Perelandra (Space Trilogy, Book 2)
by C.S. Lewis
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recommends it for:
open minded Christians.
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Read in May, 2007
I'm not extremely fond of this series so far. Maybe because he and Tolkien were colleagues and friends, I thought this might be something I'd like as much as Lord of the Rings. It's certainly not bad, the writing itself is better than most science fiction, but it doesn't really grab me.
One weakness, I think, is the technique he uses to describe the alien beings and landscapes. He has the narrator state that they are so unlike those of earth that they can't be described directly, that the ...more
One weakness, I think, is the technique he uses to describe the alien beings and landscapes. He has the narrator state that they are so unlike those of earth that they can't be described directly, that the ...more
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Read in April, 2004
This was a fascinating sequel to Out of the Silent Planet. I was spellbound by the internal debate that raged in Ransom's mind as to what to do about the tempter, and also the external verbal debate and the physical struggle against the tempter. Lewis poses the profound question, "What if Adam and Eve had not succumbed to temptation." I don't think Lewis got things quite right, because it seems that he is suggesting that the Fall should not have happened. It needed to happen. Bu...more
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Read in July, 2008
This novel reads nothing like the typical interplanetary travel and discovery we expect in science fiction novels, but is rather intensely mythical and philosophical. This is not to say that C.S. Lewis does not describe a beautiful, enchanting and strange vision of the planet Venus— covered in water, where the patches of solid land float on the ocean like water lilies, shifting great distances and undulating according to the water movement. The main character Ransom is sent to Venus in order t...more
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I enjoyed “Out of the Silent Planet”, but I LOVED “Perelandra”. C.S. Lewis gets all Niven-y by creating a fantastic, fascinating view of Venus that has NO basis in reality, but is still pretty darn cool. I’d love for someone to illustrate this book, because Lewis has a gift for creating beautiful images: a silvery, cloud-covered Venus that’s mostly ocean, with floating, undulating, tree-covered islands draped over the waves like carpets. Mountains made of crystal. Other-worldly anima...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
Hardcore C.S. Lewis fans
Although this books takes place on the distant planet of Perelandra (hence the title), it is hard to see this as science fiction, as it is very clearly and explicitly about humankind's fall from grace in the Garden of Eden, take two. Science doesn't really enter into this story, except perhaps as context for the antagonist.
The central tension between the protagonist Ransom and the antagonist Weston is resolved, as is apparently the theme for this series, with violence. Indeed, Lewis has set-...more
The central tension between the protagonist Ransom and the antagonist Weston is resolved, as is apparently the theme for this series, with violence. Indeed, Lewis has set-...more
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Read in July, 2006
recommends it for:
everybody.
"This was the first thing Mark had been asked to do which he himself, before he did it, clearly knew to be criminal. But the moment of his consent almost escaped his notice; certainly, there as no struggle, no sense of turning a corner. There may have been a time in the world's history when such moments fully revealed their gravity, with witches prophesying on a blasted heath or visible Rubicons to be crossed. But, for him, it all slipped past in a chatter of laughter, of that intimate laug...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2000
recommends it for:
everyone
Perelandra is the second of C.S. Lewis's space trilogy. In that universe, it is the name of the planet Venus - a beautiful sinless planet with life at its dawn. Perelandra is a passionate and fierce ocean world with awesome storms, golden sunlight, millions of floating islands, and critters to inhabit them. On Perelandra live only two sentient creatures: the King and the Queen. They rule the world as Adam and Eve. A philologist named Ransom is sent from Earth as God's representative with an...more
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recommends it for:
fans of C.S. Lewis, relatively traditional Christians
The second book in the series, our hero sets out once again to explore the life in our solar system. This time he heads to Venus and finds himself in the Garden of Eden 2.0 right before the Big Temptation. Unfortunately, the devil's representative shows up again too. Will betaEve listen to our hero and avoid temptation unlike her earthly counterpart, or will she take the advice of the evil astronaut? I didn't like this one nearly as much as the other even when I was a much more faithful Cath...more
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recommends it for:
sci fi readers
The second book in Lewis's space trilogy, Perelandra takes Ransom to another world. (First Mars, now Venus)
Here he finds a new eden, an entire planet populated with fantastical creates, amazing plant life, and only two "people". The Green Lady, whom he meets soon after his splash landing, and the King.
On a water filled planet with floating islands, not stationary as ours are, Ransom has the chance to see what would happen if Adam and Eve had never sinned. Idillyc. Until Weston ...more
Here he finds a new eden, an entire planet populated with fantastical creates, amazing plant life, and only two "people". The Green Lady, whom he meets soon after his splash landing, and the King.
On a water filled planet with floating islands, not stationary as ours are, Ransom has the chance to see what would happen if Adam and Eve had never sinned. Idillyc. Until Weston ...more
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Perelandra, the second in Lewis's space trilogy, is a virtual retelling of the story of Adam and Eve, except that it occurs on Venus and ends differently. Satan, through Weston, tries to make the Green Lady live on the fixed-lands, as he once tempted Eve to taste the forbidden fruit. This novel attempts to answer some troubling theological questions: Did good come from the Fall? Was it the fall that gave us free-will? Why would God not want us to have the knowledge of good and evil? Only when Le...more
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I don't think I could say enough good things about this book if I tried. Only one other book has shaped my understanding of a Christian's relationship to the world more than this one. Lewis, in the voice of Ransom and the Green Lady, captures the essence of what makes humans tick. I'm always astounded by Lewis's innate understanding of the human condition - Perelandra typifies his penetration.
