I thought this was my least favorite of the series, but after a reread that honor is bestowed upon The Silver Chair. This starts out slowly which is why I made it only halfway through the second time I got to it, but it picks up in the second half. It feels slightly out of place with the other books in the series as the entire story occurs in Narnia's world (though very little occurs in Narnia itself), and there's no crossover into our world. Three of the Pevensie kids are in it briefly, though they're adults at this point. (The story happens during their Golden Age reign). 
 The Calormenes are to Narnia what the Mohammedans are to Christendom, and they represent the worst that the Arab world has to offer. Racism, yeah, yeah, yeah, get over it or just don't read the book if you can't handle it. I enjoyed the story with all its Arabian influences even though that kind of story isn't my fave. Some of the sexism is still in here as well, but it's to be expected. 
 PLUS! (And how could I nearly forget this)? This has Mr. Ed in it! (He's called Bree in here, but names aren't important). Aslan isn't as much of a jerk in this one and does more guiding and less admonishing. He also gives us a few pearls of wisdom that I always like hearing. 
 C. S. Lewis' writing is great as usual, so there are no complaints there. You can see how he grows as a writer as the series progresses. The writing in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was great, but this is better. I still like Wardrobe more due to the story. Like I said, this one is slow for a while. 
 The audiobook was narrated by Alex Jennings, and he did an excellent job. I had one problem, but the problem is mine and Mr. Jennings can't be held accountable for it. I'm hearing impaired and there are several scenes where the characters must whisper or speak lowly to each other. He does this very well, but for someone with some kind of aural contusion who once heard "Do you know anyone who can redo my couch" as "I want someone to cum in my mouth," well... it was problematic. Luckily I was able to follow along anyway during the quieter parts since I was using headphones and there wasn't any background noise so I caught most of the words. Had I been listening to it in the car I would've had to have saved it for later or just miss those parts. 
 As for the couch/cum thing, in my defense my coworkers were on the other side of the cubical partition, and I was on a phone call. It was one of the few times I was struck 100% speechless, but luckily I was able to put the customer on hold (I had to run her credit card anyway), and I asked if I heard what I thought I had heard. Girl 1 replied "Oh, yes." After another moment of silence I said "So girl 2 said xyz?" Then they were the ones struck speechless and girl 2, who was kind of prudish, said "NO! I asked abc!" Well, we had been discussing how gross boys were right before my phone call came in, and girl 2 had included her husband in this assessment. 
 What does any of that have to do with this book? Hell if I know. Perhaps Aslan's influence prevented me from being fired and no sexual harassment charges were filed? We all enjoyed a laugh over it, and 13 years later it's still one of my best misheard line stories. 
 Anyway, read this book if you're reading the series, and don't quit like I did a few years ago just because it ain't quick out the gate.