Reviewed June 30, 2006.
Scribner. 384 pages.
That Hideous Strength is
the third volume of C. S. Lewis’s Space
Trilogy. This one takes place only
on earth, and is a
little more dated than the others. Instead
of dealing with space travel, it has Ransom
working with the
powers of heaven to stop an evil plot to take over the world.
That sounds
stereotypical,
but C. S. Lewis’s version of such a plot is quite different from any
other. We have Merlin waking from a long
sleep. The evil institute is called the
NICE, and plans to start “modern” methods of punishment—“retraining,”
as well
as using propaganda and brainwashing to control the populace.
Of course, as
in all of C. S.
Lewis’s writings, there are wise insights about Christianity and, in
this case,
ethics, what makes a society good or bad.
This isn’t
one I reread over
and over and over again, but it’s definitely worth reading every ten
years or
so. You’ve got a good, suspenseful, and
imaginative story, and lots of food for thought. If
you’re a Christian and you like science
fiction at all, you should definitely read this trilogy at least once.
Reviews of other books by C. S. Lewis:
Out
of the Silent Planet
(Space Trilogy Book 1)
Perelandra
(Space Trilogy Book 2)
Till We Have Faces
The Great Divorce
A Year with C. S.
Lewis
Of Other Worlds
The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince
Caspian
The
Voyage of the Dawn
Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse
and His Boy
The
Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle
The Last Battle performed by Patrick Stewart
Copyright © 2006 Sondra
Eklund. All rights reserved.
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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund
