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That Hideous Strength (Space Trilogy #3)

by C.S. Lewis

3.87 · Rating Details · 23,489 Ratings · 1,271 Reviews

The third novel in the science-fiction trilogy by C.S. Lewis. This final story is set on Earth, and tells of a terrifying conspiracy against humanity.The story surrounds Mark and Jane Studdock, a newly married couple. Mark is a Sociologist who is enticed to join an organisation called N.I.C.E. which aims to control all human life. His wife, meanwhile, has bizarre prophetic ...more

Paperback, 534 pages

Published December 5th 2005 by HarperCollins Publishers (first published December 1945)

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Feb 21, 2009 Douglas Wilson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction

Stupendous. Just great, and also read in January of 1990. Also read in May of 2009. Also read in June of 1985. Also read in July of 1980. Finished it again on an Audible version in August of 2015. And yet again in Audible in September of 2016. And one more time on Audible in July of 2017.

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Jan 27, 2010 Stephen rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fantasy, audiobook, 1930-1953

FIRST: A complaint from a member of my reading group who read the book ONLY because of the very cool bear on the cover:

In defense of Mr. Angry Bear, I must agree that while the giant, kick-ass bear on the cover may not be exactly false advertising, it is certainly in the category of misleading...similar to beer commercials telling you "drink this beer and hot people will be all over you” when the reality is closer to “drink enough of our beer and you will think the people all over you are real ...more

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May 17, 2007 Mandy Stigant rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, scifi-fantasy, fiction

I finished it while 30,000 feet in the air. It was a night-time flight, and after I finished the last page i set it down, turned to look out the window and while my mind wandered and mulled on what i had just experienced with the book, I saw that we were skirting to the side of a storm. The lightning was bouncing from cloud to cloud and it wasn't unlike my thoughts and the way my heart felt; I was elated, and I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be when I finished that book -- short of outsid ...more

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Apr 22, 2010 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, libertarian, spirituality, fiction, novels, ebooks

I have a love/hate relationship with C.S. Lewis. There's a lot I admire in his writing but enough I deplore in his worldview that even though I keep being drawn to his works, I can't call him a favorite. I mostly loved The Screwtape Letters and Narnia, which I read as an adult, adored Till We Have Faces (my favorite Lewis work), was moved by his book A Grief Observed and found Mere Christianity and the first two books in the Space Trilogy interesting. There was only one book by him until this on ...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Chris rated it liked it

Years ago I read this book and was disappointed with it, as probably many readers are, because I expected the third part of the Space Trilogy to be more...well...spacey. However, having now reread it separately, without any connection to the previous two books, I have to say that I have a much higher opinion of it now than I did then. I read the book with 1984 on my mind, and it is the relationship between the two books that is compelling.

The most disorienting thing about the book is the lack of Years ago I read this book and was disappointed with it, as probably many readers are, because I expected the third part of the Space Trilogy to be more...well...spacey. However, having now reread it separately, without any connection to the previous two books, I have to say that I have a much higher opinion of it now than I did then. I read the book with 1984 on my mind, and it is the relationship between the two books that is compelling.

The most disorienting thing about the book is the lack of Elwin Ransom, the hero of the first two books. Instead, a young and dysfunctional couple--Mark and Jane Studdock--are the protagonists. The book is strongest, I think, when it follows Mark and his initiation into the distinctly Orwellian NICE (National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments). In fact, Orwell himself reviewed the book, and found the NICE interesting, "with its world-wide ramifications, its private army, its secret torture chambers, and its inner ring of adepts ruled over by a mysterious personage known as The Head." Sound familiar? And this was a few years before Orwell would write 1984.

That Hideous Strength is its best when discussing the political machinations and ideological goals of the NICE. Some of the conversations in which Mark participates (with the mad scientist Dr. Filostrato, the mad parson Straik, and the all-knowing initiates Frost and Wither (the latter of whom seems like a character from The Man Who Was Thursday)) are quite simply fascinating. Set against Orwell's own dystopia, however, it seems to fall flat. The rather ridiculous ending (as Orwell complained) is the obvious culprit (and I find myself agreeing with Orwell's criticisms); however, the greatest disparity has to do with hope--That Hideous Strength has it, but 1984 does not. Orwell wrote that Lewis's book lacked drama, because when God is set against the Devil, we know who will win in advance. Orwell complained of the "supernatural breaking in" and giving away the game, deciding the ending in advance, and taking away the suspense. He has a point with this, but it seems to me that 1984 has the exact opposite problem. With no supernatural intervention at all, well, we all know what happens at the end. That Hideous Strength and 1984 operate in similar worlds, but at the opposite ends of the religious spectrum; CS Lewis couldn't let his characters lose, but Orwell couldn't let them win.