I think Lewis' commentary on human discontentedness has most influenced my life. He essentially ...more
I think Lewis' commentary on human discontentedness has most influenced my life. He essentially ...more
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Read in January, 2006
This is the second book of Lewis' Space Trilogy and in some ways I found it to be better than the first. Lewis seems more comfortable with the character of Dr. Ransom, and his scenic descriptions are astounding.
The overt allusions to the story of Creation are sometimes a bit cloying, as if he's beating you over the head with it, but the writing is so fluid and beautiful, one can forgive his soapbox moments.
As with Out of the Silent Planet, Lewis creates a world that is imaginative, whimsical...more
The overt allusions to the story of Creation are sometimes a bit cloying, as if he's beating you over the head with it, but the writing is so fluid and beautiful, one can forgive his soapbox moments.
As with Out of the Silent Planet, Lewis creates a world that is imaginative, whimsical...more
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I remember the fruit trees that satisfied hunger and appeitite at the same time making the eater unable to gorge - sounded like the Big Rock Candy Mountain to me. The hero was essentially overseeing this planet's first man and first woman and how things might have turned out if Adam and Eve had resisted the Tempter's seductions.
Reusing characters from the first of these religious fantasies,C.S. Lewis's Dr Ransom is sent by the Elida to Perelandra (Venus) to battle against evil incarnate a...more
Reusing characters from the first of these religious fantasies,C.S. Lewis's Dr Ransom is sent by the Elida to Perelandra (Venus) to battle against evil incarnate a...more
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Read in June, 2008
Engaging philosophical discussion about what might have happened had Eve not eaten the apple/succumbed to temptation.
Some great parts - descriptions of the islands, the clouds, the forests and the creatures of the world.
I suspect a lot of people would find it dry, and a little boring. The majority of the action takes places through a long-winded discussion about good and evil, the nature of man, the nature of sin, etc...
Still, definitely worth the read. Pretty neat stuff about what...more
Some great parts - descriptions of the islands, the clouds, the forests and the creatures of the world.
I suspect a lot of people would find it dry, and a little boring. The majority of the action takes places through a long-winded discussion about good and evil, the nature of man, the nature of sin, etc...
Still, definitely worth the read. Pretty neat stuff about what...more
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Read in August, 2007
I really liked this book in the middle, but the climax came way too early. I literally had to fight through the last chapter, and I think that's pretty telling. The struggle between Weston and Ransom was great, but it didn't take up enough of the book. The long descriptions without any dialogue were a little boring to me, and I would have liked the allegory if it didn't explicitly bring and and discuss God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, ect. Despite my criticism, this is still a good story, althou...more
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Read in April, 2008
This second installment seemed much more philosophical, much more dense, much more cerebral, and ultimately much more obviously Christian-themed than OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET. It was also longer, but the events therein were no less interesting. Much more reflective, I think. Almost more a treatise than a novel. It contains some moments of genuine horror, and others of sublimity. I'll be interested to see what THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH is all about...
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This book is amazing! It's the second book in C.S. Lewis' space trilogy and my favorite of the three. It's beautifully written and intense at times. It made me wish that Perelandra really exsisted at the that there was even the smallest possibilty I might someday step foot on it's surface and meet the queen. The entire trilogy has changed my outlook on the world and my relationship to it. I have a new understanding out the verse "be in the world but not of it."
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Read in December, 2004
My dad read this one aloud to me many years ago, and I haven't read it since, despite having read "Out of the Silent Planet" several times. This month I felt like rereading it though, and while I still like OotSP better, I found all the conversations between Ransom, the Green Lady and Weston very interesting, although at times a bit difficult to understand. But then, I read it in English, so that may have had something to do with it as well.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.90 (2494 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.92 (458 ratings) number of reviews: 155popular shelves
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"... I am not sure whether I can make you understand it. It was something more than a prudent desire to avoid creatures alien in kind, very powerful, and very intelligent. The truth was that all I heard about them served to connect two things which one's mind tends to keep separate, and that connecting gave one sort of a shock. We tend to think about non-human intelligences in two distinct categories which we label "scientific" and "supernatural" respectively. We think, in one mood, of Mr. Wells' Martians (very unlike the real Malacandrians, by the bye), or his Selenites. In quite a different mood we let our minds loose on the possibility of angels, ghosts, fairies, and the like. But the very moment we are compelled to recognise a creature in either class as real, the distinction begins to get blurred: and when it is a creature like an eldil the distinction vanishes altogether. These things were not animals-to that extent one had to classify them with the second group; but they had some kind of material vehicle whose presence could (in principle) be scientifically verified. To that extent they belonged to the first group. The distinction between natural and supernatural, in fact, broke down; and when it had done so, one realised how great a comfort it had been-how it had eased the burden of intolerable strangeness which this universe imposes on us by dividing it into two halves and encouraging the mind never to think of both in the same context."
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