I just finished reading C. S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy (aka The Ransom Trilogy or The Cosmic Trilogy) for the first time. I honestly have been surprised that a lot of people (even well read people) have never even heard of the books. That is surprising for many reasons, the main of which is that they are written by C.S. Lewis. I guess the Chronicles of Narnia and his non-fiction work just overshadow that much…
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Anyway, the books were beyond interesting, and they completely, totally baffled me. It was hard for me to believe that they were written by C.S. Lewis! They were so out of character for him compared to his other works.
Also, these are NOT children’s books. The second and third books are theologically heavy, and contain a vast amount of philosophy, ethics, history, and mythology. So much so that I couldn’t make my brain focus for several pages of Perelandra/Voyage to Venus because it was just so intense!!! I needed to take notes and draw charts and reference my copy of Systematic Theology!
The first book, Out of the Silent Planet, is the most kid-friendly and most like a little adventure story of the three. It is description heavy to the point of being boring (in my opinion), but several sentences were just lovely. It was a fun read, with a bit of an anti-climactic ending.
It is a toss up between the last two as to which was my favorite. Part of what makes it so hard is that they are SO DIFFERENT.
Perelandra contains one of the most imaginative, beautiful worlds I have ever read about or heard described. So in this instance, the descriptions were one of my favorite things about this book. Also, pure evil is brought before Ransom (and therefore the reader), and C.S. Lewis does not fail to terrify. I felt sick with horror and fear more than once while reading it. It is a brilliant and exciting book, but there is a crazy intense conversation between Ransom and a demon that goes on for what feels like a billion pages and it is heavily theological and philosophical. Aside from that it has many adventure moments and if you are a Christian it just puts the amazing glory of God before you.
That Hideous Strength– first of all, what a gorgeous and powerful title. This book read like a suspense novel. It was pure genius, and I couldn’t put it down. It has a whole new cast of characters, evil and good, animals, a fascinating wizard, and some really crazy stuff in it. My head is still spinning from it a little. Again, it puts evil straight in your face and it is terrifying. But it also gives you chills about the glory of God and his ultimate triumph over evil.
Anyway, just a quick review. I recommend them highly, but I’m not sure I would recommend them to, because I feel like they are certainly not for everyone.
louisiana housewife 