Perelandra – C.S. Lewis

Perelandra is the second book in Lewis’ famous space trilogy, and though I did not like this book as well as Out of the Silent Planet I still enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who likes reading. The book continues the adventures of Dr. Ransom, who in book one got taken to Malacandra, or Mars. In this book, he is sent to Venus to stop some evil, which he cannot find out what it is. Then, he meets the Mother of Venus, the Eve of Venus. She is very innocent and unharmed by evil yet.

But then Weston, Ransom’s enemy, appears and is inhabited by a demon. He tries to convince the Green Lady (The Mother) to go against Malendil’s commands (Malendil is Lewis’ character to represent God). Ransom represents good and is there to stop Weston from convincing the Green Lady.

Much of this book is dialogue between these three characters, and it lacks action. However, at the end, Ransom finally realizes that he must stop Weston and stop the Evil One’s plans. He begins to fight The Un-Man (Soon after Weston arrives he is taken over by demons so Ransom calls him the Un-Man) but cannot defeat him.

And the ending of the book? The ending is amazing, and I loved it, but you will have to read that for yourself or go on another book review site…because I’m not telling. There is the summary of the book, now for my thoughts.

The book, as I said before, has a lot of dialogue. Perhaps two thirds of the book is dialogue between Ransom, the Green Lady, and the Un-Man. But the parts that do have some action are well written and tie in with the rest of the story.

I do love the part of the book at the beginning (The first chapter or so) that is told from Lewis’ point of view. C.S. Lewis does a great job of putting himself into his books and this is one of those. However, once he sends Ransom off in the white coffin there is a break in time, and then the story resumes, several years later. From then on it is told from the point of view of Ransom.

I did love reading this book and look forward to That Hideous Strength (even though some people have told me not to expect much). I thought that Out of the Silent Planet was a better story, but this one is good as well.