REVIEW: The Horse and His Boy

The Horse and His Boy
Author: C.S. Lewis

The Horse and His Boy is my favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia books. The story of a peasant boy and his journey through the desert with two talking horses and a girl was just magical for me as a young girl. I've never lost my love for this story....and for the entire Narnia series. Shasta learns so many life lessons on the journey....as do all of the characters. One horse is a bit vain....he learns that there are other things more important. The other horse is a bit timid and she learns to be brave. Aravis learns to respect others and to judge them on their merits. And Shasta.....he learns that there is so much more to life and friendship than he ever dreamed. It's just a wonderous story!

I received a box set of the entire Narnia series for Christmas when I was 9 years old. It was cold, grey and miserable outside on winter break that year, so I remember holing up in my room with blankets and cocoa and binge reading this series. I read and re-read those paperbacks so many times over the next few years that the books finally just fell apart. So many hours of joy in seven paperback books! Best Christmas present ever! :) As an adult, I still re-read this series every couple of years. The adventure, battles and lessons in them never grow old for me. And, The Horse and His Boy is still my favorite. :)

They have changed the reading order of these books over the years. The Horse and His Boy used to be #5 in the series I believe...but it has since been moved to #3. I prefer to read this series in the order Lewis wrote the books...so I ignore the suggested reading order and stick to Lewis' order. It really is reader preference. There aren't any glaring spoilers or problems with reading them in the order they are listed now or in the original order.

I listened to the audio book version this time. Narrated by Alex Jennings, the audio is nearly 5 hours long. Jennings reads at a nice pace with good inflection. I have partial hearing loss but was easily able to hear and understand this entire book. All in all, a great listening experience.

I was prompted to re-read this series because the Chronicles of Narnia was included in The Great American Read. 100 books that got the American public reading and talking about books were chosen...and votes were cast for several months. In the end, the Narnia series was voted #9! So happy the series is in the top 10! :) The list for the GAR can be found here: https://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/books/#/  The PBS show and voting might be over....but I'm still plugging away at the list. So many great books and authors! I'm going to try and read them all. :)