Perelandria

by C.S. Lewis

The second in C, S. Lewis's Space Trilogy a sequel to "Out of the Silent Planet" and comes before "That Hideous Strength" Evil joins battle with good as we see what might have happened had Eve not eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Theology

222 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1972

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Clive Staples Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954. He was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.

Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]

Reviews

[Joseph Updike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know where to begin describing this one. Beautiful is not the right word, poignant is too inelaborate, imaginative too flimsy, and deeply moving is non-descript.

This book offers such a unique experience out of all the books and all the experiences you can have. But not even uniqueness can uncover what is offered here.

One may turn to books for the beautiful stories, moving scenes, and engaging characters, and while this book has all of those things, it takes them into a level that transcends character and scene and story. It tells a story behind all stories, it tells a villain and a hero that is behind all villains and heroes. There is evil manifest, and goodness longed for that is revealed by unraveling yet another layer of the veil that keeps us from stepping into truest good.

Books today don't do what this book does. This is one I will read over and over and over again in the years to come.

[Suzanne Roq · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the Eden-esque aspects of the story though it got very wordy at the end and I found myself skimming as the Eldila were speaking. There's a lot to this story that I think will warrant a second, third, fourth reading, etc.

[Audrey Birdwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been listening to this book for a while, I just haven’t had time to finish it! C.S. Lewis has such a good way with words and explaining our relationship with God, emotions, and the “what ifs” of Christianity. Ready to read a novel again to break up the trilogy for a little bit, but every book in this series I learn more about God and His path for us. 2 books down 1 to go!

[Will Arthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book, very CS Lewis. The book was very philosophical and some spots were a bit dry, but it also had incredible moments. The paradigm shift of being in a world without sin would likely be very interesting to any Christian or nonchristian.


Also, kind of a spoiler, but a heartbreaking scene of watching a pure creature slowly fall in love with their own vanity was crazy sad to read.

[Leaflet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This trilogy is very good and definitely deserves to be read!

[Calista Barnett · Rating 2 out of 5]

soaked in religions & comparisons the adam & eve that made me feel like i was reading scripture. had high hopes after the first & with the new planet

[Kevin Pynes]

Definitely an improvement on Out of the Silent Planet. His musings on the creation of man and a world that may escape the fall was especially interesting to me because I had just finished a guided reading of Genesis. Some of Lewis' questions were at front of mind for me. The fighting was very visceral. I am not a fan of those things for their own sake, but it genuinely affected me. Part of that is due to its punctuating Lewis' otherwise, very gentle (maybe even cautious) style. Whiplash is the word I'm looking for I think. Anyway, (spoiler alert) I like that Lewis doubled down on the need to incorporate the physical part of one's humanity. It is a trap that some Christians, especially Christian thinkers fall into, that they become sort of 'soft gnostics' distrusting matter and preferring to only live in the logical and mental realities. Ransom sees how he will lose his struggle with the Un-man unless he uses both parts of his created being, physical and spiritual. After that, the violence that I touched on earlier really takes off.