That Hideous Strength also retains technical relevance that I think 1984 does not, especially in the ideology of Filostrato, who seems to be a precursor to those modern "technological singularity" types, and Lewis weaves the NICE's scientific viewpoints nicely into the overall history of science. What's next after subjugating nature, but in turn to remake man? Read in conjunction with The Abolition of Man, the book is deceptively poignant.

Despite the book's few (significant) flaws (most especially the character of Jane and the mind-boggling ending), it is a good read and a worthy conclusion to the space trilogy (even though it might be good to wait a few years after finishing Perelandra!) ...more

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Jul 18, 2007 Fr.Bill M rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-for-fun, fiction-apologetica-polemical

This is Lewis' best treatment of sex, and probably the best treatment of sex by anyone, cast in the form of a novel. It is sooooooooo retro on the modern scene that it will either shock or outrage most folks who read it for the first time in the modern context.

It is also some of the funniest stuff i've ever read in my life. Only a few paragraphs into a scene near the end of the book, which draws on the goings on at Babel, when the languages were confused -- well, it set off a laughing fit that l ...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Kat Hooper rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook

Originally posted at FanLit. Come visit us!
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

"Nature is the ladder we have climbed up by. Now we kick her away."

That Hideous Strength is the final volume of C.S. Lewis’s SPACE TRILOGY. This story, which could be categorized as science fiction, dystopian fiction, Arthurian legend, and Christian allegory, is different enough from the previous books, Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, that you don’t need to have read them, but it may help to vaguely famil Originally posted at FanLit. Come visit us!
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

"Nature is the ladder we have climbed up by. Now we kick her away."

That Hideous Strength is the final volume of C.S. Lewis’s SPACE TRILOGY. This story, which could be categorized as science fiction, dystopian fiction, Arthurian legend, and Christian allegory, is different enough from the previous books, Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, that you don’t need to have read them, but it may help to vaguely familiarize yourself with their plots. Generally, in the previous stories, Dr. Elwin Ransom has been to both Mars and Venus and discovered that the planets are governed by heavenly beings and that Earth’s governor is a fallen angel. These forces are at war and the fate of the universe is at stake.

In That Hideous Strength, Ransom is back on Earth and is preparing a group of people who can fight the forces of evil. This evil is manifesting as a corporation called the National Institute of Coordinated Experimentation (N.I.C.E.) which is trying to purchase some wooded property owned by Bracton College at the University of Edgestow in England. To do this, they’ve had to exert their influence over some of the “progressive” faculty by getting them to buy into their subtle message of saving the human race through (but not obviously yet) sterilization, selective breeding, re-education, and biochemical conditioning. The end-goal, though they only talk about this in the inner circle, is a future in which the working class is no longer needed to support the brains that run the world. NICE wants the talents of the progressive faculty on their side as they generate propaganda, but they also want to recruit some more ancient magic — they plan to dig up the body of Merlin, which they believe may be buried on the college’s property.

Dr. Mark Studdock, a sociologist and a new Bracton faculty member who doesn’t feel like he quite fits in yet, is tempted to join NICE when they offer him a high-status job. At first Mark is suspicious of the group and their recruitment methods and he’s bothered by the vague job description, but their insistence that they need him, their appeal to his vanity, and his low self esteem combine to make their offer seem attractive. Having left Bracton to join the NICE administration, Mark is unaware of the police tactics that NICE is using to make the college town comply with their new order. Meanwhile, also back at Bracton, Mark’s new wife, Jane, is having ominous visions. Thinking she may be going crazy, she seeks help and ends up among the group, lead by Dr. Ransom, which is fighting NICE.

One thing that C.S. Lewis does so well in this novel is to portray the slippery slope of Mark’s gradual slide into evil which is caused by a lack of his own moral compass. Though he doesn’t realize it at first, he is foremost a people-pleaser. He wants to increase his status in the eyes of both his colleagues and his wife, and though he’s not actually concerned about his character for himself, he wants others to admire him. Wanting to seem both successful (financially and professionally) and of good character, and without any moral grounding of his own, he has no idea how to behave in this situation and eventually succumbs to the pressure. When he becomes better acquainted with NICE’s tactics and plans, the cognitive dissonance he feels leads him to wholly embrace the evil. It doesn’t help that Mark discovers that even when he tries to be good, there is no natural law that the universe must reward him for it.

