A boy raised in the Calormen desert south of Narnia meets a talking horse and flees a life of slavery on a journey north. Lewis’s Christian symbolism grows even more painfully obvious here, espousing an outdated fable of a heathen from the backward Pagan lands (Calormen) embracing Jesus (Aslan) as he works to get to heaven (Narnia). This feels more egregious when you consider Lewis’s treatment of Calormen with a Middle Eastern theme, though his protagonist’s skin is “fair and white” like the “beautiful barbarians of the north.” Combine this with an unimaginative plot and the result is….not worthwhile.
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