The Cosmic Trilogy: "Out of the Silent Planet", "Perelandra" and "That Hideous Strength" [Paperback]

This is a great book which I would recommend to anyone. At first I found Lewis' style of writing hard to grasp, but I soon tuned into it and after that I couldn't put this trilogy down.

Lewis really brings the creation story, the end times and what God thinks of mankind to life through this allegory. I can honestly say that reading these books has made me look at the world and God in a very different way.

It's a great story as well and very gripping at times. His descriptions of the landscapes and characters are brilliant.

Out of the Silent Planet
C.S. Lewis

This is the first book in C.S. Lewis's amazing Space Trilogy. These books are far less known than Lewis's Narnia series or even his Mere Christianity or The Screwtape Letters, yet it is just as good as any of those writings and goes to show the versatility of Lewis as an author.

This first book begins with our hero, Dr. Ransom, out for a walking tour in the countryside, dressed in that shabby way for which professors are renowned. His foes are his former schoolmates Devine and Weston. These men believe they need a human sacrifice, and by capturing Ransom they have their victim, for they have made a spaceship and are taking Ransom to Malacandra the red planet.

Once on Mars, Ransom escapes his captors, meets many species, and finds out that on Mars there has been no `Fall' and Ransom from Earth or the Silent Planet is a bit of an oddity. People from earth are considered to be `bent' in nature, from the original sin of the fall.

Follow Ransom as he treks across a strange world, and must find the courage to risk it all to save not only an alien race, but also, possibly his own soul.

This is a first book in an amazing series. Try it - you won't be disappointed.

Perelandra
C.S. Lewis

This is the second book in C.S. Lewis's amazing Space Trilogy. This book was written as a sequel to the immensely popular Out of the Silent Planet but Lewis also wrote it so that the story can stand on its own. So if you haven't read the first you can start here.

This book takes place some time after the first, but we are not sure how long. Ransom has received a summons to Venus, a planet that is just beginning its inhabited life. This planet's `Adam' and `Eve' are on the planet and they must choose to obey God or to reject his law and face a `fall' as has happened on earth.

Ransom must face his old foe Weston, and try to save a planet from great evil. Can he navigate this watery planet; can he negotiate the intricacies of human weakness, temptation and corruption? Can he conquer himself and help others to learn obedience?

This is a great creation story. Try it - you won't be disappointed.

That Hideous Strength
C.S. Lewis

This is the third and final book in C.S. Lewis's amazing Space Trilogy. This book was written as a sequel to the immensely popular Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra but Lewis also wrote it so that the story can stand on its own. So if you haven't read the first, you can start here.

That Hideous Strength, unlike the first 2 books in this series, where Ransom leaves earth and fights evil in space and on other planets, the battle in this book takes place on earth.

Ransom must lead a group of faithful believers against National Institute for Coordinated Experiments or N.I.C.E., an organization that believes that Science can solve all of humanity's problems. He must battle the people in this organization, super aliens trying to invade and control earth and use its population against other planets and against God.

On top of all of that, Merlin has arisen from his long sleep and has arisen in England's time of greatest need. But the question is, who will find him first - N.I.C.E. or Ransom and his team? The fate of the world, and possibly the universe, rests on this question.

Lewis called this story an adult's fairy-tale. It is a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, and a book that will keep your attention as you raptly turn the pages to find out where Lewis will lead you.

Out of the Silent Planet

This is an intriguing story of one man's encounter with the intelligent alien life forms on the planet Malacandra, better known to us as Mars. Lewis is very good at creating an alien way of life and a totally different philosophical outlook from that of humans. The religious undertones are well handled and subtly done - those who do not wish to acknowledge that dimension can just treat this as a very good SF novel rather ahead of its time in terms of its treatment of otherness.

Perelandra

Perelandra started off quite dramatically, but soon transformed into a plotless spiritual tract. I have no problem with Lewis's philosophy as the underpinning to a story, as it was in Out of the Silent Planet, but not when it replaces the story as it did here. The scene, however, was set for a more exciting story in the concluding part of the trilogy, That Hideous Strength.

That Hideous Strength

This final part of the trilogy is longer than the first two put together. It's a bit of a mixed bag though with more good than bad, certainly much better than the largely tedious Perelandra. The first three quarters are exciting, with a growing sense of foreboding about the amorality of the Institute's activities, with interesting things to say about science and religion and subjective v. objective philosophical viewpoints. But the last 100 pages were somewhat disappointing with the plot being obscured with opaque and rather arbitrary cultural references and seemingly random and inexplicable happenings, leading to a rather unsatisfactory conclusion.