Book # 27 - The Chronicles of Narnia (Part 3 of 7) - The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis

I've always loved The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but I had never read the book that chronologically follows it in the series, The Horse and His Boy.  I didn't even know what it was about. Basically it is about a boy, Shasta, that lives in the country Calormen, which borders Archenland, which itself borders Narnia. One day he finds out that the mean fisherman that has raised him is not actually his father and that he plans to sell him into slavery. While planning his escape he meets the horse of the man who is about to buy him. The horse, Bree, is actually from Narnia and has been keeping it a secret that he can talk (because animals only talk in Narnia). The two plan an escape together and end up having an adventure in which they meet the Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan from the previous book, end up saving all of Narnia and Archenland, and at the end *spoiler - but totally foreshadowed very early on* Shasta finds out that he is actually the missing son of the King of Archenland.

Overall I enjoyed the book... but not quite as much as the first two. It isn't a classic in the same way as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but is interesting in that it shows what lies beyond Narnia's borders. I'm curious if I look up an analysis of this book if it would show that C.S. Lewis was trying to say something about the relationship between the Muslim world and Western society. The people of Calormen are described to have darker skin, live in a desert, hate the freedom that the people of Narnia have (who coincidentally all have white skin and live in a beautiful forest) and they don't have Aslan on their side...but instead worship a different god. Also, the narration of this book doesn't have quite the same playful tone as the previous two had, but seems a bit more serious and darker. Maybe this books is just setting up some theological issues for future books. Anyway, I'll give this one an A-.