In contrast, characters who have a stronger sense of self, like Jane, have more concrete ideas about right and wrong and are not as easily influenced or corrupted. Yet Lewis doesn’t condemn Mark while wholly commending Jane. Instead, Mark’s inferiority complex seems heartbreaking, and Lewis makes Jane, an educated feminist, deal with her hatred of masculinity. Other good characters are forced to examine their own self-righteousness.

Another thing that is beautifully done in That Hideous Strength is Lewis’ melding of the ancient and new, especially in England’s history — the dark ages with its ancient forest magic, mythical creatures, and irrational superstition, and the new age of rationalism, science and technology. Lewis also speaks eloquently about the difference between organized religion and real spiritual experience. There are also some lovely literary allusions in That Hideous Strength; no fantasy literature lover is likely to miss Lewis’ reference to the work of his friend J.R.R. Tolkien.

That Hideous Strength is a deeply philosophical novel which, except for the mention of corsets, doesn’t feel dated though it was published in 1945. Some readers may not appreciate all the philosophizing, but I am always fascinated by C.S. Lewis’ ideas, finding them logical, enlightening, and superbly said. Some of these ideas can be found in his non-fiction works The Abolition of Man, Mere Christianity, God in the Dock, and probably others that I haven’t read. That Hideous Strength — in fact the entire SPACE TRILOGY — is a profoundly thoughtful and beautiful work of science fiction. I recommend Blackstone Audio’s version narrated by Geoffrey Howard. ...more

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May 28, 2009 John rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I've read "That Hideous Strength" several times, and it always has been my favorite of C.S. Lewis' space trilogy. But this time through, it captivated me in a way that it never has before. Only C.S. Lewis, with his combination of brilliance, scholarly knowledge, writing ability, wit and Christian world view, could have written this book.
It is Lewis' most satirical book, even more so than "Screwtape Letters." It is probably his most sophisticated fiction work with the exception of "Till We Have F I've read "That Hideous Strength" several times, and it always has been my favorite of C.S. Lewis' space trilogy. But this time through, it captivated me in a way that it never has before. Only C.S. Lewis, with his combination of brilliance, scholarly knowledge, writing ability, wit and Christian world view, could have written this book.
It is Lewis' most satirical book, even more so than "Screwtape Letters." It is probably his most sophisticated fiction work with the exception of "Till We Have Faces" (which is too sophisticated for me).
As he tells us in a brief author's note, this is the fictional complement to Lewis' "The Abolition of Man," which is a critique of the British educational system. This sounds like a deadly subject for fiction, but it isn't in Lewis' skillful hands. And although this book was written in the 1940s in England, the themes remain on target in the United States today.
It is helpful, but not necessary, to have read the first two books of the trilogy before reading "That Hideous Strength." The central character of those books, Ransom, plays a major role here as well. But the central characters in "Hideous" are a young, not-very-happily married couple, Mark and Jane Studdock.
In the battle between good and evil that occupies this book, Mark is drawn in to the side of evil, Jane to the side of good. "Drawn in" is the phrase -- neither makes a conscious decision or realizes that good and evil are involved until late in the book. I think Mark represents the young C.S. Lewis. And I think "Bill the Blizzard" Hingest, a character who disappears early in the book, represents the mature C.S. Lewis in this dialogue with Mark:
"I suppose there are two views about everything," said Mark.
"Eh? Two views? There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there's never more than one."
The legend of King Arthur plays a significant role in "That Hideous Strength."
The subject matter of "That Hideous Strength" is grim, and even gruesome at times. Needed comic relief is provided by Mr. Bultitude. I won't say anything more about him, because if I did it would ruin it for you. ...more

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Mar 10, 2007 Alicia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I wrote my college essay on this book as it had the most profound influeI wrote my college essay on this book as it had the most profound influence on me in my teenage years. But that's not to say that it's a book aimed at young people. C.S. Lewis is known as a Christian writer and it's true that there are elements of Christianity in this book, as well as some very conservative ideas about women, I might add! But that's not what the book is really about. The hideous strength that Lewis writes ab ...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Jacob Aitken added it · review of another edition

This is easily human literature's finest hour. CS Lewis, in what is easily his masterpiece, gets in one's face about the reality of the New World Order and of the possibilities of real, effective Christian resistance to it.

