By CS Lewis

Words can't even express how disappointed I was by this book.

Out of the Silent Planet, the first book in the "trilogy" was decent. A little slow starting, but it got really good by the end. The second, Perelandra, was just amazing start to finish. I waited and waited for That Hideous Strength to really get going, and it never did.

The lack of Ranson really hurt the story. Sure, there was a character that was supposed to be Ransom who showed up about halfway through the book, but he was a totally changed man. He was more a mystic guru than an accidental explorer, and he really added very little to the story. Well, he could talk to bears. I guess that is something.

The protagonists, Mark and Jane, spend the vast bulk of the novel apart. And while their growth as characters had potential, it really came off as little more than soapboxing by CS Lewis. He is an avowed christian to be sure, but he tries almost too hard to drive home the point that men should be humble and women obedient (Before any feminists get up in arms, it  really is two words for the same thing). But that is it. The two don't overcome anything together, they just kind of realize how wrong they behaved at the beginning of the novel, and decide to act better in the future. You don't even see their reunion, which left the novel feeling unfinished.

In a way, you can see why Lewis ended it the way he did. In some respects, it seemed like the story wasn't about Mark and Jane, it was about a larger, more important struggle. The trouble is - you don't see it. None of the characters really play any kind of role in what unfolds at Edgetown, save Merlin in a small way - it just kind of happens around them. The characters are built up as soldiers in a mighty struggle, but when it is all said and done, they are merely observers. As is the reader, but even that is unenjoyable, as whatever description of the eventual final conflict Lewis actually put down was vague and just plain dull. So it is a character story- how their lives are effected by the events. But you aren't even allowed to see the fruits of that conflict. Totally disappointing.

Lewis does make some interesting points about the Mass Media, and has some interesting philosophical points about the direction of society in general. Heck, the very idea of the antagonists of the book - N.I.C.E - is downright scary. But they fall like paper tigers in the end, totally ineffectual against whatever happened to them. It was like watching Star Wars - only the Death Star just disintegrated on its own before the rebels ever went up to fight it.

I highly recommend the first two books in the series. But only attempt this one if you have a great deal of patience.