The Horse and His Boy

 Book 3 (in chronological order) of the Chronicles of Narnia focuses not so much on the four children (adults in this book as they are still Kings and Queens of Narnia and haven't made it back to England yet), but on a boy named Shasta, a Tarkeena (daughter of a noble) named Aravis and two talking horses named Bree and Hwen. 

Bree comes to meet Shasta when Bree's owner, a Tarkeen, asks to buy Shasta from his "father" to work as a servant or slave in his house. Shasta overhears that he isn't the son of the fisherman whom he'd believed to be his father. He is too fair skinned to be of Calormen and must actually have come from the north. So upon finding that the Tarkeen's horse can talk and is actually from Narnia, one of the barbarian lands to the North, they make plans to escape and run away to the north so they won't be slaves anymore, but free horse and boy. 

In their travels they bump into a Tarkeena and her talking horse who are also looking for a way north so then she doesn't have to marry the ancient Vizier to the Tizrok (their emperor-sultan-type person.) In order for them all to get into the northern countries, they have to pass through the capital, where Shasta gets mistaken as a visiting dignitary--meeting King Edmond and Queen Susan along the way--and must find a way to escape with his friends. 

There are may little adventures throughout this story, and, like the other two books, it made reading it to my son really easy. Chapters were long enough to fill about 20 to 30 minutes before we had to head off to school or for a good bed time adventure. 

I liked Shasta and the other characters. I wish there was more of Aravis and Hwen, and that their parts in the story were more full. Bree's character arch was good, especially toward the end. Corin was an interesting character and it would be interesting to have had more about the royal connections he has. I do think that Rabadash was a bit Ridiculous, haha, he seemed somewhat unbelievable in his manners toward Queen Susan and his whining. Adults who whine irritate me. 

It was nice to see King Edmond, Queen Susan, and Queen Lucy. I liked the fact that Lucy went out to war as well. I feel like that is something that C.S. Lewis did well before many others did. My knowledge in how often women went to war is stories of the past is rather limited, but from what I have read it's not something that was done often. Even "staying with the archers" wasn't something I aware happened often. 

It was interesting to find that so many other types of people (not just the Narnians) are there on this world. It wasn't something I realized was the case until this book. Calormen does have a very "stereotyped" Arabain culture. I realize throughout history (and probably through modernity too), it is what people pulled to in order to have something be exotic. I also realize that this book was published quite a while ago (though not that far ago). I was saddened by, what I felt, was a lack of imagination. I love world building and this seemed somewhat like a let down. 

Aslan is always there and made my son happy to have Him back. It was a good instructional point for me to have with my son, because Aslan represents Jesus Christ/God. And to start to have the conversation of "Jesus is always with you and watching and will help lead you to where you're supposed to be and sometimes you won't come out unscathed" was good. Hooray for morals of the story. 

Over all, I enjoyed the story. Slow at parts, somewhat predictable, but it was nice good. 

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

 The second official book of the Chronicles of Narnia and the one that most people know. 

During the Bombing of London, the Pevensie children are sent to live at old Professor Digory Kirke (the Magician's Nephew). In his home in the country, Lucy finds a wardrobe and in the back of it is Narnia instead of the back of the wardrobe. Narnia, a whole new world covered in a thick layer of snow. Finding a lamp post and a faun. Once her siblings find their way in they find there is more than they thought. A witch is hunting them so they can't fulfill a prophecy and Aslan, the Mighty Lion, is coming back to face the witch. 

I enjoy this story, though sometimes the way C.S. Lewis writes can be hard some times and doesn't flow as "nicely" as the more modern writers do. But that just comes with the times. 

I love the metaphor for the Atonement of Christ. In explaining what was happening to my son and the parallels between Jesus and Aslan, I think it helped him better understand what Christ had done for us. I also like that at the end the all become Kings and Queens. Not one of them is subservient to another, just like I believe will be the case after Christ returns. I also enjoy how playful Aslan is with the children, and that the witch is absolutely terrified of him (which wasn't the case in the movie). 

The Magician's Nephew

The first book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Having never read these books, I found them quiet interesting and I wasn't opposed to the Christian metaphors. 

Two children become friends over the summer and decide to go exploring in the attic crawl space between the townhouses. Instead of going to the empty house, they find themselves entering into Digory's uncles study who gives them magical rings. Being tricked by his uncle, they find themselves in the world in between worlds. Before finding their way back to their own world, they find their way to another. A dead world where the only people "living" are sleeping. They wake one woman, the most beautiful  and terrifying  of them all and she comes back with them to London. Jadis, Witch Queen, in the middle of London. Digory and Polly were able to get her back to the place between worlds  and found themselves in a new world that was just created by Aslan the Lion. Narnia is created and Jadis is terrified. 

Knowing that this is a metaphor for Jesus Christ and Satan and even the Garden of Eden, I liked it. The beginning of the story was very different from what I expected and the similarities were not so in your face to be hideously obnoxious. 

There were times that were rather humorous and the fact that I could read a chapter to my son within 20 minutes to a half hour makes for good bedtime stories. 

This is one that I might not be super excited to jump into again, but I'm ready for the rest of the series.