But the true evil is not democracy. It is diabolical, to be sure, and monarchy is definitely to be preferred, but the true battle takes place on "the unseen world."

Lewis puts "spiritual warfare" in a rather direct, most uncomfortable light. Christians piously prat about spir ...more

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Jun 11, 2014 Julie Davis rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

As with the other two books in C.S. Lewis's "space trilogy" I found this one difficult to get into and, yet, once I got past the indefinable point where it was no longer a struggle, I couldn't read it fast enough. Consequently this was a 24-hour book for me. It is a testament to Lewis's imagination and writing skill as to how different all three of the books are in this trilogy, while simultaneously all carrying out the same basic theme. No wonder J.R.R. Tolkien loved them.

Speaking of Tolkien, I ...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Michael rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The reader who comes to “That Hideous Strength” for the first time after reading “Out of the Silent Planet” and “Perelandra” could be excused for wondering how it fits in with the rest of the Space Trilogy. It bears little resemblance to its companion volumes. There is no journey through space, no exploration of strange, beautiful worlds, and no alien races. Dr. Ransom, far from being the central character, is absent from the first third of the book, Lewis makes no appearance at all, and nowhere ...more

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Jul 25, 2007 Emilia P rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: everybody and their mom

Shelves: real-books, churrrch

That Hideous Strength is the final book in the C.S. Lewis's Ransom trilogy. The first two books find Ransom on Mars and then Venus, exploring their flora and fauna,meeting their inhabitants and speaking with their eldils, which are somewhere between the planets spiritual essence and its guardian angel..while we discover how (the Christian) God works on other planets.

This third book finds Ransom back on earth, preparing for an interplanetary response to the threat of apocalypse, which is about to ...more

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Jul 28, 2013 Jacob Aitken rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fighting-the-new-world-order, economics, philosophy, apologetics, education, alternative-research, against-the-neocon-evangelical-acti, illuminati, heroism, beauty, fantasy, dominion

Easily Lewis's best work. This should be on the front shelves at every Christian book store. Lewis frighteningly predicted the rise of the scientific, planning state. For those who laugh at "conspiracies" of the New World Order, read this book and tell me I am wrong. Try it.

But unlike other books on the New World Order, Lewis advocates (or at least Dr Ransom does), fighting back. And not just fighting back with abstract ideas, but also with revolvers.

Lots of memorable moments: Ransom explains m ...more

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Oct 23, 2009 Brandy Painter rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, science-fiction

Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! How many times can I use that word or one of its synonyms in describing anything written by C.S. Lewis? Not enough. This book, the third in the Space Trilogy, is the best of the three.

That Hideous Strength deals with a Britain on the verge of dystopia. An organization known as the N.I.C.E. is moving to take over the nation and its strength will usher in the hideousness referred to in the title. Like in most dystopian novels there is a small group of individuals w ...more

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May 03, 2012 John Jr. rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf, fiction-modern-british

First, a reminiscence. I continue to be surprised by my mother, though she died three years ago. She gave at least one volume of this trilogy to me when I was a young adolescent and finally gave the third to me some 40 years later, at Christmas 2000. I imagine she understood that, insofar as they're allegorical, Lewis's Narnia books derive from a formerly great literary tradition, but she knew as well that they were meant for children; she had no interest in them herself (that I can recall) and ...more

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Sep 13, 2016 Laura rated it liked it · review of another edition

I read this the way I've read almost all of C.S. Lewis' writing: first, by sheer determination even though it makes only a little sense to me; then re-reading a second time with appreciation. I almost always start his books, admire his ideas but realize I'm pretty puzzled by most of it, and then go back and re-read the book and realize how brilliant it really is.

Even though it is the last book in his trilogy, as a non-fantasy reader I think I should have started here. This is the least fantastic I read this the way I've read almost all of C.S. Lewis' writing: first, by sheer determination even though it makes only a little sense to me; then re-reading a second time with appreciation. I almost always start his books, admire his ideas but realize I'm pretty puzzled by most of it, and then go back and re-read the book and realize how brilliant it really is.

Even though it is the last book in his trilogy, as a non-fantasy reader I think I should have started here. This is the least fantastic book of the trilogy and contains the most recognizable setting (a modern university full of intellectuals who value objectivity, embrace materialism, and worship science) and features the most relatable characters (like Jane! Finally a girl I can relate to!)

