That Hideous Strength (Space Trilogy, Book 3) by C.S. Lewis Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of That Hideous Strength (Space Trilogy, Book 3)
Book Review: Not Free SF Reader
Summary: 1 Stars
Try and do a Jules Verne type story. Take the fun and adventure out. Make it boring and unappealing. Voila. You have C.S. Lewis's planet trilogy. This is a textbook case of how to not do a planetary romance type tale, but rather than philosophical mouthpieces rambling on, crying out for you to close the book.
Book Review: A Guide to 'That Hideous Strength' & an Honest Review
Summary: 5 Stars
I advanced as you're supposed to through this trilogy of works, and found as I read them they became more compelling and each better than the one before it. Currently my favourite fictional work is 'Perelandra,' which is the second book in the trilogy.
This work does start out slowly but upon re-reading it one can see that it is indeed compelling from the get go and rife with the themes and turmoil which become widely apparent later in the novel. One should try to not be so intellectually inept as to not see what is going on until after the character in the book you're reading does, try in the beginning and realise that this work is a critique on various social events and systems which have arisen in modern history; Multiculturalism/Immigration, Feminism, Materialism, Intellectual slavery/Censorship, and Fascism as well as Statist points of view in general.
This work shows the importance of family, proper social order and personal liberty and intellectual freedom. It is a darker genre than you may be used to, but as we live in dark times so why should this novel of a prophet who only saw what was being sown has not lived truly through what we're reaping be any different? Truly this is compelling and really engaged me as a person to question the question of gender relations (although this is not the defining work on such an issue). This work also I found to really touch on the collective unconsciousness of my heritage and has many mythos and folkish aspects which I loved. Truly it is a culmination of the trilogy albeit a break from the pace of the rest as the old favourite - Dr. Ransom is not the main character he's just a supplementary one. The fact is that it really did anger me that he wasn't the major character in the book but it's nice to see how one as advanced as Ransom can influence for the sake of their spirit the lost around him. So there is a lot to say for this book, and truly it is an intellectual, spiritual, and fantastic experience to say the least.
Book Review: A Master!
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a wonderful classic that I discovered! It can be read by adults and older kids (teens). C.S. Lewis is a master! Book Review: Appreciated This One :)
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fascinating book and story that must be read all the way through book three in the series to be truly understood. Once I realized what it was truly about, it became much easier to wade through the diversions that are set up with too much going on about minute details and the thoughts of the characters. More action would have pleased me but I guess I am just accustomed to the masters of those kinds of books.
One needs to remember that it was written so long ago that the prose is, to me, cumbersome and Lewis goes on and on about things philosophizing at great length about the smallest issue. I felt I had to stick with it in spite of this because by the time I began to see this, I had already invested too much time in the reading of it.
I enjoyed this last book in the series more than the first two.
Book Review: Horror, myth, but little more
Summary: 3 Stars
To be fair, I only rate Lewis' conclusion of his trilogy a 3 in relation to the other two volumes. The first was excellent and profound. The second, Christian allegory much less exciting than the Bible or history. Here, almost second-rate fantasy. Maybe Lewis was expressing strongly-held beliefs. I'm sure that his true students must know a lot about what he thought in 1946--more than I do.
It was certainly a horrible time to look backward into the then-recent past. Even as good a writer as Lewis could hardly do justice to the real-death story of Hitler's attack on the world, and what it took to fight him (murderous Stalin as ally, two nuclear bombs, and then welcoming German scientists to build the military space program against the heirs of that ally).
Yes, That Hideous Strength is imaginative fantasy, well written in parts, and with a few interesting points about the nasty illusions we prop up to keep our world going as-is. But earthshaking? Unfortunately, not anymore.