4.42k reviews for:

The Horse and His Boy

C.S. Lewis

3.7 AVERAGE

adventurous slow-paced

I remember really struggling to settle into this book, I took a couple of years break before I finished the book. Read it still to be able to carry on with the series but did feel like a massive filler story in the series if I’m honest 
adventurous mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Pretty good, felt a little empty without the usual protagonists (though a few did make cameos).

The attitudes toward the Calormenes trouble me a lot now, but this was one of my favorites as a child.

[b:The Horse and His Boy|84119|The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia, #5)|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388210968s/84119.jpg|3294501] is my mother's and my brother's favorite of the Narnia books, but I'm afraid I don't love it quite as much as they do.

what I like:
• visiting the land of the Calormen is a fun experience. I love that Lewis has a whole realm set up for his characters to enjoy, that we have Narnia and Archenland and Telmar to explore.
• of course, Lewis's storytelling is always fantastic. There's something delightful about reading a book written so plainly and purely, yet that still possesses a depth which many more complicated books lack.
• as always, his portrayal of the Gospel in his stories is beautiful. Though the books other than [b:The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe|100915|The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1353029077s/100915.jpg|4790821] don't have a direct Gospel retelling in them, they still quietly (or, sometimes loudly!) point out the ways Jesus is with us, directing every moment of our lives. As Shasta says, "he seems to be at the back of all the stories."
• every character gets a chance at redemption, and most of the time it's redemption from their pride, which rings true with me.

what I don't like:
• I don't much care for the reckoning of Rabadash, though I appreciate the warning it contains.
• that's about it. I like the whole book, it just isn't quite as dear to me as some of the others, perhaps because we never got around to reading it out loud as a family.

I'm enjoying reading the series in chronological order. It's fun to see new connections that I perhaps wouldn't have made if I hadn't read it in this order. But I still feel that, if you're reading the series for the first time, you ought to start with [b:The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe|100915|The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1353029077s/100915.jpg|4790821], if only for the sake of getting to know the delightful Pevensies.

Third book and the third batch of new characters. I would like some time with the people of whom I have already met, but perhaps that is coming.

I mentioned in the previous that I appreciate how the characters aren't inherently dumb, just naive. Some such as Aravis might be a little too smart.

Also, I will be called Prince Cor from here on.
adventurous inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

2.75

not my favorite in the series, but not awful just didn't connect much with it. I did like that the took place during the Golden age of Narnia though!
adventurous
adventurous