Set in a fictional British university, we first meet Mark Studdock--a young professor trying to climb the ranks of academia not by his knowledge or skill, but by getting chummy with the 'in' crowd. Unbeknownst to him, the in-crowd has recently aligned themselves with an organization called N.I.C.E., an acronym which disguises their real intentions to apply science to all social problems and to sterilize the planet and re-educate people in order to promote the all-powerful human above the disorder of nature. Meanwhile, his wife has been experiencing--rather against her will--prophetic dreams that lead her towards a group of people who are opposed to N.I.C.E. and all that it stands for. Mark and Jane clearly symbolize the objective approach and the subjective approach, and their marriage represents the necessary unity between these two approaches that makes us human. I'm not going to pretend I got all the symbolism in this book (that is something I'd love to keep discussing with other fans of Lewis' work!) but I did recognize the way this story fleshes out ideas found in The Abolition of Man. I doubt anyone could fully appreciate this novel without at least some knowledge of Lewis' argument in The Abolition of Man and his essay on the Inner Ring http://www.lewissociety.org/innerring.php though I do think the story stands on its own merits. I'm sure there is hardly a thesis about this book that hasn't already been written, but this book begs to have an essay or two written about it.

Using my Lewis formula (read, then re-read), I think I ought to go back and re-read the whole trilogy again so I can experience the brilliance. It's a good thing all of his works deserve a second reading anyhow.

(Why 3 stars? I've decided the stars are there for me, to determine how much I enjoyed a book, not to reflect how brilliant the book actually is. Purely subjective. Hence, a three.) ...more

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May 19, 2015 Megan Baxter rated it really liked it

I started this book with a certain amount of trepidation. I'd liked the first book in this series a lot, but while I had been enchanted with the descriptions of Venus/Perelandra, I was frustrated by the outcome of the second book as a whole. Which way was this going to go? Well, somewhere in the middle. In general, the book was entertaining to read, with occasional passages that made me stop and take a deep breath. It's one of those things where some of the things he says sound fantastic, and th ...more

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May 31, 2017 Corey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2017

Baller.

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Mar 15, 2017 John rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-bcs

Definitely my favorite of the three.

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Feb 14, 2014 ladydusk rated it really liked it

I read this on Kindle.

I really enjoyed this book. There was so much that Lewis had to say and show.

The evil was really evil, and the layers were peeled back slowly, slowly to the final climax. The evil is so evil it doesn't seem possible to defeat.

The good was really good. Waiting, abiding, sojourning, trusting God. That's generally a good plan.

I love, love, love that Lewis solves SciFi problems grounded in history. In Out of the Silent Planet he used Classical Astronomy. Here we see historical ...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Joel Arnold rated it liked it

The last of the Lewis' Space Trilogy was the most interesting to me. The plot tension held me throughout most of the book while the events and development were extremely shocking. Unfortunately, I got too involved to take any decent notes while I was reading. Looking back, I felt like it was worth it to read the other two books, just for the sake of getting to this one. Excellent read.

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Apr 03, 2017 Thadeus rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

The finale to the trilogy was strong, but definitely less ‘other-worldly’ than the previous two. This in no way takes away from the brilliant story-telling of Lewis in this series. Much of the build up in this story reflects the human experience (particularly if you either work in a college or university, or if you live in the United States today).

The story follows the development of a state-organization that basically does social engineering and it’s takeover of a small town that is home to a c ...more

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Jul 25, 2017 Mike Fendrich rated it it was amazing

This is probably my 3rd or 4th time reading this book. If Lewis understood anything, he understood the arid desert of modernity and its absolutely crippling effect on what it means to be human (among many, many, many!! other things). The most fascinating theme of the book is the opening of Mark and Jane Studdock's eyes to a life beyond abstraction and "complete objectivity", (reason alone). Can't recommend it highly enough.

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Oct 12, 2016 Alex rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: great-fiction

This is a really hard one to rate compared to most of the books I've read this year. It is a fiction story, meant to take the reader down a certain path, but it is also a story about ideas and reality and materialism and greed and what it means to be a man and a woman and a Christian.

There is a lot to chew on in this book. I think it is one of those stories where a re-read or two or ten would do a world of good in understanding Lewis' point and message.

