Thursday, July 24, 2008
That Hideous Strength, the final installment in the trilogy which began with Out of the Silent Planet, finds Earth occupied by the enemy. The stage has been set for a decisive move in the war that's been brewing since the fall of Eden. New players are brought to the scene -- newlyweds Mark and Jane Studdock, who become embroiled in a war they knew nothing about and find themselves on opposite ends of the battlefield. Mark gets involved with the mysterious NICE institution, headed by the very enemies Ransom faced on Venus, whose sole purpose is the "reconditioning" of society through science and technology. Jane, on the other hand, finds herself suffering strange, almost prophetic dreams and meeting strange people, the strangest by far the mysterious man known as The Directer -- or Ransom to his friends and associates. He, and the group of people he has gathered to his side, must fight all that the NICE stands for in order to protect the future of humanity. But what is this about a secret weapon? And what has it to do with the clouded legend of Merlin?
The war has begun and Earth stands in the balance. Can Ransom tip the scale against the mighty NICE?
"But if men by enginry and natural philosophy learn to fly into the Heavens, and come, in the flesh, among the heavenly powers and trouble them, He has not forbidden the Powers to react. For all this is within the natural order. A wicked man did learn to do so. He came flying, by a subtle engine, to where Mars dwells in Heaven and to where Venus dwells, and took me with him as a captive. And there I spoke with the true Oyéresu face to face... And so the wicked man had brought about, even as Judas brought about, the thing he least intended... The Hideous Strength holds all this Earth in its fist to squeeze as it wishes. But for their one mistake, there would be no hope left. If of their own evil will they had not broken the frontier and let in the celestial Powers, this would be their moment of victory. Their own strength has betrayed them. They have gone to the gods who would not have come to them, and pulled down Deep Heaven on their heads."
That Hideous Strength is a climactic finish to the Out of the Silent Planet trilogy. Far more action packed than either of the previous two books, it deals with themes a bit closer to home. Rather than focusing on an alien race, this book zeroes in on Earth and the people we are all of us familiar with -- the greedy, the scared, the power-hungry, the kind, the lonely, the apathetic. That which makes up our world, that which motivates us, and, more narrowly, the conflict that even to this day resonates in our society -- the conflict between technology and nature, between science and the things that science seeks to overturn.
Lewis' writing is fast-paced and witty, with a sarcastic edge to it that seems particular to this book in the trilogy. The cast of characters increases and adds extra flavor for those who crave a bit more dialogue and human-to-human interaction rather than reflection and human-to-alien contact. While some of these characters lack the development and depth one would like to see, the majority of them are vivid and fairly well-rounded.
My only caution is this: patience. The book begins with Mark and Jane Studdock, and unfolds very much from their perspective. Ransom does play an important role, but not as large of a role as in the previous books. He becomes almost a supporting character rather than the main protagonist. The first time I read the book through I did become a bit impatient with the setup in my eagerness to see Dr. Ransom and what his plans were in the face of this conflict. However, Lewis sets the tone in such a way that the readers really care about what happens to the new characters even while they might yearn for the familiar face of Ransom. Give the new guys a chance, because as characters they certainly deliver.
Definitely one of my favorite books in the trilogy. I give it two (no, three) thumbs-up, and my hearty recommendation.
The war has begun and Earth stands in the balance. Can Ransom tip the scale against the mighty NICE?
"But if men by enginry and natural philosophy learn to fly into the Heavens, and come, in the flesh, among the heavenly powers and trouble them, He has not forbidden the Powers to react. For all this is within the natural order. A wicked man did learn to do so. He came flying, by a subtle engine, to where Mars dwells in Heaven and to where Venus dwells, and took me with him as a captive. And there I spoke with the true Oyéresu face to face... And so the wicked man had brought about, even as Judas brought about, the thing he least intended... The Hideous Strength holds all this Earth in its fist to squeeze as it wishes. But for their one mistake, there would be no hope left. If of their own evil will they had not broken the frontier and let in the celestial Powers, this would be their moment of victory. Their own strength has betrayed them. They have gone to the gods who would not have come to them, and pulled down Deep Heaven on their heads."
That Hideous Strength is a climactic finish to the Out of the Silent Planet trilogy. Far more action packed than either of the previous two books, it deals with themes a bit closer to home. Rather than focusing on an alien race, this book zeroes in on Earth and the people we are all of us familiar with -- the greedy, the scared, the power-hungry, the kind, the lonely, the apathetic. That which makes up our world, that which motivates us, and, more narrowly, the conflict that even to this day resonates in our society -- the conflict between technology and nature, between science and the things that science seeks to overturn.
Lewis' writing is fast-paced and witty, with a sarcastic edge to it that seems particular to this book in the trilogy. The cast of characters increases and adds extra flavor for those who crave a bit more dialogue and human-to-human interaction rather than reflection and human-to-alien contact. While some of these characters lack the development and depth one would like to see, the majority of them are vivid and fairly well-rounded.
My only caution is this: patience. The book begins with Mark and Jane Studdock, and unfolds very much from their perspective. Ransom does play an important role, but not as large of a role as in the previous books. He becomes almost a supporting character rather than the main protagonist. The first time I read the book through I did become a bit impatient with the setup in my eagerness to see Dr. Ransom and what his plans were in the face of this conflict. However, Lewis sets the tone in such a way that the readers really care about what happens to the new characters even while they might yearn for the familiar face of Ransom. Give the new guys a chance, because as characters they certainly deliver.
Definitely one of my favorite books in the trilogy. I give it two (no, three) thumbs-up, and my hearty recommendation.
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