Out of the Silent Planet

Title: Out of the Silent Planet  (Space Trilogy, #1)

Author: C.S. Lewis

Summary:  Dr. Ransom, a philologist, is kidnapped by two men who truly deserve the title of "evil scientist":  Weston and Devine.  They take him to Malacandra, which is called Mars on the earth.  Weston and Devine have a philosophy of imperialism on a large scale, and they plan to annihilate the inhabitants of Malacandra to make room for humans.  The Oyarsa of Malacandra, who is the leader of Mars under Maleldil (an allegory for God), sent for Weston and Devine.  Weston and Devine, misunderstanding Oyarsa's gesture of friendship as an intention to use them for human sacrifices, left Malacandra and returned with Ransom to use for a sacrifice.  Ransom escapes and meets the hrossa, which are like seals, the sorns, huge herdsmen slightly reminiscent of Cyclops (but with both eyes), and the pfifltriggi (sp?), creatures dwarflike in their love of working metals.  

Stars: 9.  It was a little hard to work through, but I loved the description and new words.  I promise myself I will reread it later.  In the daytime.  

Violence: 6.  This is more of a thoughtful book, but they killed a sea monster (I forgot what it was called, but Ransom helped kill it, disobeying the eldil who spoke to him.)  

Romance: 6, for when Ransom and his hross friend discussed hross love (not in too much detail or with too much abandon, for it didn't go into the physicalities of it).  

Language: 0-1

Appropriate for:  Older teen/adult

Other: This was a good step up from The Chronicles of Narnia (I still like the story of the Chronicles better, but this was great too).  It contained more challenging vocabulary, more tangled allegory, and great description.  I had to look up no less than 15 words in the dictionary.