Overall I liked it. It's one of the very ...more

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Sep 07, 2013 Nicole rated it did not like it

Shelves: classics, owned-ebook

I read this book as a part of my quest to read all the books on NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy book list. You can follow my journey on my blog: http://nicolepoweleit.wordpress.com/

Let me start out by saying, I think The Space Trilogy by CS Lewis is misnamed. It’s really The Space Duology plus That Hideous Strength. The final book in the series is very different from the other two books, and the only real commonalities are the continued presence of Dr Ransom (even though he’s not the m I read this book as a part of my quest to read all the books on NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy book list. You can follow my journey on my blog: http://nicolepoweleit.wordpress.com/

Let me start out by saying, I think The Space Trilogy by CS Lewis is misnamed. It’s really The Space Duology plus That Hideous Strength. The final book in the series is very different from the other two books, and the only real commonalities are the continued presence of Dr Ransom (even though he’s not the main character) and Christian themes. Unlike the other two books in The Space Trilogy, I thought the theology explored in this book was poorly chosen, but I recognize that other people might be more interested in it then I was.

There’s no space in That Hideous Strength, all the action takes place right here on earth. Which means the lush description and unique alien/extra-terrestrial animals I really liked in the first two books weren’t present. There’s also a major difference in tone when compared with the first two books. While Out of the Silent Planet was an expressly anti-Wellsian story and strived to show a utopian society outside of our own world; That Hideous Strength is very doom and gloom with an end of the world type plot and grim imagery. The writing itself is on par with other CS Lewis books and is very high quality, but a little long winded.

The plot is a more prominent feature in this story than it was in the previous two books. In the beginning, I thought it would be an entertaining story with a fair amount of time being devoted to introducing interesting characters and a smattering of tongue-in-cheek humor. However the plot is heavily allegorical and this resulted in a story which was ultimately pretty weak. None of the characters show any agency or make important decisions which alter the course of the story, instead their all carried along by the plot. As part of the allegory is about submission to God or the devil, this makes sense within the book, but it makes for a pretty boring story and caused me to not care about the characters very much in the second half of the book.

When reading Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, I read the theological parts of the story with interest, but didn’t find much to agree or disagree with. While reading That Hideous Strength, I found a lot to disagree with or dislike. First, the villains of the book are completely unbelievable. The NICE, a national science institute, has conspired to convert England to a course of evil… somehow. The details of the plan are never laid out nor is the intended end result, other than to express how evil it is. The people in charge of the NICE have submitted to the devil and are able to coerce a great number of people into following their plans through scare tactics and playing on an individual’s emotions, fears, and desires. The NICE has a great deal of political influence and is able to accomplish basically anything they want. They also seem to have a subscription to Henchmen-R-us with a mass of ~~(Irish, Welsh, and Scottish)~~ low class people willing to commit petty crimes and agitate the wonderful people of small town England into a riot. Or in other words, the motivations of the main bad guys are never explored or explained, and the evil actions of the masses depend on very classicist stereotypes.

Second, I found myself having a hard time identifying with the good guys because the hardline conservative views on gender and marriage. There are several times in this book where the idea that a woman must submit to her husband in order to be a good Christian is exposed upon. I don’t agree with that view personally and was less than impressed by the amount of time spent talking about it. While the allegory of submission is important in this book, a woman submitting to her husband does not impact the plot of the story, and I would have been a lot happier if the topic had been omitted (the story wouldn’t have suffered for the omission either.) There are also several conversations between women in this book which are just bizarre.

Overall, I thought That Hideous Strength was the weakest book in The Space Trilogy. It lost the description and adventure of the first two books which I enjoyed. The plot was not very engaging and the characters didn’t do anything of their own choice. The integration of Christian themes was heavy handed. It’s sad because in the beginning I really thought this book could go someplace interesting, but instead it was just a platform to expose ideas in a very patronizing way. ...more

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Jun 17, 2011 Sally rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, re-read

That Hideous Strength is an amazing book. Although I read it as a young person, I did not have the wisdom to understand or appreciate what Lewis was saying. His depiction of those who make Science their god and what that worship will mean for our future was horrifying.

There are several archetypes presented: the man who cares for nothing but power, and is willing to do anything to have it; the scientist who is so consumed with knowledge that he loses sight of ethics; the intellectual who sees Ma That Hideous Strength is an amazing book. Although I read it as a young person, I did not have the wisdom to understand or appreciate what Lewis was saying. His depiction of those who make Science their god and what that worship will mean for our future was horrifying.

There are several archetypes presented: the man who cares for nothing but power, and is willing to do anything to have it; the scientist who is so consumed with knowledge that he loses sight of ethics; the intellectual who sees Man as nothing more than a machine animated by chemical processes; the callow young man who will give up his soul to fit in with the elite. Lewis shows what happens to people who cast aside right and wrong and lose their humanity.

