondrous wardrobe.
I also remember adults around me talking about a Christian allegory -- Aslan and all that. But at the time I was silent but internally venturing into literary criticism: I was sure the More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 22, 2011

Daniella rated it:

I liked this book better than its predecessor, largely because it felt like more of a proper story than, "A girl goes through a wardrobe to a magical land, and here, have some Christian allegory. And how about a bit more Christian allegory, with a side of Christian allegory, topped with Christian allegory?" Aslan is still Jesus, obviously, but he only shows up toward the end of the book, so you don't get overwhelmed by the religious message.

The rest of the book is a fun, f More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 01, 2008

Rebecca rated it:

The basic story is a good and entertaining one, but I could not get beyond the overt prejudices of C.S. Lewis on display throughout this book.

I'm incredibly disappointed. His portrayal of the people of Calormen is horrid. I admit, by calor I don't known if he is implying people of the hot lands (as calor indicates heat) or if it is a not-so-subtle way of suggesting colored people, but the descriptions speak for themselves. These people are described as dark-skinned, turban-wearing, More...

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

May 25, 2008

Leslie rated it:

Another wonderful part of the Chronicles of Narnia series. This book takes place during the reigns of Kings Peter and Edmund and Queens Susan and Lucy. It is only indirectly a story about the Pevensies but is more about the affairs in the neighboring kingdoms of Archenland and Calormen (although the story is in essence a story of the saving of Narnia from a Calormeen invasion). For me, the most striking theological argument of the novel is the influence of Aslan in the lives of people who do More...

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Jun 09, 2008

booklady rated it:

From what I have gathered, most Narnia lovers don't like this particular book as well as the others in the saga and I'm inclined to agree with them. It was popular with my own girls growing up because of the two talking horses who figure prominently in the story. However, for myself, Aslan is always my favorite character. I read the books ever on the look-out for Him . . . and for the tidbits of Wisdom Lewis tucks in wherever he can, even if they are a bit obvious at times.

Start More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 01, 2012

Ricky rated it:

I used to think that this was my least favorite of the Narnia books, and now I’m not so sure. It’s a great adventure story, and it too contains all the great allegory that the others do, too. Book Five is a fantastic adventure story with a very Prince of Persia feel to it – I love that. Aslan’s appearances are a bit harsher and more rebuking that his appearances in other books, but I think I really appreciate that this time more than I have in other times I’ve read this volume. Perhaps its t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 23, 2009

Kate rated it:

Synopsis:

An orphaned boy and a kidnapped horse gallop for Narnia... and freedom.

Narnia, where horses talk and hermits like company, where evil men turn into donkeys, where boys go into battle, and where the adventure begins.

During the Golden Age of Narnia, when Peter is High King, a boy named Shasta discovers he is not the son of Arsheesh, the Calormene fisherman, and decides to run far away to the north - to Narnia. When he is mistaken for another More...

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Dec 22, 2008

Alison rated it:

I feel more conflicted about this book than any of the other Narnia books. On the plus side, the story is stronger and CS Lewis manages to keep his blatant editorializing to a minimum (maybe because none of the characters are transplants from wartime London).

But holy crap, the modern reader will find his racist descriptions pretty hard to swallow. He reintroduces his devious, smelly, turban-clad race, the Calormen. A lost white boy is raised among them and he is sad until he is More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 12, 2012

Emma rated it:

Of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, "The Horse And His Boy" is probably my favorite. Venturing into exotic locations, with a likeable cast and a good thriller format, this is a pretty cool fantasy that gives some insights into what the cast of "Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" were doing during that time before they returned home.
Shasta is the son of a poor fisherman, and his life is pretty ordinary until a mighty Calormene (sort of a generic Mideastern civilization More...

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Jan 31, 2012

C.S. rated it:

This is probably my second favorite from the Chronicles of Narnia series. This story had a beautiful hidden meaning and I appreciated everything about Shasta. Not only was he an orphaned child trying to survive the rough world out there, which killed my heart, but he does so with such innocence and courage.

Everybody looks down on him because he's just an ignorant child raised by a heartless man and with no sense of royalty at all. But in the end, he is better than anyone else. Bette More...

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Dec 22, 2011

Ensiform rated it:

Shasta, a northerner living as a slave in a foreign household, escapes back to the northern lands near Narnia with a talking horse and some other friends. As usual, Lewis’ prose is breathtakingly good. His allegorical Eastern land and its people are superb. And he delicately balances the line between high fantasy and humorous children’s fantasy with masterful skill.

But there’s a gaping plot point: when Shasta is mistaken for a prince, surely his clothes couldn’t have matched the rea More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 15, 2011

Max added it

I really like the character in this book. The four main characters, Shasta, Aravis, Bree and Hwin all have their own different backgrounds and differences but share the same goals which was to make it to Narnia and live freely. This allows each character to be completely unique but still be tied together in a way that makes sense. I fell that the characters are well developed. The main characters have some flaws but not to many and not to little like a human. The flaw of each character makes the More...

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Aug 22, 2011

Michelle rated it:

Reading the reviews for these Narnia books is going to be interesting, for sure. This book, like The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe is viciously hated by a lot of people.

Whoa.

