The Horse and His Boy

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Perhaps it is just the way my brain works, but the first thing I noticed about the third book in The Chronicles of Narnia was that it bared a remarkable resemblance to The Woman Who Rides Like a Man –the third book in Tamora Peirce’s Song of the Lioness series- in that it’s another token fantasy story that is set in the ‘exotic’ East and meant to be depicting the exotic Other: you know, a country as far removed from England and all it’s civilities as possible and supposed to be both glamorous and dangerous.

Obviously Pierce took a leaf from Lewis’ book, but it’s interesting to see that this is a recurring step in fantasy adventure novels. But I digress…

The Horse and His Boy tells the story of an orphan named Shasta who dreams of escaping his life as the abused adopted son of a fisherman. He gets his wish when a stranger rides into the village. The traveler’s horse –a Talking Horse and enslaved Narnian- conspires with Shasta to escape and travel back to Narnia and the North where Shasta may be able to find clues to his family. The two fugitives run away together unaware that they are embarking on an adventure that will not just determine their fates, but the fates of Narnia and Archenland as well.

Despite still being written in a very simple structure that is accessible to a young audience, there is something about The Horse and His Boy that is just that little bit more grown up than its predecessors. There are larger chunks of expositional dialogue as well as entire scenes devoted to battle and political strategy that strongly illustrates the idea that many years have passed since Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy stumbled through the wardrobe. While the book’s protagonist is still a child –in keeping with Lewis’ theme of innocent heroes- it’s a little strange to read about Edmund, Susan, and Lucy as adults and figures of great authority. I guess this is where the book becomes a little deeper and complex than the one before.

Image credit: Patheos

The biblical underside of the series is steadily becoming more and more apparent –not surprising seeing as fantasy is the go-to genre for allegory and social commentary- and there is a significant portion of the tale that is heavily influenced by The Lord of the Rings. But all in all The Horse and His Boy is an exciting book that offers a little bit more of a challenge to its audience that its predecessors.

A Horse and His Boy is the third novel in The Chronicles of Narnia written by C. S. Lewis. It was first published in Britain in 1954 by Geofrrey Bles a year before the series’ first (reading order) book: The Magician’s Nephew.