PERELANDRA

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not "Out of the Silent Planet"
Review: Not nearly as readable as Out of the Silent Planet. The ending is a little heavy handed and chiched for Lewis. It's still a great book and worth reading for people who enjoyed the first book. I don't know if I'd reccommend it on its own.

Rating:
Summary: Lewis tells the "Good versus Evil" debate like it is!
Review: Not only was this fantastic literature with rolling dialogue and vivid imagery of an alien land, but it was a morality tale, a twentieth century moral allegory. He spells out so simply the danger of evil, its destructive and intrusive nature, yet he shows how, on that planet (and unlike Earth), the battle was won by good in the beginning, keeping sin from gaining a foothold on that planet, and God's supremacy shone through. For Christian and non-Christian alike, this intellectual, philosophical, and moral novel gives you a new perspective on the "Good versus Evil" debate. I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone and everyone!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful story
Review: Perelandra is a fine Christian allegory of the Garden of Eden, in particular Eve. I recommend that you set aside some quiet time to read this book, as it is a hard one to read with a lot of distractions around you, but great if you can take your time and focus on the imagery and beauty of the planet, inhabitants, and story. This is one of those books that can read a few times and understood differently each time.

Rating:
Summary: Perelandra (A New Beginning).
Review: Perelandra is a magnificently documented and narrated story of the beginnings of the new world. The descriptions of the surroundings around the entire planet made me feel as if I were really walking on the islands myself. The book expresses the unbelievable beauty and peace God gave to man, and the horror brought to earth by Satan when he tempted Eve. Now Ransom has been placed with the task of stopping it from happening again to the young inhabitants of Perelandra.

The book flys by very fast (I read the last 120 pages in 4 hours). Lewis' talent to mix biblical events into a fictional tale shine through once again. Recommend this to all your friends!

Check my other reveiws for great Christian CDs, Books, movies, etc.

Rating:
Summary: Eden as it should have been: Lewis' descriptive mastery
Review: Perelandra is quite the most hauntingly beautiful book this reviewer has ever read. From the moment Ransom, the principal character, enters Venus, we are treated to descriptive passages that have the ability to place in your mind an unforgettably beautiful world. Lewis' sweeping prose creates a remarkable vision of an Eden that knows no pain, and the book as a whole leaves the reader with a deep sense of joy and an appreciation of the loveliness of human life. Lewis is quite deliberately retelling the Christian story of temptation, and the theology espoused in the arguments between Ransom and the devil's advocate, Weston, watched with some confusion by Venus' "Eve", show a deep and profound grasp of the methods of evil, and the twisting, roundabout attempts to persuade her to disobey God. Within this story, Lewis disputes and gives an answer to the still prevalent assumptions of much of science fiction - that man must survive at all costs and extend his seed to the ends of the universe. The physical fight with Weston, told around more stunning descriptions of the natural beauty of Venus, suggest that evil is not all-powerful, and Ransom himself recognises the smallness of his actions against the great dance of life, which is the theme of the fast, moving conclusion to the work. Of the three novels that make up this sequence, Perelandra is by far the most thought-provoking, lucid, beautiful and complete. Lewis himself felt that this stand-alone novel was one of his best, and this reviewer encourages anyone who wishes to sample his adult fiction to get this book.

Rating:
Summary: Another excellent offering by Mr. Lewis
Review: Ransom takes off for Perelendra (Venus ) with the help of his angelic Oyarsa and lands in an ocean world with floating islands, bubble trees, small tame dragons, and seemingly two other inhabitants. They are human(but green)and one, the man, is missing. The woman is astonishingly innocent. Ransom's old nemesis, the evil physics professor, lands on Venus soon after Ransom and it is clear that he is possessed of an evil spirit and up to no good. Ransom and he battle over the women's soul and the fate of the planet through long, fascinating dialogue,that illuminates Lewis' theology. Ultimately, the battle becomes physical and deadly. I enjoyed this book a great deal, not the least because a friend told me that he found himself always agreeing with the evil professor. He does make some compelling arguments.

Rating:
Summary: A great place for a vacation.
Review: Shall we call Perelandra an ecological fantasy? A psycho-drama? A novelized philosophical symposium? An illustrated Bible story? Whatever it is, the undoubted "star" of the novel is the planet Perelandra. There, Lewis creates not one world, but several distinct ecosystems: his unforgetable floating islands, (in Surprised by Joy and his autobiographical allegory Pilgrim's Regress Lewis describes how islands have been his symbol for paradise since childhood), the Fixed Lands, an undersea world of mermaids, an environment of caves, and finally the wonderfully complex world of the hero's shifting consciousness. The inner dialogue before and during the climactic scenes falls nothing short of genius.

I agree with the reviewer below that the beauty Lewis imagines brings it out and makes us notice the beauty around us. As one of Lewis' favorite writers, G. K. Chesterton, put it, "Nursery tales only echo an almost pre-natal leap of interest and amazement. These tales make the rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run with water." As I walk through the bamboo groves of Japan, or remember skin-diving in Hawaii or camping in the Cascades, the effect that the bubble trees and night smells of Perelandra have on me similarly brings out the wonder of the earthly creation.

