Book Review - 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S. Lewis - Book Three: 'The Horse and His Boy'

‘The Chronicles of Narnia - The Horse and His Boy’ by CS Lewis

‘One of the drawbacks about adventure is that when you come to the most beautiful places you are often too anxious and hurried to appreciate them.’

‘When Shasta learns that he is not the son of Arsheesh the fisherman and is to be sold into slavery, he decides to escape from the cruel land of Calormen. With the talking horse, Bree, he goes north on a fearful journey – past the eerie tombs in the desert and in disguise through the city of Tashbaan – to find Narnia, where the air is sweet and there is freedom, safety and happiness.’

The adventure that forms the focus of this book doesn’t directly involve the four children we met in the previous book. But they are present because Lewis has set the story ‘in the Golden Age when Peter was High King in Narnia and his brother and his two sisters were Kings and Queens under him.’

This is the story of Shasta who lived with ‘a poor fisherman called Arsheesh’ in Calormen, a land far to the south of Narnia.

Although Shasta believes Arsheesh to be his father, the man isn’t very nice to the boy, working him hard and always finding fault. Not necessarily because Shasta is lazy or rude, but because Arsheesh is a bad-tempered grump.

Shasta is very intrigued by the lands to the north only because he’s not allowed to go there.

One evening, a stranger comes from the south, riding ‘a strong dappled horse with flowing mane and tail… The spike of a helmet projected from the middle of his silken turban and he wore a shirt of chain mail. By his side hung a curving scimitar, a round shield… hung at his back, and his right hand grasped a lance.’

The man was ‘a Tarkaan or great lord’ and ‘demanded hospitality for the night…’

Dismissed by Arsheesh, which always happened when there was company, Shashta decides to eavesdrop.

Just as well because it turns out the stranger wants to buy Shashta. He rebuffs Arsheesh’s clumsy argument, claiming it’s plain to see that the boy is no son of the fisherman, ‘“… for your cheek is as dark as mine but the boy is fair and white like the accursed but beautiful barbarians who inhabit the remote North.”’

Arsheesh has no choice but to reveal that he found Shasta as a baby in a little boat that had come ashore.

Having heard enough, Shasta moves away, wondering about his actual identity, and if he might have a better life with the Tarkaan.

Standing by the man’s horse, he wonders aloud what sort of man the Tarkaan is… ‘“I bet this horse knows, if only he could tell me… I wish you could talk, old fellow.”’

To which the horse replies, ‘“But I can.”’

Turns out he’s from ‘“… Narnia of the heathery mountains and the thymy downs, Narnia of the many rivers… the mossy caverns and the deep forests…”’’ and was either stolen or captured when he was a foal.

The horse, Bree, wants to return to Narnia and convinces Shasta to go with him for a riderless horse would soon be recaptured.

As they travel together, Bree teaches Shasta how to ride a horse; ‘no one can teach riding so well as a horse.’ With each passing day, Shasta improves, and his muscles harden.

After travelling for weeks, one evening they catch sight of another rider.

An unexpected lion attack ends up driving them together until they manage to escape the lion.

And we’re introduced to our second set of main characters – Aravis and her horse, Hwin.

Like Bree, Hwin is also from Narnia; she, too, was taken from there as a foal.

Aravis, a native of Calormen, is running away with Hwin to Narnia to escape an arranged marriage.

While both horses see the sense in travelling together, neither Shashta nor Aravis wish to be in each other’s company… though, given the choice, Aravis would happily have Bree but not Shasta.

Not the best of starts.

We follow the quartet as they make their way to the great city of Tashbaan, which they must navigate to make it to the other side, to the desert and, eventually, to the north. Which, of course, turns out to be more complicated than they'd hoped.

Just to mention, for those who aren’t aware, there are two different orders, publication date and chronologically; ‘The Horse and His Boy’ was published in 1954, making it the 5th book in the series to be released. The box set I have follows the chronological order, which places it at No.3.

So, it depends on the order in which the series is read, how familiar the reader already is, or not, with Narnia and the four children when they get to this book.

This story has a very different feel to the previous book as we’re in unfamiliar territory.

In ‘The Magician’s Nephew’, we got a glimpse of lands beyond Narnia. In showing us the lands to the south, Lewis has added a whole other layer to the series.

The imagery that accompanies that layer is different again to what we’ve seen so far… a moonlit chase by lions, the city of Tashbaan:
‘… on the island between the [two streams] stood the city of Tashbaan… round the very edge of the island, so that the water lapped against the stone, ran high walls strengthened with so many towers… Inside the walls the island rose in a hill and every bit of that hill… was completely covered with buildings – terrace above terrace, street above street… bordered with orange trees and lemon trees, roof-gardens, balconies, deep archways, pillared colonnades, spires, battlements, minarets, pinnacles.’

The Tombs of the Ancient Kings on the edge of the desert:
‘It was like coming to the end of the world for all the grass stopped quite suddenly… and the sand began: endless level sand like on a sea shore… the Tombs… great masses of mouldering stone shaped like gigantic bee-hives, but a little narrower. They looked very black and grim, for the sun was now setting right behind them… There were about twelves Tombs, each with a low arched doorway that opened into absolute blackness.’

Our four main characters are all equally likeable.

Shasta is full of curiosity and wonder, having lived his life in a fisherman’s hut, yet he’s also wary and doesn’t necessarily crave adventure.

Aravis, a highborn young lady, is practical and proves to be loyal.

Both children, opposite in upbringing, are forced to throw in their lot with one another and Lewis does a good job showing how they build mutual trust.

And both children are complemented well by the horses.

Bree is very aware of his status as a warhorse and can be a little full of himself, resulting in some unintentionally amusing moments.

Hwin, a mare, is more shy but quite capable, mentally.

As for the villain, he’s an overbearing control freak who wants to invade and subjugate Narnia.

Throughout the story, there appear to be what I thought were increasingly convenient coincidences, which made me a little impatient.

But as I got closer to the end, they are all addressed and convincingly explained.

I like this story because of the setting and the glimpse it gives us of cultures beyond familiar Narnia.

And there is the inclusion of familiar, loved characters.

I’ve come across some readers and writers who have accused Lewis of being racist and sexist.

I’m not going to say too much about it here as I believe a proper defence deserves a separate post, which I may do after I’ve reviewed the whole series.

The racist label has come about because of this story and Lewis’ portrayal of Calormen and its people. While the designs are visually based on Arabs, as far as I can tell, that’s as far as the similarities go.

For one thing, unlike Islam, the religion of the people of Calormen isn’t monotheistic. Apart from their god, Tash, there is mention of another deity, a Lady of the Night and of Maidens.

Also, I highly doubt a racist would include a mixed-race marriage and a mixed-race child in his story and portray both in a good light.

Although the villain in this book is a dark-skinned man leading a dark-skinned army against the fair skinned Narnians, let’s not forget, the villains of the first book were a white man and a white woman, and in the second book, we had the White Witch.

And that’s all I’ll say about it as I, personally, find such ‘accusations’ tiringly woke.

I’ll end on this amusing description of Aravis telling Shasta and Bree her story, which also hints at Lewis’ low opinion of what’s required in school:
‘Aravis immediately began… using a rather different tone and style from her usual one. For in Calormen, story-telling (whether the stories are true or made up) is a thing you’re taught, just as English boys and girls are taught essay-writing. The difference is that people want to hear the stories, whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays.’