First, about allegory, which was what people hated the most about The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. Reviewers of this book claim to have not seen it, but it seems much stronger and even a little more preachy in this book than the previous one. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love allegory. But More...

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Aug 03, 2011

James rated it:

he Horse and His Boy is the fifth book in the Narnia Chronicles (the third book by the newer, chronological reckoning, coming after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). It takes place while Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are reigning as kings and queens over Narnia. In a land to the south of Narnia, Calormen, a young boy, Shasta, finds himself about to be sold into slavery to a Calormene warrior by his "father," and makes a break for safety on the warrior's horse. But as he prepares More...

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Jul 26, 2011

Heidi rated it:

While it had a decent story, The Horse and His Boy was the weakest of the Narnia books I've re-read so far. Most of it doesn't take place in Narnia, and it doesn't have the mystical element of someone from our world being whisked off to a magical land--which is one of my favorite parts!

Shasta, about to be sold to an evil slave-owner, meets a talking horse, Bree, and together they decide to set off for the free land of Narnia in the north. They make some friends on the way there, a More...

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Jul 25, 2011

Sara rated it:

Chronologically the third book in The Chronicles of Narnia, The Horse and His Boy is quite different from the first two books in the series. While the others have featured characters of this world, THAHB is purely a fantasy novel, the only intersection between purl world and Narnia being the presence of the four Pevensie siblings as the kings and queens of Narnia.

Shasta is the son of a poor fisherman in the country of Calormen, a desert far to the south of the Narnian mountains and More...

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Jul 25, 2011

Hnasman rated it:

The Horse and His Boy was one of my favorite chronicles of Narnia when I was younger — partly because I love all things oriental, and the setting of Calormen is Lewis’s quasi-Arabian society — but more importantly, because of the heroine Aravis. The young Calormene aristocrat, a ‘tarkheena’ as she is entitled, is a singular character in the Lewis mythology: here, for once, the author shows us that he is capable of envisioning a female who is neither a mild-mannered English girl, nor an evil sorc More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 02, 2011

Sarah rated it:

This is my favorite book out of the Chronicles of Narnia. I love both of the characters of Shasta and Aravis, and I think that C.S. Lewis was spot on in his interpretation of how horses would really act. I love the changes in scenery; from the water bank where Shasta grew up to the desert, to the forests of Archenland, the palace of the Tisroc, mountains and valleys, streams and beaches. You really get a grasp on just how large and varied the world of Narnia is, as compared to the land of Narnia More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 01, 2011

John rated it:

Pales in comparison to LWW but isn't without its charms. Its action takes place almost entirely outside of Narnia with main characters not present in the other books, meaning that the connections between it and the other volumes in the series are much more difficult to make. On a structural level, the chapters are quite a bit longer than those in LWW (with less pictures!), making the first half in particular a more difficult read for the younger set. Not until Aslan comes on the scene rather lat More...

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Apr 28, 2011

Jeff rated it:

It was my first time reading this one. Of course I've read the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe a million times. I'm trying to make my way through the whole series. The Horse and the Boy is the third installment. This one was a little slow for me, but it really picks up towards the end. At first I thought why is it taking so long for them to make it through this long trek in the the desert. Then, I thought, ohhhhhh, this is based upon the Bible, pilgrimage through the desert, Moses, promised la More...

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Apr 07, 2011

Rafal rated it:

Nie mam serca, żeby ocenić książki tej serii tak, jak mi podpowiada mój spaczony dorosłością rozum. Gdybym miał słuchać głosu rozsądku, na wiele rzeczy bym ponarzekał. A to na wtórność (chociaż w przypadku tej części mamy pewne odstępstwo od schematu - tu główny bohater jest "obywatelem" magicznego królestwa, a nie gościem z naszego świata), a to na dziwny koncept z dorastaniem Łucji, Zuzanny, Edmunda i Piotra w Narnii i późniejszym ich powrotem do dzieciństwa, kiedy przechodzą przez d More...

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Mar 25, 2011

Grace rated it:

The Chronicles of Narnia
The Horse and His Boy
By: C.S. Lewis
Reviewed By: Grace Carter

“The Horse and His Boy” is about a young boy named Sashta: who has lived in Calormen all his life. Sashta is really from Archenland but doesn’t know his is from the north until a Tarken (very important person in Calormen) comes. He was ease dropping on the Tarken & his “father” talking about selling him, and walks away and starts talking to the horse and the horse replies! He learns More...

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Mar 19, 2011

Melissa rated it:

This book is the least favorite of mine out of all of the series. It doesn't fit well with the rest of the books, and the story is only averagely exciting.

Shasta is a boy who is about to be sold into slavery. The man who has been taking care of him has decided to sell him to a passing soldier. However, to Shasta's surprise, the soldier's horse can talk. And Bree (the horse) offers to take him to freedom and the North where Narnia lies. Together they will escape to freedom. Along More...

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Mar 17, 2011

KC rated it:

This series keeps getting better and better! The Horse and His Boy is the third book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Narnia is a magical land that can be accessed from our world only occasionally, and only by a few. While 4 children become kings and queens in Narnia, another boy's story in the land near Narnia begins. Shasta was found by a peasant man when he was an infant and raised by him, but he finds himself as a child being urged by a talking horse to leave his life and head for Narnia- More...

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