The basic plot is that an organization called N.I.C.E. (The National Institute of Coordinated Experiments) is taking over a small English university town in order to usher in a new era of knowledge and progress. A young professor is drawn into their web at the same time that his wife, experiencing visions of events that later occur, connects with a small group of "good guys". This fellowship is waiting for direction on when and how to mount a resistance to the forces of evil.

I love to see the way that disparate elements in my life are drawn together in God's providence. Having finished another read through the Narnia books recently, I reserved Michael Ward's book Planet Narnia about Lewis's use of medieval cosmology as an underlying theme to the series. Imagine my excitement when I realized how that same cosmology plays a key role in his Space trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength)! I look forward to reading Ward's book and filling in some of the gaps in my considerable ignorance. Also want to read more about King Arthur's time, since that is crucial here.

Another good part of this book is Lewis' wisdom about the joy that God intends within the bounds of marriage and how we have spoiled it with immorality outside of marriage and a lack of appreciation for the way He has created us male and female, uniquely different. I also liked the way that some of the elements of Narnia appeared here, such as animals, royal robes, Nature as a living force, etc. Encountering them in a different context gave them new depth. ...more

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Mar 09, 2015 Grace S. rated it did not like it

Pure and simple, this was mind-drillingly boring. I felt like a high-schooler again, forcing myself through just to say I finished. Although I've always been a book lover, I was a pretty poor student of literature in high school because the significant but torturously dull classics I was forced to read weren't even of my own choosing. I was having flashbacks to senior year with D.H. Lawrence. "I've got to read 20 more pages tonight because teacher said so, but I don't wanna!" Constant checking t Pure and simple, this was mind-drillingly boring. I felt like a high-schooler again, forcing myself through just to say I finished. Although I've always been a book lover, I was a pretty poor student of literature in high school because the significant but torturously dull classics I was forced to read weren't even of my own choosing. I was having flashbacks to senior year with D.H. Lawrence. "I've got to read 20 more pages tonight because teacher said so, but I don't wanna!" Constant checking to see "How much longer?" Crossing my fingers that "The next book I read has to be better than THIS." So bored that I couldn't even carry the plot sometimes, and had to go back and figure out what had just happened. Basically, my attitude towards this book (before, during, and after reading it) is that of a petulant teenager.

Given how much I liked Out of the Silent Planet, I'm genuinely stunned that I one-starred book three of the same trilogy almost on boringness alone. When a book is so dull as to fail to retain even a shred of interest from [this] reader, how can it even hope to engender any remarks about thematic material or allegorical messages? I mean, I recognize that they were there but given that they failed to scrape a second star for That Hideous Strength it almost feels like a waste of my time to go into it because obviously they weren't compelling or well-framed enough to take this poor book from one star to two.

But as I said, this book makes me feel moody and combative.

It was probably doomed as soon as this trilogy took the linguistic fascination I had in "Out of the Silent Planet", reduced it to intriguing but flawed biblical allegory in "Perelandra", and turned the lens inward to Earth for "That Hideous Strength". As soon as I knew the focus of this book was staying on Earth, I knew we were gonna get into heavy morals and WWII commentary. Once the story didn't offer me any more than a bear with a hilarious name, the Space Trilogy lost be completely.

As for the "Fairy Tale" byline, that's pretty genuinely confusing to me, unless we're looking to imply that there's a moral to the story and it's nine-tenths about gruesomely punishing the wicked. (view spoiler) ...more

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Mar 20, 2008 Katie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a review for the entire Space Trilogy:

I guess these books fall into the “Science Fiction” category, since they involve interplanetary travel. But it’s a misnomer to call it the Space Trilogy - the books are based on the idea that Space - what we think of as a cold vacuum - is a rich, vibrant, more-than-real world filled with life. And that’s just the start - there are so many other interesting concepts about the universe (spiritual and physical), explored in the series.

In the first two b This is a review for the entire Space Trilogy:

I guess these books fall into the “Science Fiction” category, since they involve interplanetary travel. But it’s a misnomer to call it the Space Trilogy - the books are based on the idea that Space - what we think of as a cold vacuum - is a rich, vibrant, more-than-real world filled with life. And that’s just the start - there are so many other interesting concepts about the universe (spiritual and physical), explored in the series.

