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Summary: The best of the Trilogy
Review: The have been many reviews on this site about this oustanding book. This one is my personal favoriate of the series; mixing free will and love, into an enduring, speculative story.
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Summary: Choosing Sides: Noise and Silence
Review: The reviews below are fascinating, recalling Jesus' stark question of the Baptist's hearers: 'What did you go out into the desert to see?'If it's entertainment and exotic creativity, why not look elsewhere? You will find these of course, but only at the cost of having missed much. If, to some Purpose, you are compelled to explore the agonizing wastelands of moral chaos, be well-advised to take the adventure Aslan sends. With Ransom, you may just sense the terrifying reaches of moral ambiguity, casual indifference, and spiritual weakness, the deep mysteries of human decision-making and Inhuman Courage, the simple earmarks of innocence and guilt. You may just glimpse a tiny, invaluable essence of the struggle with principalities and powers at extreme elevations. ...because Perelandra isn't really a novel, and most especially not science fiction. It's a manual, a guidebook, a map. It's a War Prayer, batteries included. If you want less, happily, you will be disappointed. 'From Strength to Strength go on.'
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Summary: A Modern Classic
Review: This book is one of the finest books that I have read in a long time. The sheer nature of it is so compelling that I could hardly put it down. Even if have not read "Out of the Silent Planet" it is still a great read. There are parts that grip you with terror and others that massage your mind. C.S. Lewis is amazing. If you don't buy this book from Amazon, please, I urge you to borrow it from a library.
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Summary: Beautifully written!
Review: This book is truly amazing. Not only is it thoughtful and deep in its Christian allegorical sense. It is also something you can sit down with and get totally absorbed in; it must be the incredible description, or maybe the author's amazing talent--but whatever it is will allow you to forget everyone and everything around you for a while and feel like you're experiencing it, not just reading it. Mr. Lewis was definitely a genious. Out of the Silent Planet was wonderful, and That Hideous Strength was pretty good too, but no book in the world is comparable to Perelandra. Nobody can explain it well enough. You'd have to read it and see for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Good fantasy work with Christian parallels
Review: This is the second book in C.S. Lewis' popular Space Trilogy about the adventures of Dr. Ransom of Cambridge, which includes "Out of the Silent Planet," "Perelandra," and "That Hideous Strength." Set on the planet Perelandra, which we know as Venus, Dr. Ransom must battle the greatest of all human vunerabilities -- temptation. The story is very similar to the story of the Fall in Genesis, and Lewis twists his story a little bit to add many of his own philosophical and theological views. This book is recommended for all C.S. Lewis fans as it is one of his more important works.
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Summary: Still Enjoyable And Insightful After Many Reads
Review: This is the second volume of Lewis's space trilogy (begun in Out Of The Silent Planet and ending with That Hideous Strength) and an excellent one it is. People talk about the books being readable independently, but you'll get more out of them if you read them in their proper order. Lewis has a particular knack for imagining and describing how things would look to a person who had never seen them before, what in effect a "pure experience" would be like the moment when the sensation is trying to become perception, and a knack as well for reaching between soul and spirit to describe the inner subtle workings of human nature at a level most of us are normally unaware of until someone like Lewis describes them to us. The result makes for enjoyable reading, particularly in the context of a trip to another planet. Here Dr. Ransom is sent off by heavenly powers to Venus where another earthman, possessed of some diabolic force, is intent on bringing about the downfall of that race. Ransom is there to stop it. The story of the Original Sin is retold with imaginative variety, and the book has a particularly and undeniably Christian bent which may well affect the reaction of non-Christian readers. Lewis does a lot of philosophizing in this text, but not as much as in the final volume, That Hideous Strength, which is for that reason and others the weakest of the three. But here he is still at the height of his powers and in control of them.
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Summary: The Best Novel I've Ever Read
Review: This is, without doubt, the best novel I've ever read. It even beats The Lord of the Rings trilogy. C. S. Lewis's power of description, psychological insight, and emotional intensity reach a height here that is unparalleled. But beyond such engaging writing, Perelandra gives us poetry in prose, reality in story, theology in fantasy, truth in myth. It is an evocative tale, so compelling that for a faint second I could have believed it was true, and that Lewis was describing real events, not fictitious ones! And that is because it is so deeply grounded in the reality of The Great Dance, the drama of creation and redemption which is being enacted upon the stage of humanity. The final pages of this book sent my spirits soaring. I can scarcely describe its impact upon me. Take it and read.
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Summary: This is an astounding peice of work with much meaning.
Review: This work is extrodinary and astounding. It takes you places that are beautiful, strange, and exotic. Not only does it do this it also stimulates your imagination and allows you to open up your mind. These storys also carry a deep meaning. The are amazingly intertwined and completely agree with Christian ideas.
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Summary: The space trilogy sags in the middle.
Review: To criticize C.S. Lewis is to incur the wrath of millions of his faithful. However, Perelandra simply drags. Where Out Of The Silent Planet was a breezy sci-fi allegory of humankind's failings, and That Hideous Strength is simply the penultimate Lewis tale, this middle chapter is overlong and overly dense. Ransom is taken to Perelandra by an eldil, where his mission is to thwart the devil's temptation of that planet's Eve. Once more, Lewis's description of a foreign environment is rich and brilliantly imagined. Once the devil arrives (in the body of Weston) things kick into low gear. While philosophically intriguing, the arguments of Satan and Ransom and the questions of Eve quickly begin to appear circular and meandering. The climactic chase and physical confrontaion with the devil is both much too long and rather illogical. The denouement is classic Lewis, setting up Ransom's position for the final chapter of the trilogy with magical and moving brilliance, though it is too little to redeem the rest of the novel. Perelandra is a slow and tedious read, worth it only for the wonderful payoff in the third book, That Hideous Strength
Rating:
Summary: Worth reading, but has middle-of-trilogy pacing problems.
Review: Unlike the first volume of the trilogy that begins with "Out of the Silent Planet" and concludes in "That Hideous Strength," this book is a slow mover. The climactic battle, once it comes, has plenty of blood and terror; but getting there takes some patience. Its depiction of evil's chilling, banal brutality also takes a strong stomach. With that said, though, Lewis describes the innocent world we know as Venus with detail and poetry. I fear his view of women and their proper role belongs to my grandfather's generation; but that I have to forgive, because - after all - they fought in the same war. Worth reading in order to get from Book One to Book Three.
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