Tuesday, 12 September 2006

Out of the Silent Planet by: C.S. Lewis

Out of the Silent Planet
The Ransom Cycle Book 1
C.S. Lewis
Scribner Paperback
ISBN 0684823802

Out of the Silent Planet - C.S. Lewis

This is the first book in C.S. Lewis’s amazing Space Trilogy. These books are far less known than Lewis’s Narnia series or even his Mere Christianity or The Screwtape Letters, yet it is just as good as any of those writings and goes to show the versatility of Lewis as an author.

This first book begins with our hero, Dr. Ransom, out for a walking tour in the countryside, dressed in that shabby way for which professors are renowned. His foes are his former schoolmates Devine and Weston. These men believe they need a human sacrifice, and by capturing Ransom they have their victim, for they have made a spaceship and are taking Ransom to Malacandra the red planet.

Once on Mars, Ransom escapes his captors, meets many species, and finds out that on Mars there has been no ‘Fall’ and Ransom from Earth or the Silent Planet is a bit of an oddity. People from earth are considered to be ‘bent’ in nature, from the original sin of the fall.

Follow Ransom as he treks across a strange world, and must find the courage to risk it all to save not only an alien race, but also, possibly his own soul.

This is a first book in an amazing series. Try it - you won’t be disappointed.

Note: reread in 2024 and loved it even more than first time I read it.

Note 2: Recent scholarship published found a handwritten preface to The Screwtape Letters in the C.S. Lewis Archive in Wheaton, IL. This note indicates the letters were found and translated by Dr. Ransom. And that they were written in Old Solar. Thus linking the 3 Ransom novels, the 2 Screwtape pieces and the partial fourth Ransom novel into one series. 

Other Reviews of Lewis's Books.
A Grief Observed
The Four Loves
...

The Ransom Cycle:
The Screwtape Letters
Screwtape Proposes a Toast
...

...
The Dark Tower and Other Stories
...

Narnia Publication Order:
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Last Battle
...

Narnia Chronological Order:
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle
...

Books about C.S. Lewis:
Planet's In Peril: A critical Study of C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy - David C. Downing
The Man Who Created Narnia - Michael Coren
...


Out of the Silent Planet - C.S. Lewis

Perelandra - C.S. Lewis

The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis

Screwtape Proposes A Toast - C.S. Lewis

The Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis

The Dark Tower - C.S. Lewis

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