Out of the Silent Planet

By: C.S. Lewis

Libby audiobook 5 hours

Read by: Geoffrey Howard

Published: 1938 (this version 2005)

Genre: Science Fiction

I never knew Lewis wrote SciFi! This is actually the first book in the "Cosmic Trilogy" series. From Libby's description: 

"A planetary romance with elements of medieval mythology, the trilogy concerns Dr. Elwin Ransom, a professor of philology who, like Christ, is offered as a ransom for mankind. On a walking tour of the English countryside, Ransom falls in with some slightly shady characters from his old university and wakes up to find himself naked in a metal ball in the middle of the light-filled heavens. He learns that he is on his way to a world called Malacandra by its natives, who call our world Thulcandra, the silent planet. The Malacandrans see planets as having tutelary spirits; those of the other planets are good and accessible, but Earth's is fallen and twisted."

 

Malacandra turns out to be Mars and it is populated by at least three distinct sentient species who coexist peacefully. Devine (the former college "friend") only wants to get the "sun's blood" (gold) on the planet and Weston, the evil scientist who built the rocket,wants power and to take over Malacandra for humanity once they can no longer live on Earth. Both are morally bankrupt.

Some of the words and phrases would have made more sense to me if I had been reading the text rather than listening to it. (Though reader Howard does an exceptional job.) The "bent ones" seem to be people with evil intent, whichever planet they're on. I have had to go to the Wikipedia page to read up on the book I just read! The main creatures we meet on Malacandra are sorns, hross, pfifltriggi, and eldils. The Oyarsa is like a god, but in this book, Earth's god is "bent." 

It was fascinating and a bit confusing. I don't think I'll read the other books in the series right now, but I may read all three in print form at some point in the future. I generally really like Lewis' writing and I wonder about the point he was making with this. We know so much more about other planets now than he did in the 1930s, but this is still a very interesting foray into SciFi.

Oh! I had to stop and rewind to get back to a quotation I liked (while parked):

"The love of knowledge is a kind of madness."

When Ransom says this, he is trying to figure out the hross language. He is curious about their words (and wants to communicate his needs). On a strange planet and fighting for his very life, he wonders about their language and syntax!