I recently read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and in my review complained about the heavy handed Christian Allegory, but did admit it to be well-written and imaginative with some striking imagery. Two of my friends insisted though that (The Last Battle aside) the rest of the Narnia books aren't preachy and worth the read.
Having read The Horse and His Boy I see they're correct--at least so far. Barely a faint whiff of Christian allegory except in two brief scenes with Aslan, and I think if I weren't sniffing for it, I wouldn't have scented it--and this time Aslan struck me more the wise and valiant lion rather than smug and self-righteous the way he did in the prior book.
I was quite taken with the talking horses--Bree and Hwin. They made me wonder if Narnia is where Mercedes Lackey got the idea of the Valdemar companions in her books, and there were bits in The Horse and His Boy that certainly reminded me of it--even down to Narnia's traditional enemy reminiscent of a land from Tales of the Arabian Nights. And Avaris is a girl certainly fully as brave and clever as the boy Shasta--in terms of strong female characters Lewis is if anything better than what I find in the usual fantasy and I wouldn't hesitate to give this charming tale to a young girl. Nor do I see the racist overtones some reviewers do in Lewis' contrast with the Northern and Southern societies--after all Avaris is herself Calormene and a positive character.
They style is still more "children's story" than one I can read unselfconsciously as an adult, but I was charmed enough I do intend to continue on to Prince Caspian (which actually was written second after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe I've read.)
