The Horse and His Boy

The Horse and His Boy 

The Third book in the The Chronicles of Narnia series

Reviewed by: Sawyer H.

The story begins with a fisherman named Arsheesh and a boy that called him Father, Shasta was the boy’s name. The boy wasn’t really the fisherman’s son because the boy had fair white skin. The fisherman however had cinnamon skin. One day a man on a fine war horse came up to their small Shack of a house. He had a deep red dyed beard and looked like a prince. The person on the horse demanded hospitality. Arsheesh gave the stranger dinner (which the stranger didn’t care for).

 Shasta was sent outside with a hunk of bread like on most occasions when someone visited. When he was outside he couldn’t help but overhearing the stranger and the fisherman talking. Then the fisherman told the stranger how he got his son. “One night I heard a cry when I was sleeping I went outside and saw a rowboat drifting towards me and saw a dead man and a baby the man had just died (because he was still warm) But the baby was alive. Doubtlessly escaped from a ship wreck,” the stranger said.

“That boy will make a great slave” said the stranger. “How much will he cost” the stranger said. “I’ll give you fifteen Crescents” said the stranger. “Fifteen!! My price is seventy” said the fisherman. At this point Shasta got up and tiptoed away. Shasta now felt like you would if your parents were talking about how much to sell you for a slave to a stranger.

Shasta thought the life he had was much better than a slave’s. For all he knew the stranger on the horse might treat him better than he was treated now. Now learning how he got to have been in this country where there were no people that he knew of that had fair white skin. He could be any one he could be the son of a Taarkan himself or the son of the Tirsoc (May he live forever). Now he knew that he had no relation to Arsheesh and that took a great weight off his shoulders.

He walked over to the stranger’s horse and patted it on the neck. He wondered what the stranger would be like. Would he feed me nice meals or would he be forced to work in the field in chains. Would he give him nice clothes or would he have to wear rags. Shasta lifted the horses head and stroked its soft nose and said, “I wish you could talk.” Then the horse said, “Oh but I can.”

This book would be a great one for adventurous Fiction lovers in fourth grade to college. I loved this book it always keeps you on edge and is happy throughout the story. If you’ve read any of the following you’ll love this book: Harry Potter, The Tale of Despereaux, Beast Quest and Where the Wild Things Are.