Out of the Silent Planet, Space Trilogy Series

Out of the Silent Planet is a timely parable that has been loved for many generations. Dr. Ransom is chronicled through his abduction by a megalomaniacal physicist and his accomplice via space ship to the planet malacandra. The two men are in need of human sacrifice and Dr. Ransom would seem to fit the bill. Dr. Ransom escapes upon landing, though, and goes on the run, a stranger in a land that, is enchanting in its difference from Earth and instructive in its similiarity.

Written during the dark hours immediately before and during the Second World War, C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy, of which Out of the Silent Planet is the first volume, stands alongside such works as Albert Camus's The Plague and George Orwell's 1984 as a timely parable that has become timeless, beloved by succeeding generations as much for the sheer wonder of its storytelling as for the significance of the moral concerns. For the trilogy's central figure, C. S. Lewis created perhaps the most memorable character of his career, the brilliant, clear-eyed, and fiercely brave philologist Dr. Elwin Ransom. Appropriately, Lewis modeled Dr. Ransom after his dear friend J. R. R. Tolkien, for in the scope of its imaginative achievement and the totality of its vision of not one but two imaginary worlds, the Space Trilogy is rivaled in this century only by Tolkien's trilogy The Lord of the Rings. Readers who fall in love with Lewis's fantasy series The Chronicles of Namia as children unfailingly cherish his Space Trilogy as adults; it, too, brings to life strange and magical realms in which epic battles are fought between the forces of light and those of darkness. But in the many layers of its allegory, and the sophistication and piercing brilliance of its insights into the human condition, it occupies a place among the English language's most extraordinary works for any age, and for all time.

Out of the Silent Planet introduces Dr. Ransom and chronicles his abduction by a megalomaniacal physicist and his accomplice via space ship to the planet Malacandra. The two men are in need of a human sacrifice and Dr. Ransom would seem to fit the bill. Dr. Ransom escapes upon landing, though, and goes on the run, a stranger in a land that, like Jonathan Swift's Lilliput, is enchanting in its difference from Earth and instructive in its similarity.

The New Yorker

If wit and wisdom, style and scholarship are requisites to passage through the pearly gates, Mr. Lewis will be among the angels.

Los Angeles Times

Lewis, perhaps more than any other twentieth-century writer, forced those who listened to him and read his works to come to terms with their own philosophical presuppositions.

Average Rating:

4 of 4 Reviews Showing:

Reviewed by Stefan Bishop (Elmira, New York), March 12, 2002

Amazing! Definitely a must read book for anyone who's into the Sci-Fi Fantasy Genre (or for anyone who needs a good book to read). C.S. Lewis does an outstanding job of creating an intergalactic atmosphere whithout "over doing it". There is an amazing amount of wisdom that only a master mind like C.S. Lewis could think up.

Reviewed by Tom Kulp (Moorestown, NJ), May 16, 2001

The Space Trilogy series is Christian alegory at its best - a good vs. evil story with great Biblical truths woven into an intricate plot with vivid characters. This is not, in any way, a children's series.

Reviewed by Brandon White (Lawrence, KS), January 26, 2001

C.S. Lewis was a genius! This entire trilogy is masterful. The parallels in this series to our existence are excellent. Lewis was one of the great intellectual minds of all times. The reviewer who gave this book a 0.5 displayed closed mindedness and irresponsibility by not previewing the book for her young child. Even the bible has stories that are not always appropriate for young readers. This series is for people who like to be intellectually challenged.

Reviewed by Christine Williams (Clayville NY), November 08, 2000

My 11 year old son received this book as a gift . It was actually bought through Crossings Book Club. It was 1 book of all three stories . Out of the Silent Planet , Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength . I thought it was an awful big book but my son started reading it . I assumed as did my parents , who gave the gift ,since it was written by C.S.Lewis , that it would be good . My son already read The Chronicles of Narnia series . This series of stories is different . I realized after I saw the books for sale in this Cbd catalog that they were for 8th graders and up . I thought maybe it would just have bigger and longer words and so I wasn't too worried . After getting a gut feeling to actually look through the book quickly I realized that there was swearing in this book more than once . I don't think any Christian should read it .

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