Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing first episode of this Christian allegory
Review: C.S. Lewis is a name that many children and their parents know by heart. In school and long after, they fell in love with his much beloved 7-volume "Chronicles of Narnia". In addition to that seminal work, Lewis was also noted for his profound takes on Christianity, whether he wrote purely theological books or weaved Christian themes into his fictional novels. One of his more celebrated efforts is his "Space Trilogy" consisting of the three books: "Out of the Silent Planet", "Perelandra", and "That Hideous Strength". Having yet to read "That Hideous Strength", I am unable to comment on the overall arc of this trilogy. Though, I can make assessments out of what I have read.
The first book in this series is "Out of the Silent Planet"; a short 160 pages, but by no means a quick read. It focuses on the travels of this series' hero, the estimable Dr. Ransom as he is kidnapped by two devious scientists, Doctors Weston and Devine, and flown out of Earth (the aforementioned 'silent planet') and whisked to the alien planet of Malacandra (the native name for world we know as Mars). Initially fearful of being sacrificed by Weston and Devine to an indigenous Malacandran species known as sorns, Dr. Ransom escapes once they land upon the world and begins and journey where he meets many of the indigenous species, among them, the subservient hrossa and even the sorns he so feared. In his journeys, Ransom is struck with awe and wonder at the magical visual world he sees, from the lush, fertile valleys that are only visible from the planet surface to the more desolate, but no less intriguing, mountaintops where few of the indigenous lifeforms still reside. His travels provide a strong allegorical reference to biblical themes and Christian doctrine. Malacandra provides a glimpse of what Earth could have been if it had never suffered the fall of Original Sin. All Malacandran life is governed by a benevolent being known as the Oyarsa, who is subservient only to the being referred to as Maleldil (though easy to view as God, himself). The Oyarsa of Malacandra laments no longer hearing from the Oyarsa of Thulucandra ("The Silent Planet" aka Earth), who is referred to as the one who is 'bent' or "gone bad". Ransom is to ponder the significance of what he has observed and consider how to use that knowledge. As Malacandra is further from the Sun than the Earth, its indigenous life has been around much longer and can serve as an example its wayward sibling.
Small print-type, complex sentence structure, and long paragraphs all combine to make reading "Out of the Silent Planet" (and the rest of the "Space Trilogy") a challenge to those who are not used to Lewis' writings. Even at 160 pages, multiple readings are recommended in order to absorb all of the themes presented in this book, but don't think that reading "Out of the Silent Planet" isn't a worthwhile endeavor. Much can be gleaned from its pages and more can be pondered after reading it.
Rating:
Summary: A quiet classic
Review: This is a period piece - a thoughtful work from the era not far from Doc Smith. It's also a wonderful classic.Lewis lays out a stark set of characters: the amoral scientist, the money-grubbing capitalist, and our protagonist, a bit of a blank slate. As in H.G.Wells' Time Machine, our correspondent arrives in a land where different faculties of modern thought have been split into distinct species. The first is the literati, the poets. They are agrarians for a living, but exist for expression in the spoken (not written) word. They are also warm - by measured body temperature - and fuzzy. The next are almost an intelligentsia, but it turns out that their thoughts are all second-hand. They know about their world and about other wolds, but it seems that their instruments and insights were all given to them by agencies unspecified. This species, not surprisingly, is tall and pale - a walking ivory tower. Going beyond Wells' two-way split, we have a third sapient species: a combination of sculptor, engineer, and grovelling toad. After that, the further divisions become more interesting. There are the eldil. They are very nearly invisible, and their voices can't always be heard. Wherever they appear, though, they carry the word and will of some superior being. There is also Oyarsa, the law of the world, but a unique and living being. Oyarsa is just the law of one world, though, and knows that there are other worlds and other laws. Finally, there is the undefined Maleldil, to whom all Oyarsa are subordinate. Mankind, of course, is measured and found wanting. With Lewis' Christian orientation, though, it could be that human Original Sin is just a local aberration, caused by a defective Law that created our defective world. Lewis also makes it tempting to infer a hierarchy of seraphim and angels, below a planetary hierarchy of Oyarsan archangels. By distant inference, higher, galactic levels of hierarchy could also exist. This is almost a morality play. Our hero is Ransom, held ransom against our species' good behavior. The miser is Devine [sic], perhaps by opposites. The amoral plunderer is Weston (western?). It reads well next to Piers Plowman, for example. C. S. Lewis followed all the canons of good space opera. He also turned C. P. Snow's two worlds into two literal worlds. By today's standards, this is a slim volume. It is dense, though, and carries its weight. I enjoyed coming back to it.
Rating:
Summary: Characters personify world-views in Wellsian setting
Review: Harder to rate on a 2nd reading - I recall really liking it before, so I've probably added a star to make up for the fact it wasn't novel for me. I mean, it has a lot more thought going than your standard SF novel and a fabulously grand historical cosmic setting (although the characters are fairly one dimensional - almost personifications of certain viewpoints), and the fact I was expecting this undermined my pleasure.
People (and aliens) are defined the way Lewis defines them: morally. Other attributes are secondary.
There's the Lovecraftian sense of non-anthrocentrism, although each planet's species has a benign angelic overseer - except humanity. From this come all our ills, particularly illustrated in this story, greed and humanism. The former is dismissed cursorily, the latter more carefully undermined, challenging the notion that technological advances bestow rightful authority (a far less popular idea since 1945).
