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    The Horse and His Boy
    The Horse and His Boy
    The Horse and His Boy
    Audiobook4 hours

    The Horse and His Boy

    Written by C. S. Lewis

    Narrated by Alex Jennings

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    The unabridged audio edition of The Horse and His Boy, book three in the classic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia, narrated by renowned actor Alex Jennings.

    On a desperate journey, two runaways meet and join forces. Though they are only looking to escape their harsh and narrow lives, they soon find themselves at the center of a terrible battle. It is a battle that will decide their fate and the fate of Narnia itself.

    The Horse and His Boy is the third book in C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia a series that has become part of the canon of classic literature, drawing readers of all ages into a magical land with unforgettable characters for over fifty years. This is a novel that stands on its own, but if you would like to return to Narnia, read Prince Caspian, the fourth book in The Chronicles of Narnia.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMay 24, 2005
    ISBN9780060854508
    Author

    C. S. Lewis

    Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a fellow and tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954 when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement.

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    Reviews for The Horse and His Boy

    4.5/5

    717 ratings85 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Another classic of C.S. Lewis! It isn't as popular as The Wardrobe but the Christian themes are very touching and the turns in the plot are impactful.
    • 5/5
      Excellent book in the Narnia series. One of the best for sure. The mind of CS Lewis is genius. The narrator of this series is incredible.
    • 4/5
      This was one of my favorite Narnia books when I was a kid. The main characters filled my favorite tropes: Shasta is a poor pitiful orphan whose good heart launches him into an adventure, while Aravis has all the quick wits and tough spirit that a girl could wish for. I liked that their relationship began badly but ended with complete trust in each other. And there's basically no adult help until the very end (to my mind, Hwin and Bree don't count as adults, being horses), which always thrills a young lass. I reread this book so many times that I could practically recite the section where Shasta has orange sherbert for the first time, or when he and Aravis try to outrun lions across the desert.

