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Out of the Silent Planet

Out of the Silent Planet

List Price: $12.00
Your Price: $9.60
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Satisfactory!!
Review: This is not a hardcore noir science fiction a la Neuromancer or anything like that. This is a science fiction that will make you happy and make you believe there is some use in staying alive. Two men brings a third one along to mars as a sacrifice to the inhabitants, but is that what they really want...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is a must:):):):):):):)
Review: When my dad first suggested I read this book, I didn't want to. After he nagged me a lot though, I picked it up. I couldn't put it down!! This book combines the science-fiction of space with the fantasy of life on other planets. If you read carefully, you can see tie-ins with the Christian religion. When Dr. Ransom is kidnapped and put into space, he lands on Malacandra (guess which planet this is). His adventures while trying to find a way to get back to earth are both interesting and captivating. See if you can figure out who Dr. Ransom is by reading this book and its companions, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. This is a trilogy for all ages! Go find it and read it:) I guarantee you will enjoy it

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Remember the first time an author really "spoke" to you?
Review: Forget the aliens, the morality aspect, the rare foray into long-windedness about geographic details -- these books are about the human heart, the human spirit, the human mind. Although Lewis is sometimes characterized as a "Christian" writer, the trilogy puts him in any category but, with its dizzying array of characters, language development, scientific plausibility (and implausibility!) and inner emotions investigation that leave you pure spankin' breathless at times. Timeless, timeless writing; you'll think it was written last year, instead of 50 years ago. The first installment is the most sci-fi of the trilogy, with a philologist being shanghied to Mars by someone who could be a 1990's unscrupulous land developer and by a rationalistic scientist (ala many modern movie sci-fi villians). The hero soul searches throughout the novel (he clearly is thrust into the role and doesn't relish it), and develops relationships with Martians who are not unlike Native Americans in culture (though not in appearance!). The subsequent volumes, "Perelandra" and "That Hideous Strength" are fantastic tales of anguish and triumph, with male-female relationships thoroughly, albeit somewhat traditionally, explored. Lewis mostly wrote non-fiction; it is a testament to his brilliance that this trilogy is some of the best-written and well-plotted stuff on the shelves today.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: ooh!
Review: here's the deal. i loved this book. it really makes you think towards the end and addresses alot of interesting topics. very interesting, imaginitive, spiritual, challenging, all the great c.s.lewis characteristics.

my one and only beef (and the reason you should NOT purchase this book) is that the publication is absolutely horrible. there are so many typos, i want to cry. i seriously can't find another publisher who still carries this book. i dearly wish i could, because i am ashamed to own it, and i hate that, because the book is marvelous. but when you are reading along and every apostrophe is replaced with a quotation mark and vice versa, and simple words like "the" and "that" are mixed up, i feel that c.s.lewis must be rolling over in his grave. if you can find another publication of this book (ie, NOT by scribner / simon & schuster), DO IT. don't buy from this publisher, but DO buy the book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Down but not "Out"
Review: C.S. Lewis is best known for his classic fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. But he's in his best form in the sprawling Space Trilogy. And the first volume "Out of the Silent Planet" is a solid, dreamy slice of imaginative science fiction with deep philosophical underpinnings.

Philologist (studies languages) Dr. Ransom is on a walking tour of England when he encounters a former despised schoolmate, Devine. Things take a nasty turn after Devine and his accomplice Weston drug Ransom, and load him onto a spaceship. Over the course of a month's interstellar travel, Ransom learns that they are travelling to the planet Malacandra (Mars) -- and worst, he's destined to be a human sacrifice.

Ransom manages to escape after they land, and finds himself alone in an alien world. He soon is taken in by the otterlike hrossa, and learns that there are three sentient species on Malacandra: the peaceful poetry-loving hrossa, the workaholic pfifltriggi, and intelligent seroni. When a hross friend of Ransom's is killed by the murderous humans, he sets out to find the mysterious, powerful Oyarsa, who might be able to help him and stop his kidnappers.

"Out of the Silent Planet" is no space opera. Lewis avoids most of the tendencies of typical sci-fi in favor of a more H.G. Wells approach. Big fleshy plants, sentient otters, decreased gravity and petrified forests really give it the feeling of another planet without using cheap tricks.

The most striking idea of "Planet" is the people who populate it -- three dissimilar species, who work together and have no problems like war, starvation, lies, power-lust or any of the other problems that human beings have. It's a stark contrast to our own world, and it illustrates a lot of Lewis's own Christian beliefs without being preachy or silly.