As in all of Lewis' works, scene and plot are also the vehicle for the expression of philosophical ideas. Lewis plays with speculation about the nature of primitive man, ideas about gender like the Chinese Yin Yang theory, and a scathing critique of monism. (If, like Jim Jones or the Bagwan Rajneesh, his villain were a real person -- if that is the right term for them -- I suspect he too might be quite popular.)

I note with amusement the complaint below that Perelandra is overtly Christian. Imagine that. The famous Christian apologist allowing metaphysics to muddy up his sci-fi novel. I wonder if people make the same complaints about Milton or Camus? Not that I am comparing Lewis to them -- "the same wave never comes twice" and Lewis can stand on his own in any crowd. Lewis may get a bit carried away at the end with his "cosmic dance" stuff; one of the book's few faults. But if you are not interested in ultimate issues of right and wrong, God and human choice, why pick up a novel by C. S. Lewis?

author, Jesus and the Religions of Man [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Startlingly imaginitive. . .profoundly Christian.
Review: Take out the Christian allegories and you still have a superb novel. . .include them and you have a spiritual masterpiece of almost biblical proportions. Perelandra cuts to the quick; atheists, evolutionists and anti-Christians won't be able to endure it.

If you want to understand the Garden of Eden from our own Bible, read Perelandra. Lewis understood it. This book is light years ahead of "Out Of The Silent Planet", though Silent Planet created an adequate preface to the trilogy.

Rating:
Summary: Fun AND allergorical
Review: That wacky C.S. Lewis, thinking he can stick Christian ideals and
beliefs into a science-fictional setting. What gall. You know what
the funny part is? It actually works, which is something of an
accomplishment in itself. Y'see, this story continues from the last
book (Out of the Silent Planet) where Dr Ransom is sent to
"Perelandra" (Venus) where he finds a fantastic unspoiled
paradise populated by strange and quite friendly animals . . . and a
single green woman who seems rather innocent of the world (psst
. . . think "Eve"). No sooner do they get to chatting then
someone shows up who might just be the agent of the Devil, trying to
tempt "Eve" into disobeying "God" (not called God
but you get the idea) and Ransom has to figure out how to put a stop
to someone who is not only smarter, older and has lots more experience
at this, but managed to do it right once before. Arguments ensue.
People who have read Lewis have complained to me that he tends to
"preach" a bit too much, and I can see from this novel where
people get that idea from. But really it isn't that much of a
problem, for every couple pages of theological argument (cloaked in SF
terms, really) he slathers the page full of absolutely beautiful
descriptions of the planet, you can get lost sorting through all of
them. He really thought this place out and while it's nowhere near
the "real" Venus, my first rule of writing is chuck science
if it gets in the way of a good story. And in the end you have a good
story, it's good versus evil in the classic sense, yes, it's from a
"Christian" perspective but it mostly boils down to
"Devil=bad". There's plenty of other stuff to recommend as
well, the fight between Ransom and the Devil's advocate (couldn't
resist . . . sorry) is one of the most brutal fights I've ever seen in
a old style SF novel and Lewis manages to contrast the sheer brutality
of the fight with the beauty and splendor of the planet around them.
By the end it gets a bit on the metaphysical end of things, but all in
all an entertaining romp. Be prepared if you read the first book and
were expecting more of the same, this is a different tone entirely,
more philosophical and searching and definitely more than just a
science fictional retelling of the Garden of Eden story.


Rating:
Summary: Fun AND allergorical
Review: That wacky C.S. Lewis, thinking he can stick Christian ideals andbeliefs into a science-fictional setting. What gall. You know whatthe funny part is? It actually works, which is something of anaccomplishment in itself. Y'see, this story continues from the lastbook (Out of the Silent Planet) where Dr Ransom is sent to"Perelandra" (Venus) where he finds a fantastic unspoiledparadise populated by strange and quite friendly animals . . . and asingle green woman who seems rather innocent of the world (psst. . . think "Eve"). No sooner do they get to chatting thensomeone shows up who might just be the agent of the Devil, trying totempt "Eve" into disobeying "God" (not called Godbut you get the idea) and Ransom has to figure out how to put a stopto someone who is not only smarter, older and has lots more experienceat this, but managed to do it right once before. Arguments ensue.People who have read Lewis have complained to me that he tends to"preach" a bit too much, and I can see from this novel wherepeople get that idea from. But really it isn't that much of aproblem, for every couple pages of theological argument (cloaked in SFterms, really) he slathers the page full of absolutely beautifuldescriptions of the planet, you can get lost sorting through all ofthem. He really thought this place out and while it's nowhere nearthe "real" Venus, my first rule of writing is chuck scienceif it gets in the way of a good story. And in the end you have a goodstory, it's good versus evil in the classic sense, yes, it's from a"Christian" perspective but it mostly boils down to"Devil=bad". There's plenty of other stuff to recommend aswell, the fight between Ransom and the Devil's advocate (couldn'tresist . . . sorry) is one of the most brutal fights I've ever seen ina old style SF novel and Lewis manages to contrast the sheer brutalityof the fight with the beauty and splendor of the planet around them.By the end it gets a bit on the metaphysical end of things, but all inall an entertaining romp. Be prepared if you read the first book andwere expecting more of the same, this is a different tone entirely,more philosophical and searching and definitely more than just ascience fictional retelling of the Garden of Eden story.