This is one of my favorite books of all time. I have read a number of the negative reviews, and I can see how someone who doesn't share the religious views of Lewis might be put off. If a reader is not at all open to the possibility of the supernatural then this book might be tough going. But for anyone who has wondered, "How might a political conspiracy actually take place?", this is a must read. Whatever religious or political views one holds, to think that the main stream media is not even the least bit managed from "up top" is naive.

The conclusion to the trilogy, "Out of the Silent Planet" and "Perelandra". It can be read on its own, but there are moments when it was helpful to have read the previous two. "Perelandra" is by far the best of the three. I was disappointed there was no closure to the story. Lewis makes mincemeat of our feeble minds. His insights are amazing and his concept of the world beyond is exquisite. The English dialect can be slightly aggravating.

The novel is centered around a university now owned and run by a group of intellectuals set out to change the world by the creation of a "new man". They created this new world order front to rid the world of undesirables, evoke a revolution upon the earth, and enforce a police state. The "worldly" Ransom is back, but not as one of the main characters. Instead, chosen is a man that is hired on by the university and his wife (who has dreams that are actually real), will together (though conditions separate them) create this "new man".

Wish you well
Scott

Perhaps not the BEST of C. S. Lewis' works, but a good one nonetheless. I was introduced to the 'space trilogy' as a teenager by my father, a minister. He thought I would enjoy the SciFi aspect and maybe glean some ethical education in the meantime. He was correct. This was not the most fun of the trilogy to read, but a good ending to the trilogy. If you are looking for classic SciFi with good moral values, the 'space trilogy' is definitely worth a look.

This was by far my favorite of the trilogy (Perlandria was my least). First off, it is almost a misnomer to call them a trilogy. The style, feel, and even genre of this book is different than the other two. Lewis says that in the introduction, reading the other two is not even required to read this one (although it certainly does help, and I recommend very highly doing so).

A lot of people are quick to criticize this book for the occasional slow part, the lack of focus on the main character of the other two, and having too much philosophy and ideals stuffed into too small a space.

My main comment is that this book has to be read slowly. Lewis calls it a "Fairy tale for grown ups", but it is much more. There is so much philosophy, theology, social commentary and satire in there that if read as a quick fling sci fi or fantasy book, most of the point of it is missed. It encapsulates post-war england in a way that is truly striking: the hopes, the fears, the cynicism.

I read this fast the first time, and thought a lot of it was kinda slow, but the end was great (but should have been longer), and that was that. But for some reason, in the years since I had read it the first time, it kept popping up in my mind. Situations from it would come out of nowhere, and whisper lessons to my mind.

So, I just re-read it, but with much more intensity of thought, and time, and have completely fallen in love. It borders on the prophetic, in its strongest parts. And those are not in the action parts. The messages it bears are legion, if we are careful enough to listen!

Firstly let me say I'm an atheist; I find all religious beliefs to be rather silly.

However this book (even more than its predecessors) is awful. It's not so much about Lewis's religious beliefs as about his politics and personal life; the whole thing is a huge compendium of Blimpish Tory ranting against anything vaguely liberal in Britain post-1945. Far and away Lewis's worst and most infuriating book. It is also embarrassingly, offensively, sexist ("Write no more books, have children instead").
There is quite a lot of messed up sexism in the whole trilogy, even more so than Lewis's work in general. It seems to (mainly) boil down to a lot of the "essentialist male = closer to God" nonsense and monarchy-worship (Lewis was an ardent monarchist and distrusted democracy, as shown in this and other books).
It seems to me that Lewis (to paraphrase Patricia Schroder) was scared by the whole notion of a woman who has a brain and a uterus.

Lewis must have been going through a pretty bad time personally during and right after the war, to write such a bizarre, mean-spirited, book. Perhaps it's more about Lewis's own doubts, and his reaction to the general loss of religious faith caused by the war, as the book seems to be written to bolster his *own* faith.

Also the book is downright illogical in it's perception of god (e.g. the Merlin character's pronouncements against Jane for using birth control; obviously Lewis's god couldn't cope with a diaphragm.......). If this is God's will, that we be governed by the apparent mentality of a sulky child, then indeed it is a toss-up which side is good and which evil