“This is the story of an adventure that happened in Narnia and Calormen and the lands between, in the Golden Age when Peter was High King in Narnia and his brother and his two sisters were King and Queens under him.”

From C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy.

Young Shasta has grown up under the care of a fisherman named Arsheesh, but he learns both that the fisherman is not his father and that he is being sold as a slave to a new master.  Shasta goes to the barn to wait for his new master to finish the sale with Arsheesh, but when the man’s horse, Bree, speaks to Shasta to warn him of the man’s cruelty, Shasta decides to flee.  The boy and horse decide to escape together and they set off for Bree’s original homeland of Narnia.  A short while into their dangerous journey, the two meet a young girl from Calormen named Aravis and her talking horse, Hwin.  Discovering that Aravis is fleeing an arranged marriage to a terrible man, Shasta and Bree invite the two to join them on their escape to the safety of Narnia.  However, their journey is filled with danger as leaders from Calormen seek to attack Narnia and its peaceful neighbor, Archenland, and Shasta and the others learn of the plot.  Racing to warn Narnia and their ally of the fast-approaching evil, Shasta, Bree, Aravis, and Hwin find themselves wrapped up in a fight against evil that has been raging longer than they ever could have imagined.

The third book in Lewis’ famed Chronicles of Narnia series is full of fantasy, wonder, and adventure.  Despite the original publication date, this series is still captivating and unique for today’s readers.  Not to be missed, The Horse and His Boy builds a new story with the help of some familiar characters and settings to create a story that is very fulfilling for the series.