The Magician's Horse or The Boy and His Nephew

Or maybe I should say, The Boy's Nephew and The Magician and His Horse. How about The Boy's Horse and The Magician and His Nephew? Okay, I'm really talking about The Magician's Nephew and The Horse and His Boy.

I read these two books for the first time this weekend. *gasp* To be honest, I'm not sure why I haven't read them before this. After all, I do own the entire series and loved the first four books.

The Horse and His Boy is unique from the other books in the series because it takes place solely in Narnia. Shasta and Bree (a talking horse) try to flee from Calormen to the north. On the way, they meet Aravis and Hwin (also a talking horse) that are also fleeing. They escape some close calls and end up saving Archenland and Narnia from the Calormene envasion. I have to appreciate the imaginative names, though I doubt I could pronounce them correctly. It was nice to see Edmond, Lucy, and Susan again.

The Magician's Nephew is bound to become one of my favorite books in the series. It is ultimately about the creation of Narnia and how humans first came to know about other worlds. Digory and Polly are forced into traveling to the Wood between the Worlds by Digory's Uncle Andrew. Once in another world, Digory unknowingly sets loose a witch who eventually becomes the White Witch. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Digory and Polly are exploring the attic tunnel and end up in Uncle Andrew's study.

I can't wait to read The Last Battle now!