Product Description

The first novel in C.S. Lewis's classic sci-fi trilogy which tells the adventure of Dr Ransom who is kidnapped and transported to Mars In the first novel of C.S. Lewis's classic science fiction trilogy, Dr Ransom, a Cambridge academic, is abducted and taken on a spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra, which he knows as Mars. His captors are plotting to plunder the planet's treasures and plan to offer Ransom as a sacrifice to the creatures who live there. Ransom discovers he has come from the 'silent planet' -- Earth -- whose tragic story is known throughout the universe!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6483 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
'Adventure beyond our Earth -- beautifully coloured and shaped.' The Times 'This book has real splendour, compelling moments and a flowing narrative.' New York Times

About the Author
Clive Staples Lewis, moralist and novelist, was born in 1898 in Belfast and educated at Malvern and University College, Oxford. He was appointed Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge in 1954. 'Jack' Lewis is best known for his literary criticism, religious and ethical works, science fiction, and most notably for his Narnia chronicles for children. He died in 1963.

Customer Reviews

Silently
C.S. Lewis is best known for his classic fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. But he's in his best form in the sprawling Space Trilogy. And the first volume "Out of the Silent Planet" is a solid, dreamy slice of imaginative science fiction with deep philosophical underpinnings.

Philologist (studies languages) Dr. Ransom is on a walking tour of England when he encounters a former despised schoolmate, Devine. Things take a nasty turn after Devine and his accomplice Weston drug Ransom, and load him onto a spaceship. Over the course of a month's interstellar travel, Ransom learns that they are travelling to the planet Malacandra (Mars) -- and worst, he's destined to be a human sacrifice.

Ransom manages to escape after they land, and finds himself alone in an alien world. He soon is taken in by the otterlike hrossa, and learns that there are three sentient species on Malacandra: the peaceful poetry-loving hrossa, the workaholic pfifltriggi, and intelligent seroni. When a hross friend of Ransom's is killed by the murderous humans, he sets out to find the mysterious, powerful Oyarsa, who might be able to help him and stop his kidnappers.

"Out of the Silent Planet" is no space opera. Lewis avoids most of the tendencies of typical sci-fi in favor of a more H.G. Wells approach. Big fleshy plants, sentient otters, decreased gravity and petrified forests really give it the feeling of another planet without using cheap tricks.

The most striking idea of "Planet" is the people who populate it -- three dissimilar species, who work together and have no problems like war, starvation, lies, power-lust or any of the other problems that human beings have. It's a stark contrast to our own world, and it illustrates a lot of Lewis's own Christian beliefs without being preachy or silly.

The tone of "Planet" is generally very somber and thought-provoking, with long stretches of ethical and philosophical dialogue. Parts of it almost seem like a dream, very eerie and surreal, and the dignified personalities of Oyarsa and his underlings are beautifully done. But Lewis rips loose with some comedy from time to time, like Weston trying to bribe the various natives with a cheap necklace and Tarzan-esque threats of "Why you take our puff-bangs [guns] away? We very angry with you!"

Lewis based Ransom partly on his pal, fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien, and Ransom is a nicely done hero; he's not boring or preachy at all, but merely a "stranger in a strange land" who almost goes bonkers once or twice, but manages to triumph. Weston and Devine, on the other hand, are arrogant and dumb in an all-too-recognizable way. And the inhabitants of Malacandra take a little getting used to, but they're pleasant once you do.

"Out of the Silent Planet" still stands up as a vivid and beautifully-written piece of science fiction. You think you know C.S. Lewis after the Narnia Chronicles? Try the Space Trilogy.

An amazing adventure.
Once again, I have fallen in love with a book by C.S. Lewis. "Out of the Silent Planet" takes its place alongside "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", "Till We Have Faces", "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", "Mere Christianity", "The Great Divorce", "The Screwtape Letters", and "The Last Battle" as books Lewis has written that I believe everyone should read.

I am astounded by Lewis' creative imagination. The planet of Malacandra is a profound idea expressed beautifully. I do not wish to go into too many details because discovery is the real joy in reading this book. However, I must say that Ransom is one of Lewis' most complex and compelling (if somewhat ambiguous) protagonists; and therefore...one of my favorites.

I thoroughly enjoyed Out of the Silent Planet. I sincerely encourage you to acquire this book and read it. It is an amazing adventure.

Awe-inspiring! You'll love it!
I'm 15, and the instant I picked this book up I couldn't put it down. This isn't one of those corny sci-fi books written for kids with unintelligent creatures that walk around eating everything in sight. It does give a person something to think about. The scenery and creatures living on Malachandra are quite different than any species imaginable. Lewis describes everything with great detail, so you aren't sitting in the dark on what you are supposed to be picturing. Lewis twists science with beliefs in a very remarkable way, and you will definately see things in a differant light when you are through. An interesting aspect is that in the end, he gets across that there truly was a "Ransom," and that he wrote to Lewis on the subject because he believed that he really was to Malachandra. This is an overall inspiring book to read, and you will really enjoy it.