A Wild Gallop for Freedom

The Chronicles of Narnia

C. S. Lewis
---
The Horse and His Boy

A wild gallop for freedom. We've seen Narnia once in the The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. This is a magical enticing place where horses talk, where treachery is brewing, where all animals and mythical creatures live and talk, where destiny awaits.

On a desperate journey, two runaways of their own escapades meet and join forces. hoping only to escape their narrow and unwanted life before, they soon find themselves into a very dangerous and traumatic war between kingdoms. It is a battle that will decide their fate, and Narnia itself.

On a stormy night in the south of Narnia, a boat with a dying man and a crying baby landed ashore the beach. A fisherman names Arsheesh who happened to be fishing in a few meters heard the cry of the baby and took care of it. He named him Shasta. He lived his everyday life fishing with his cruel 'father' until one night, he heard that he was about to be sold by his father to a Calormen officer as slave with some pieces of gold. He was very troubled. So he waited until the two men fell asleep and Shasta took the horse of the Calormen officer to escape, who happened to be a Narnian horse named Bree and was also captured when the horse was young. They both escaped to the dark forest and met another Narnian horse named Hwin, and Aravis the princess of Tarkheena, who were also in escape. They both planned to go to Narnia (and the North!) because they knew they will find the happiness and freedom they've been longing for. They got into many troubles as they go on their journey. They encountered a lion several times that in the end, Aslan explained that he is that lion that almost put them down to death to be in haste so that they'll do their mission quickly. Aslan lead them to the Hermit and took Shasta faster to Archenland to deliver a message he heard to King Lune and the High King Peter that the son of Tisroc is going to attack them in an hour. He soon find himself holding a sword, fighting in the name of Archenland which is in the end happened to be his real home with King Lune as his real father and Corin, the boy he met at Tashbaan who is almost like him is his twin.

The first thing that came up to my mind before i read this book was, how not all the series of Narnia were made into movies. The movie must start with tthe Magician's Nephew before the Witch, The Lion and the Wardrobe, to The Horse and His Boy, to Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Threader, The Silver Chair and finally, to the Last Battle.

Unlike Harry Potter Series, they started filming the first book up to the present, The Order of The Phoenix, the Half Blood Prince up to the Deathly Hallows on 2011. But when I finished reading and analyzing the book, the 4 humans from the Wardrobes were not the leading characters here though they are still in the novel. Maybe that's one reason of these film producers not to have this as a movie. They appeared at the near end part of the scene, so there's no focus on them. But despite of it, this novel is still a great book to read because of the action and the magical suspense it offers to the readers, plus the true to life problems this book has aside from the magical creatures here that trademarked the Chronicles of Narnia.

Clive Staples Lewis did not really surprise me for making such wonderful novels because he's always been partnered with J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of The Ring Trilogy. He did not just make this novel for the sake of money, but he made this novel out of personal experience of searching about truth about his life, religion and morality. In this novel, Shasta or Cor find the freedom he's been longing for and he found it by escaping out from his father's cruelty. Just like Lewis, he once lost his Faith with Christianity and searched for the real him and the religion that gives happiness to him. But as he has gone along his search, he found out that there's nothing much truth and love God has to offer. So he reconverted himself as a Christian at the age of 30. I recommend all his novels including The Screwtape Letters and The Space Trilogy.


*This is my oh-so-elementary book review. I submitted this for our English Class and I hope it won't get low grade.