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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
I did not enjoy this book nearly as much as the first of the trilogy. It is very heavy-handed religious allegory, and it's the heavy-handedness I object to, not the allegory-ness. Lewis himself purportedly thought this was his greatest artistic achievement--until he wrote Till We Have Faces many years later. The latter is a great artistic achievement, by anyone's standards! I have to say that I was somewhat perturbed by the idea that God would require our hero to murder the body that the devil had taken over...thou shalt not kill being one of the ten commandments. A little weird.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I wish I liked this book. I wish I hated this book. I wish I felt some sort of emotion towards C.S. Lewis's Perelandra. But I don't. I feel nothing. This was the most beige and bland thing I've ever read. I feel no happiness or anger, just a vague sense of sadness. Sadness that something so devoid of any emotion can be loved by so many. Sadness that I spent three hours of my life reading words that floated out of my mind instantly after reading. Sadness that art can be this pointless and pitifully made. I wish it was good enough for me to hate, but it isn't. It's worse than that. Because if it was just a little bit better, at least I would be able to feel something. But now I just feel nothing at all. All I have now is a void that Perelandra should have taken up. Please, for the love of God, don't read this book.
This series continues to develop and my curiosity to uncover these worlds Lewis has made, continues to grow. This one a bit more of a payoff at the end (as opposed to the first in the series), and still a decent amount of expose. It still feels lacking in some ways, but continues to have strong sci fi fantasy vibes, which I can't say I've read in a book series before. I also am finding some strong allegorical moments harkening back to Milton's Paridise Lost in which the narrative is both poetic and tells a story. It's uniquely Lewis in every way and I just hope the third and final book has a fitting conclusion.
This one was my favorite of the three for the themes it emphasized. I don't wan to spoil it, but the last chapter is one of the most incredible pieces of literature I have ever read in my life.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Book two of C.S. Lewis's Christian sci-fi trilogy. A weird, sort of slow Garden of Eden redux.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Hard to get into the story, some parts of theology were interesting but short lived
adventurous
slow-paced