C.S. Lewis: PERELANDRA (1943)

How I got the book: Free via Apple Books!

As I left the railway station at Worchester and set out on the three-mile walk to Ransom’s cottage, I reflected that no one on that platform could possibly guess the truth about the man I was going to visit.

The above is the first sentence of chapter one.

After finishing Out of the Silent Planet, I dove straight into Perelandra. It is the second of The Space Trilogy (read more about it on Wikipedia). Although it offered plenty of philosophical depth and moral exploration, I didn’t quite connect with it as I did with the first book in the trilogy.

Perelandra shifts the narrative to Venus, a beautiful, oceanic world that feels untouched and innocent. Dr. Ransom finds himself in the role of defender, tasked with protecting the Green Lady, Venus’s Eve-like figure, from the seductive and insidious influence of the Un-man. It’s a classic tale of good vs. evil, but this time, the focus is more on temptation—how it works, how it pulls at us, and how even the most rational-sounding arguments can be deceiving.

There’s no denying that the book is rich in intellectual and philosophical content, but for me, the pace felt a little too slow and the story at times felt monotonous. Unlike the first book, which was a fast-paced exploration of a new world and a gripping space adventure, Perelandra spends much of its time on long, detailed dialogues about morality and temptation. While the ideas themselves are fascinating, the constant back-and-forth debates became a bit too much for my taste, especially without the action or varied pacing to break it up.

That said, I still appreciated Perelandra for what it was. Lewis’s portrayal of the unspoiled planet is beautifully vivid, and the moral dilemmas he weaves into the plot are thought-provoking. It’s a book that makes you reflect on your choices and the nature of good and evil. But for all its beauty and deep ideas, it didn’t quite capture me the same way the first book did.

While I liked Perelandra, I preferred Out of the Silent Planet. I’m excited to continue the journey through The Space Trilogy, though. I’m hoping that Hideous Strength will bring back the excitement I loved in the first book.