Out of the Silent Planet is the first book in C. S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy. It opens with a random man, Dr. Ransom, walking through a neighborhood and looking for a place to stay. He meets a young woman who says that he might be able to stay with her neighbors and if he does he needs to send her husband home as he works there and is running late. The man goes to the neighbors and confronts them about the man leaving and heading home. However, he discovers that these neighbors are actually former colleagues of his, Devine and Weston, and as they start to reminisce he ends up drinking a bit too much and falling asleep. Expecting to wake up in the house he ends up waking up in this mysterious structure that Devine and Weston reveal to be a spaceship and claim they are traveling to another planet, Malacandra, as he is supposed to be given to the Sorn, one of the races inhabiting the planet. Upon landing Ransom is able to escape from his captors and end up meeting a different race that also inhabits the planet.
I want to say that I had no genuine idea of what this book would be about. Knowing C. S. Lewis wrote a science-fiction trilogy is different than actually reading his trilogy. That being said, the book was actually pretty good and had some intriguing premises. The character of Ransom seemed to be the epitome of a scientific explorer, always learning new things and eager to see what would happen next. At the same time he seems open to ideas that are not completely explainable by science. I did like the character and felt like he was an overall nice person who was unfortunately placed in some difficult circumstances. In terms of plot the story was mildly confusing. The story starts out with certain assumptions about the people and inhabitants of Malacandra, and even assumptions about Malacandra itself, that end up changing or getting disproven over the course of the story as new information is presented. I found it interesting how well Ransom is able to adapt and accept the changes when Devine and Weston were unable to. The culture and beliefs that are revealed because of this are rather interesting as well. While there is not as much detail as I would like there is enough information presented to get a general idea of the culture which seems to be pretty well rounded and thought out. I like stories that feel as if it could be a real place and this story seems to be setting that up pretty well. There were a few things that I found rather confusing about the story. Malacandra is the name the inhabitants use for their planet but I will admit that it took me most of the book to realize that Malacandra is also the planet Mars. I guess you can’t really expect them to use the same name we would use without having prior contact or at least having limited prior contact. The last thing I want to mention is that if you are familiar with C. S. Lewis than you will know he tends to weave Christian overtones into his fiction. He did that with this book as well but it is rather subtle instead of overt so you may not notice right away the references and comparisons. Overall, a good book and one that I am happy to give four out of five stars.
A good example of the science-fiction genre, and probably a bit of a classic for that genre as well, so if you enjoy that type of work you should probably consider trying this one out. However, I am not entirely sure how well it would appeal to readers who prefer other genres though it may appeal to readers who enjoy a good adventure novel as the later parts sometimes feel like that. The book is primarily aimed at an adult audience but it also contains very little content that would make it unsuitable for younger readers. There is limited violence and practically no other content that would be considered mature so I would have no issue stating that teens and young adults could probably read it safely. I was somewhat impressed with Lewis’ foray into this genre so I hope you will consider reading it if you enjoy science-fiction. As always feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.