      But this was also the start of my discomfort with Narnia, because even as a child I could tell that the Calormen and their society were created and described with racist, Islamaphobic, Orientalist cliches. And I never felt right about Aslan tearing up Aravis's back--like so many of Aslan's punishments, it felt disproportionate and unfair. So I think this is a book that will stay on the shelf, lest I reread it and become further disappointed.
    • 3/5
      Out of the all the books in the Chronicles of Narnia series I have read so far, this was my least favorite. I kept getting confused by the various characters' names and had a tough time staying interested in this story. It wasn't a terrible book, but it also wasn't great. It just wasn't as compelling as some of the other books in the series.
    • 4/5
      An unexpected twist in the Narnia Chronicles. I knew absolutely nothing about the chronicles when I first started reading them, and I like the idea of noble horses. It puts things in perspective.
    • 5/5
      Every now and then it is fun to read a fasted paced, short book. I love to read these books.
    • 5/5
      I’ve been discouraged in my faith but this book inspired my faith all while being an entertaining story that I plan to listen to again. Excellent! I recommend it.
    • 4/5
      My favorite Narnia book
    • 3/5
      Not our favorite of the series, but still an interesting political book.
    • 5/5
      The story is superbly predictable, but I loved it all the same.
    • 3/5
      A story I found charming as a child in the long ago ‘60s now reads - to someone now in his own 60s - as an expression of unconscious British racism. This unsavory survival of Lewis’ upbringing in Imperial Britain is masked by amusing scenes with the horses and their humans, the overt Christianity of the Narnian cult of Aslan, and post-Imperial disapproval of the barbaric imperialism of a dark-skinned southern people. All this is tied up with the always promising agency of Lewis’ lively female characters inevitably being sidelined into traditional gender roles, and laughable echoes of late Victorian concepts of chivalry in battle. It is very hard to visualize myself reading this tale out loud to my currently hypothetical grandchildren. Of course it is an extremely well-written story that bounces right along, is often amusing, and occasionally sounds wise in its lessons in Christian humility. Yet what else will be soaked up from the reading, especially if you move on at some point to reading the repetition of the stereotypes in the Last Battle?
    • 5/5
      I've read other reviews saying there being no mention of the 'real world's feels out of place. I'd have to heavily disagree and say it was more immersive to have a story that takes place in the beautiful world Lewis created rather then the fantasy of leaving ours. This book helps to flesh our the world of Narnia and it's culture a lot more. It is my favorite in the series.
    • 5/5
      Wonderful as ever! A great narrator too! Read it now!
    • 5/5
      Wonderful! I have absolutely loved diving into Narnia! Lewis is a legend & master storyteller!
    • 5/5
      Adventure is a big part I look for when looking for a book, and this extension on the Narnia books has it.
    • 5/5
      Kids and I loved this book so very much! Thanks!
    • 4/5
      Pretty good, though there were moments where what was being described was confusing. Love that it fills in gaps from the movies.
    • 5/5
      My 9 year old loved this book. The reader did a wonderful job pulling him in and keeping his attention.
    • 5/5
      A great story for the young and old, Lewis is an artist with words and you should not miss out on any of this wonderful series, in the simplest terms this is a good book and you should read it.
    • 4/5
      More religious allusions, this time retelling the story of Moses via a peasant boy and his talking horse. This book takes place near the end of Wardrobe, was written prior to The Silver Chair, but published afterward, so as to not break up the Caspian books.Definitely worth reading by any fan of Lewis or Narnia.
    • 3/5
      See review for #2, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."
    • 3/5
      I have mixed feelings about The Horse and His Boy. On the one hand, excellent adventure, great characters (especially the horses), and the sure hand of Aslan guiding the narrative. On the other...well... there's Calormen.Also, inexplicably, Shasta develops a British schoolboy's diction at the end of the book.
    • 5/5
      This was a wonderful modern fantasy book. This modern fantasy was characterized bty allusion to Christian myths. The story begins with a young boy being sold to a trader by his own father. He meets a talking horse and they both run away from the slave trader towards Narnia. The boy meets Aravis (a fiesty runaway princess) and Hwin (another talking horse). The four of them decide to travel towards Narnia. While on their journey, they discover a wicked plan to overthrow Narnia and its allies. The witty bunch is able to inform the kingdom that they are under attack. By doing so, they are able to defeat the oppressors. I would read a chapter a die to my fourth grade students.
    • 4/5
      SUMMARY - The horse and his boy is the 4th book in the Narnis series.In this story we see a young boy called Shasta with a horrible father and a sad life. Now Shasta has a cloudy past and is different from the other Caloremenes. Shasta has light skin and works like a slave for his supposed Father. ONe day a cheif of Caloremen decides to buy Shasta as his slave, and in despration, Shasta speaks to the Cheifs horse. THere is only on thing wrong with this, the horse talks back. The horse tells Shasta of Narnia where he is from, and together they run away to find Narnia and be free. Along the way, the Horse and his boy find a run away Caloremene Princess and her talking horse, and theyy travel to Narnia together. While traveling they here some plans to attack Narnia being made by a Caloremene king. The group rushes to Archenland and Narni to warn of the attack. After the battle is finished, The king of Archenland discovers that Shasta is his long lost son, and the heir to the throne. Shasta marries the runaway Caloremene Princess, and rules the throne happy ever after.REVIEW - I think this book is rather off topic of the Narnia series. In this story we focus more on Caloremene, a dangerous long time enemy of Narnia, who is never mentioned much. We also zero in on Archenlad, which is a neighboring alliance of Narnia. However off topic, I think this is my favorite book in the Narnia series. I really enjoyed thi story because, all throughout the Narnia series, Caloremene was thought of as an evil country, and now we get a more inside veiw of their people. I would suggest this book to kids of all ages. I think this book deserves at least four stars. C.S Lewis did a great job in writhing this story, as he does with most all of his tales.
    • 5/5
      The funniest and most endearing of the Narnia series, it is also the one with the moral most Christians forget: mind your own business. One of the very best in the series, and the one that would make the best movie.
    • 3/5
      This is a story of runaways and how their lives are intertwined with each other. It is an interesting view as the book starts out with the "Horse" seemingly the master. This book was much slower and harder to get into than the first two of the Narnia series.
    • 3/5
      The Horse and His Boy is a strange divergence in the Chronicles of Narnia, because it hardly has anything else to do with the rest of the series. A young boy named Shasta runs away from home with his talking horse Bree, and they meet up with a girl named Aravis and her horse Hwin; all four set out for Narnia where they're certain life will be better. There was a lot of action (and inaction, with all of the monotonous travel), but less thought and poignancy than many of the other Narnia books have, and while I did enjoy Aslan, as I always do, I'm not sure how The Horse and His Boy fits into the series, or if there was a bigger point to it than just a children's adventure story
    • 5/5
      Loved this series as a kid.
    • 5/5
      Possibly the hardest book to get into, we don't have any familiar characters until late on into the book, and Narnia does not appear until very late. An interesting book, and opens out the world around Narnia.
    • 4/5
      Two young people flee their lives in the country of Calormene with the aid of a pair of talking Narnian horses. When they learn of a plan to attack the neighboring country of Archenland, they must race the invading force in order to deliver a warning. This is a good adventure, though not up to the standard set by "Magician's Nephew" and "Lion, Witch, Wardrobe." The most disappointing (though not surprising) aspect is the depiction of the Calormene people. They are clearly meant to represent Muslims, and C.S. Lewis denigrates every aspect of their lives: their food is terrible, their clothes are silly, they have no sense of humor, and their dark skin is not as attractive as the light skin of the Archenlanders and Narnians. It's a shame that Lewis is apparently unable or unwilling to write his Christian parable without putting down other races. But if you can look past this aspect, it's a good story.