Perelandra is the second in Lewis' Space Trilogy after Out of the Silent Planet. This book finds Elwin Ransom traveling to Venus ("Perelandra" to the natives), which turns out to be a planet in its infancy, in a sort of repeat of the Garden of Eden story. He meets a woman on one of the floating islands, and gradually realizes that she and the "King" she refers to are the only people on this predominantly liquid world. Then Ransom's nemesis, Weston, appears in his spaceship, in the role of tempter, and what follows is largely a theological discourse thinly clothed in science fiction. It's a fascinating "what-if" scenario and also continues Lewis' depiction of a God whose realm extends beyond just Earth. It does get quite dialogue-heavy at times, though. The end result is something in-between Lewis' non-fiction theological writings and the Narnia series: more imaginative than the former and theologically heavier than the latter.
Fed to jonathan's brain | June 10, 2006
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