As a wonderful idea to explore an argument and a world view, this is admirable. Moreover Lewis respectfully and ably adapted H.G. Wells' style for his own purposes. Look elsewhere, however, for action sequences, snappy dialogue, and psychology: Lewis' characters consistently, purely and rationally act out their basic convictions.
Rating: 
Summary: For intellectuals only
Review: I sugest that you only read this book if you are ready to be challanged spiratually and inttelectualy. This book really makes you think man!
Rating:
Summary: Giving it fewer stars would be wrong...
Review: I almost gave the book 4 stars because it can very difficult to follow - but that's a problem with me, not the book. It's amazing how Lewis creates this entirely new world, one in which there is no point of reference with the planet Earth. This is both a source of wonder and difficulty, since the world he creates is so foreign. The first time I read it, I was not particularly sensitive to the dual meanings Lewis applied to different things. In subsequent readings, however, I've noticed far more. If you read with a specific intent of discerning deeper meanings in things, you run the risk of imposing your own ideas on the text, which is bad practice. I recommend reading the book slowly and carefully, taking time to ponder the different characters, events, and, most importantly, words spoken. Lewis is making a very serious point in the book, and addressing some crucial human issues. Read carefully. Personally, I find the book difficult, but only because it somewhat begs to be handled respectfully and diligently - not haphazardly or cavalierly. The book is simply a fantastic piece of literature, full of intrigue, wonder, and profound philosophy. Get it, read it, reflect on it.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, but the rest of the Trilogy sucks
Review: This book is excellent and gets 5 stars, but book 2 gets 1 star and book 3 gets 0. I recommend this book, but I recommend against reading the other two, they will just disappoint you and waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: Very good read!
Review: STORY: Dr. Ransom is kidnapped by two other scientists and wisked away to the world of Malacandra. His wouldbe kidnappers think they are brining him to be a sacrafice to the beings of that planet. What happens is an adventure of discovery and facing the truth about human nature, which forever changes Ransom. MY FEEDBACK: 1) SETTING - C.S. Lewis just shines in his descriptions of new, exotic places and the beings that live there. His vivid details allow the reader to create a wonderful mental image of a world totally different from our own. Very, very nicely done. 2) CHARACTERS - The cast of characters consists of Dr. Ransom, Dr. Weston, Dr. Devine and the various beings found on Malacandra (sorns, hross, pfifltrigg and Oyarsa). Every character has a purpose and is allogoric of something greater, which is sometimes clearly demonstrated and at other times left to the reader to interpret. At no point was I bored or upset at stereotypes when reading about these characters. Even if you don't see the allogories they represent they are still intriguing and unpredictable. 3) STORY - I read somewhere that this story is a retelling of the Christ story from the Bible. I didn't see that. Yes, there were some similarities such as the Bent One could be Satan and his fall from heaven. Otherwise, just reading the first book I didn't feel like I was bring preached out or given a Bible Study of any type. It was an intriguing sci-fi story of discovery.
Also, like many secular sci-fi books written prior to 1950, this book makes clear commentary on human society. In other words if someone puts this book down because of the social commentary then that reader is unfamiliar with such literary trends as mentioned. I did prefer this author's handling of social commentary more than other authors of the time that I've read.
Lastly, the book is written very well. Many times I felt like I was reading poetry instead of a sci-fi novel. C.S. Lewis' professional handling of the written prose is very, very enjoyable and appreciated. OVERALL - I can't think of anything wrong with this story. It had action, a mystery, suspense, discovery, aliens, space-flight, characters true to their nature, social commentary, allogory AND all this squeezed into less than 160 pages. In many ways this books ends with most of the story resolved so there doesn't seem to be an immediate need to read the rest of the trilogy. BUT...if you like this first book like I did then you'll find very little reason not to rush out and continue reading right away. A very enjoyable sci-fi read.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book for Si-Fi Readers!
Review: The concept of this whole book and the whole series is just remarkable. People have always dreamed of life on other planets and Lewis explains this idea so well that if it weren?t labeled ?fiction? it would be completely believable; mostly because of the way he combines his science, Christian, mythical, and historical knowledge. Now, I?ll get to the book.
A very intriguing piece of work, I especially loved when Ransom lived in the Hross colony, learning their customs, language, and way of life. It reminded me of how we should have treated people from other races when we discovered them. Also, being an animal lover, I thought the animal-like form of the intelligent Hross was a good concept. I liked the way all the Hross accepted him, even though he was completely different from anything they?d ever seen.
The relations between all the ?species? on the planet was also interesting, the Hross are verbally artistic, the Sorn have knowledge, and the Pfifltriggi are artistic in the way of pottery and statues. Yet they all got along and accepted that Oyarsa was the ruler of all of them.
Being a younger individual, I found it somewhat hard to get into this book. Lewis? wide vocabulary tended to interfere with the storyline to sometimes, but the idea of it got to me. Overall a great read, I defiantly plan to look into more of C. S. Lewis? work.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: This was the first C.S. Lewis novel that I've read. I loved it until the last chapter and will definitely not be reading the next two books in the trilogy. The ending was insultingly bad, at best. "I fell asleep, and the next thing I know..." Pathetic. I'm surprised more reviewers here didn't have a problem with it. From an anthropological stand-point, I was very impressed with the many cultural issues brought up. I'm told that I should try the Narnia series, but if they all have endings like this one, I'll pass.
Rating:
Summary: The best of the three
Review: I love Lewis and I love SciFi so this was a perfect combination for me. I really loved this one and felt it was the best of the trilogy. Lewis is very imaginative and creative. A talent too often missing in SciFi today.
|
