That Hideous Strength (Space Trilogy, Book 3) by C.S. Lewis Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $14.19 You Save: $0.76 (5%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $11.41 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of That Hideous Strength (Space Trilogy, Book 3)
Book Review: Great trilogy!
Summary: 5 Stars
Lewis is a phenomenal writer and I love this trilogy. It should have as much of a following as The Narnia books.Book Review: Excellent Book
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the third and final book in C.S. Lewis's amazing Space Trilogy. This book was written as a sequel to the immensely popular Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra but Lewis also wrote it so that the story can stand on its own. So if you haven't read the first, you can start here.
That Hideous Strength, unlike the first 2 books in this series, where Ransom leaves earth and fights evil in space and on other planets, the battle in this book takes place on earth.
Ransom must lead a group of faithful believers against National Institute for Coordinated Experiments or N.I.C.E., an organization that believes that Science can solve all of humanity's problems. He must battle the people in this organization, super aliens trying to invade and control earth and use its population against other planets and against God.
On top of all of that, Merlin has arisen from his long sleep and has arisen in England's time of greatest need. But the question is, who will find him first - N.I.C.E. or Ransom and his team? The fate of the world, and possibly the universe, rests on this question.
Lewis called this story an adult's fairy-tale. It is a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, and a book that will keep your attention as you raptly turn the pages to find out where Lewis will lead you.
Book Review: Spiritual warfare
Summary: 5 Stars
In "That Hideous Strength", C.S. Lewis brings his SciFi trilogy back to Earth and takes it in a different direction. The first book, "Out of the Silent Planet", and the second, "Perelandra" use space travel and encounters with inhabitants of Mars and Venus respectively as vehicles for Lewis' spiritual allegory. "That Hideous Strength" leaves space travel behind and feels more like a horror story in which the forces of evil conspire against goodness on Earth. Of the three books, this one is the least fun, but it is the one with the most memorable depiction of the means by which the dark side manipulates human perceptions to destroy impulses toward goodness, hope, and love.
I first read this book in the 1970's. Frequently over the years since, while looking at paintings in museums, Lewis' words in "That Hideous Strength" have come back to me as an alternate angle for assessment of the art in front of me.
Book Review: Lewis at his best and most entertaining
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is fun to read, satisfying, thought-provoking--everything you'd want in a book. The storytelling is suspenseful, and you are so curious to know what happens next. What does happen next always feels believable, and logical, even though it is unexpected. To me, this book is the epitome of reading entertainment, while, as usual with a C.S. Lewis book, it delivers a deeper understanding of spiritual truths.Book Review: A Change Of Pace
Summary: 4 Stars
"That Hideous Strength" (1945) is the third book in the Space Trilogy, but in many ways it is completely different than the first two books: "Out of the Silent Planet" (1938) and "Perelandra" (1943). The first two books are written almost exclusively from the perspective of Dr. Ransom, but in this book it is usually Mark or Jane Studdock's perspective and never Dr. Ransom's. The first two books were fairly short novels, but this one is longer than both of the first two combined. The first two books take the reader to Mars (Malacandra) and Venus (Perelandra), but this book stays on Earth (Thulcandra). The first two books have a single protagonist, while this book has a group trying to work together.
The story is set in post-war England in a small university town (Edgestow). Mark Studdock is a young professor who seems driven to always make his way into the inner circle. His wife, Jane, is being troubled by some disturbing dreams which the reader soon learns are clairvoyant. Through the early part of the book, Mark is pulled into the group N.I.C.E. (National Institute for Coordinated Experiments), while his wife finds herself pulled toward the group of heroes which oppose them. Much of the novel is about the gathering of the forces. Mark is drawn to N.I.C.E. by his ambition, but he does question many of the actions and thus finds himself in a tenuous position. Jane does not want to oppose Mark, but when N.I.C.E. tries to arrest her she has little choice but to go with the other side.
There are some very interesting aspects of this book, and it definitely takes some chances in bringing in the King Arthur story and blending it with the Eldil story established in the first two books of the series. Lewis is clearly talking about fascism in many places in this book. For example, N.I.C.E.'s goals include elimination of people they consider backward and selective breeding. They control the state functions such as the police, as well as industry, educational institutions and the media. Lewis also takes aim at materialism and how it is ultimately incompatible with ethics. Lewis brings in some religious themes as well, such as the Tower of Babel scene near the end where the leaders of N.I.C.E. are no longer able to understand each other's language. In fact, the books title is taken from a poem and refers to the Tower of Babel.
There were also some things which did not work for me in this novel. I did not understand why he felt it necessary to make Lord Feverstone in this story be the same person as Mr. Devine in "Out of the Silent Planet". He never makes use of that aspect, and the two characters do not really act the same way. The story also takes a long time to develop, and it probably would have been better served to move the story forward at a quicker pace as he did in the first two books. That being said, Lewis did turn this around from what I thought was the weak-link in the series, "Perelandra". This book was nominated for the Retro Hugo in 1996 for novels written in the year 1945.