In the first two books you get to learn about the life on two other planets in our solar system - fantastical, personal journeys and full of suspense and discovery. And then the third volume, which is as long than the other two put together, is spent behind enemy lines, on the Silent Planet, known to us as Earth. A dark, disturbing and gripping tale.

This is the 3rd time I’ve read the series, and each time I get more out of it. I absolutely love reading Lewis. I gain so much from his approachable but deep writings - I grow in spiritual intelligence as a result of reading them.

I think what I most enjoyed about the books this time around was the thought processes of the characters. After being kidnapped to Mars, Ransom has lots of interesting thoughts about what it means to be human, since he meets new species that are human but not man - they are intelligent, moral, emotional beings with souls and spirits. Also, he learns about the super-human eldila. He experiences an amazing shift in perspective - an extra-terrestrial perspective. On his voyage to Venus, Ransom has to face a deadly enemy and work through isssues around his own fears, God’s power to work through him, and his role as the “protector” of the newly-created un-fallen humans. In That Hideous Strength, Mark and Jane discover spiritual dimensions of life that they never anticipated - they had been living such a superficial, empty life and the process of growing beyond that was perilous to say the least.

Even though these experiences are quite bizarre and probably won’t ever happen to me, I gain insight into life here on this planet from reading about the very imaginary but very believable universe that Lewis opens up for the reader to explore. ...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Mara rated it did not like it

In this book, Lewis must have received some feedback on the first two books in this series because he improves the plot and character development significantly. The writing is more colorful, and the characters finally come alive. I would actually give those elements at least 3 stars, at least up to the part I read. I did not finish the book after I encountered the sexism. I stopped reading at the man-worship and mouse scene (more below). This baby receives a 1 star rating because Lewis' philosop In this book, Lewis must have received some feedback on the first two books in this series because he improves the plot and character development significantly. The writing is more colorful, and the characters finally come alive. I would actually give those elements at least 3 stars, at least up to the part I read. I did not finish the book after I encountered the sexism. I stopped reading at the man-worship and mouse scene (more below). This baby receives a 1 star rating because Lewis' philosophy on gender is fully revealed in this book. I do not want to condone his views in any way.

The first two books also explore gender, but in a less obnoxious way. In the second book he even presents the genders as different but equal in one scene (although not the one I will mention below). But in this book, it is very clear that he believes a woman is most happy when she is obeying her husband. And I think I can say without it being a spoiler, that he even uses a metaphor of the relationship between a trained mouse and its master to illustrate how happy women are when they are obedient.

In addition to this old-fashioned, sexist view of women and marriage, Lewis clearly is infatuated with his own sex as the pinnacle of humanity - I saw this narcissist awe of masculinity in both in this book and book 2. In book 2, there is the "adam" and "eve" that the main character finally sees- and in describing them, he says the woman was nice and all, but the man was so magnificent he couldn't keep his eyes off of him. Then in this book, there is at least one scene where a human man is portrayed as so glorious that the woman could not keep her eyes off of him. Lewis was clearly going for a Christ-figure, but the wording was similar to book 2 where the "adam" was more splendid than the "eve"; so instead of me appreciating this scene as a legitimate worship experience of a Christ-figure, I read it as "Lewis REALLY likes men. [Sigh and nostril-flare]." Maybe Lewis had homosexual inclinations, but because of other things in Lewis' life and writings, I think he was a heterosexual who thought only men were the image and glory of God. ...more

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About C.S. Lewis

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CLIVE STAPLES LEWIS (1898–1963) 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 ...more

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Space Trilogy (3 books)

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The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)

The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, #3)

The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #6)

Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia, #2)

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“There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there's never more than one.” — 150 likes

“Don't you like a rather foggy a in a wood in autumn? You'll find we shall be perfectly warm sitting in the car."
Jane said she'd never heard of anyone liking fogs before but she didn't mind trying. All three got in.
"That's why Camilla and I got married, "said Denniston as they drove off. "We both like Weather. Not this or that kind of weather, but just Weather. It's a useful taste if one lives in England."
"How ever did you learn to do that, Mr. Denniston?" said Jane. "I don't think I should ever learn to like rain and snow."
"It's the other way round," said Denniston. "Everyone begins as a child by liking Weather. You learn the art of disliking it as you grow up. Noticed it on a snowy day? The grown-ups are all going about with long faces, but look at the children - and the dogs? They know what snow's made for."
"I'm sure I hated wet days as a child," said Jane.
"That's because the grown-ups kept you in," said Camilla. "Any child loves rain if it's allowed to go out and paddle about in it.” — 53 likes

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