The tone of "Planet" is generally very somber and thought-provoking, with long stretches of ethical and philosophical dialogue. Parts of it almost seem like a dream, very eerie and surreal, and the dignified personalities of Oyarsa and his underlings are beautifully done. But Lewis rips loose with some comedy from time to time, like Weston trying to bribe the various natives with a cheap necklace and Tarzan-esque threats of "Why you take our puff-bangs [guns] away? We very angry with you!"

Lewis based Ransom partly on his pal, fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien, and Ransom is a nicely done hero; he's not boring or preachy at all, but merely a "stranger in a strange land" who almost goes bonkers once or twice, but manages to triumph. Weston and Devine, on the other hand, are arrogant and dumb in an all-too-recognizable way. And the inhabitants of Malacandra take a little getting used to, but they're pleasant once you do.

"Out of the Silent Planet" still stands up as a vivid and beautifully-written piece of science fiction. You think you know C.S. Lewis after the Narnia Chronicles? Try the Space Trilogy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wanna visit Mars? Go with C.S. Lewis
Review: C.S. Lewis's "Out of the Silent Planet" (the first of the three books in the Space Trilogy) -- in which the narrator is kidnapped by two bad guys and taken on their spaceship -- takes you to Mars, and a surprising visit it is! Mars, the Roman god of war -- Mars, the Red Planet -- scary Martians ready to invade Earth? Far from it all: on the planet Malacandra, as it is known to its inhabitants, in an environment of varied climates and richly fascinating landscapes, you meet remarkable, intelligent, peace-loving creatures, learn their language, discover their spiritual superiority, and find out that the only invaders to be feared are the bad guys from Earth. The visitor makes first contact with the spiritual being Oyarsa, who will re-appear to guide him in the later novels. The technological details about the spaceship and space travel are dated; however, this only adds to the book's charm, without being distracting. While there are theological ponderings, particularly about the moral decay on Earth, the Christian themes as well as the overall tone of this book bear much resemblance to the author's Narnia novels, most especially "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" because it is filled with a sense of wonder at the discovery of a new, different, and more innocent world

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great read
Review: THIS IS A BOOK WITH ONE OF THE COOLEST PLOTS I'VE EVER READ! IT HAS MUCH MUCH BETTER WRITING THAN THE HORSE AND HIS BOY AND THAT SERIES BUT ITS NOT IMPSIBLE LIKE H.G. WELLS I WOULD RECOMED THIS BOOK TO 13 AND UP.... AVERAGE READER. THERE'S ALOT OF TWISTING AND PCED INTENSE ACTION ALONG WITHA ALOT OF DEEP DIOLOG!

MAX, AGE 11

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent!!!
Review: I absolutly loved this book & recommend it highly. Move's along smoothly with wonderful detail's of the world Malacandra.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Should have been filmed instead of the Narnia books
Review: It seems as though the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy has inspired filmmakers to tackle another huge project, and they have settled on CS Lewis' Narnia books, taking a flyer with Andrew Adamson's production first of the LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. If you ask me (of course no one did LOL), this space trilogy of Lewis' would have been a natural, for some of its virtues could be reproduced on film, and perhaps the scope of film could have salvaged some of its weaknesses.

As many have noticed, OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET, while giant in conception, is the tightest of the three, and each book becomes more of a baggy monster than the one before. Dr. Ransom is introduced, and kidnapped to an alien planet where overtones of Miltonic good and evil tickle the fancy of the reader while provoking a great deal of suspense as to his fate, and the fate of the whole universe.

Ransom is a fascinating character, scientist blended with he-man and activist--would have been perfect for Sean Connery, say, twenty years ago.

In the meantime I urge all readers to give OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET a try, even if you're not into science fiction per se. It has a great deal to tell us about the world we all still live in right now.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Entertaining And Thought Provoking
Review: After getting my fill of Lord of the Rings, I was looking for something new to read. I came across this book and decided to give it a shot. I knew that Lewis and Tolkien were contemporaries so I expected a work of quality. I was not disappointed although there is definitely a difference in writing style between this book and LOTR. First of all, Lewis has far fewer characters in his tale - I would say that there are only 6 that are given significant detail. This is helpful because you have to focus much more on the scenery and alien beings.

As for the story, you get to take a journey of self discovery with Dr. Elwin Ransom - the central figure of Lewis' Space Trilogy. It is difficult to say too much about the story without giving away the plot - so I won't. Let me simply say that the story is thought provoking from a moral and religious point of view, and there is plenty of adventure. If this sounds like the kind of book you like, give Out of the Silent Planet a try.


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