Timeless - Rated 
I put off reading this book for a very long time and I regretted doing so almost as soon as I'd begun reading it. It's a complete breath of fresh air (the age of this story defies belief). Lewis' writing style is flowing, his ideas timeless and his delivery both profound and universal. However `Out of Silent Planet' is by no means a perfect story.
This is a short book, close to a novella in length, which is very useful if you're concerned that perhaps the material won't be to your liking. But while I appreciated the brevity, which allowed for good pacing, I would have preferred more character development, especially in regards to the protagonist who is given only the most basic attributes. There's no real sense of Ransom as a person- he's purely the `everyman'- reacting as most people would in his situation, which obviously has its advantages, but struck me as a hesitancy on the author's part to provide him with any distinguishing features. He seemed to me to be less of a person and more of a walking, talking story-telling device, the vehicle for an idea, one designed to entice as large a readership as possible into Lewis's science-fiction themes. Consequently, Ransom never shows very much emotion, even at the untimely demise of one of his closest newly made companions on Malacandra. So rather than a character-driven adventure, the end result is instead an analytical and well-plotted exploration of classic science-fiction themes and is a story that often sacrifices warmth and intimacy between characters for grand themes and logical thought progressions.
But the story works, there's no doubt about it- `Out of the Silent Planet' is a truly compelling tale and one that I heartily recommend. With so many examples of fiction treating aliens as nothing more than the off-worlders next door, it's really refreshing for a story to explore how exactly a human being would react to the first-hand experience of meeting the member of another species in the flesh, to invalidate all our imaginative assumptions, all our vague wonderings and lofty expectations, and to reward readers with creatures wholly outside our species' realm of experience. At times confusing, but consistently thought-provoking, inherently flawed, but impressively timeless.
Great - Rated 
This is the first book in C.S. Lewis's amazing Space Trilogy. These books are far less known than Lewis's Narnia series or even his Mere Christianity or The Screwtape Letters, yet it is just as good as any of those writings and goes to show the versatility of Lewis as an author.
This first book begins with our hero, Dr. Ransom, out for a walking tour in the countryside, dressed in that shabby way for which professors are renowned. His foes are his former schoolmates Devine and Weston. These men believe they need a human sacrifice, and by capturing Ransom they have their victim, for they have made a spaceship and are taking Ransom to Malacandra the red planet.
Once on Mars, Ransom escapes his captors, meets many species, and finds out that on Mars there has been no `Fall' and Ransom from Earth or the Silent Planet is a bit of an oddity. People from earth are considered to be `bent' in nature, from the original sin of the fall.
Follow Ransom as he treks across a strange world, and must find the courage to risk it all to save not only an alien race, but also, possibly his own soul.
This is a first book in an amazing series. Try it - you won't be disappointed.
A Beautiful 20th Century Parable - Rated
Lewis is a writer of consummate prose which flows effortlessly across the pages. One could read this not knowing that Lewis was a friend and contemporary of Tolkien, as well as being a devoted Christian and, as I once did, find it simply enjoyable and beautiful as a work of fiction.
Lewis' work (in which can be included the Narnia Chronicles) gain a far greater depth when considered in the light of Lewis' Christianity. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, for instance, replays the crucifixion when Aslan (to all intents and purposes the Christ figure) allows himself to be sacrificed for the sake of an innocent, and is subsequently resurrected.
Here, Lewis goes farther back into Christian Theology to the time of the fall of Lucifer.
The novel starts in an England of the Nineteen Thirties where the philologist Professor Ransom is on a walking holiday and finds himself without a place to stay for the night.
Turning up at a large country house he finds to his surprise an old schoolmate, Devine, who invites him to stay, after introducing him to his colleague, Weston.
After dinner, Ransom finds himself unnaturally sleepy, only to awaken on board what he finally realises to be a space ship, en route to another world.
Ransom is made to work during the journey, and finally overhears his captors' plans. They intend to hand Ransom over to the natives of the planet, who wish to sacrifice him.
Upon landing, Ransom gets a brief glimpse of the natives, tall gangly creatures with long fingers and heads like inverted cones, the creatures Devine calls `Sorns'.
Ransom takes his chance and escapes into the strange jungles of Malacandra, the planet we know as Mars.
He is taken in by the Hrossa, large Otterlike creatures from whom he learns of the three races of Malacandra: the Sorns, who are logical scientific philosophical creatures, the Hrossa who are practical, but romantic and poetic, and the Pfifltriggi, a race of small creatures who love mining and building mechanisms.
Ransom then discovers the existence of a fourth race, the Eldila, who seem to float unseen around the world and who, like all the other races, serve Oyarsa, the ruler of the planet.
Lewis paints Malacandra as a pastoral paradise where the races live in harmony and no `hnau', as intelligent beings are termed, are `bent' in the sense that Weston and Devine are bent.
Ransom is summoned before the Oyarsa, as are Weston and Devine who have killed one of the Hrossa. Oyarsa tells that Erath is known as Thulcandra, the silent planet, since there was a war among the eldila long ago that left Mars scarred and much of its surface uninhabitable. Maleldil, who created all the worlds, cast down the Oyarsa of Earth and nothing has been heard from him since.
It becomes obvious here that the Oyarsa of the various planets are what we would term archangels. The Oyarsa of Earth would then have been Lucifer, the fallen angel.
Lewis' Mars is a beautiful and surreal place. His depiction of the jungles and foliage is compelling and oddly credible, despite the fact that we are expected to believe that the habitable areas of Mars lie in deep canyons with what is left of the breathable atmosphere. However, we should allow Lewis artistic license since this is a form of religious fantasy rather than true Science Fiction; a parable in which twentieth century Humanity is compared to what we could have been had Adam and Eve not got rebellious with the apple rule.
Brilliant - Rated
Adventurous ... imaginative ... warming ... and inspiring. I loved reading this book. It's really refreshing, positive and exciting.
Silently - Rated
C.S. Lewis is best known for his classic fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. But he's in his best form in the sprawling Space Trilogy. And the first volume "Out of the Silent Planet" is a solid, dreamy slice of imaginative science fiction with deep philosophical underpinnings. Philologist (studies languages) Dr. Ransom is on a walking tour of England when he encounters a former despised schoolmate, Devine. Things take a nasty turn after Devine and his accomplice Weston drug Ransom, and load him onto a spaceship. Over the course of a month's interstellar travel, Ransom learns that they are travelling to the planet Malacandra (Mars) -- and worst, he's destined to be a human sacrifice. Ransom manages to escape after they land, and finds himself alone in an alien world. He soon is taken in by the otterlike hrossa, and learns that there are three sentient species on Malacandra: the peaceful poetry-loving hrossa, the workaholic pfifltriggi, and intelligent seroni. When a hross friend of Ransom's is killed by the murderous humans, he sets out to find the mysterious, powerful Oyarsa, who might be able to help him and stop his kidnappers. "Out of the Silent Planet" is no space opera. Lewis avoids most of the tendencies of typical sci-fi in favor of a more H.G. Wells approach. Big fleshy plants, sentient otters, decreased gravity and petrified forests really give it the feeling of another planet without using cheap tricks. The most striking idea of "Planet" is the people who populate it -- three dissimilar species, who work together and have no problems like war, starvation, lies, power-lust or any of the other problems that human beings have. It's a stark contrast to our own world, and it illustrates a lot of Lewis's own Christian beliefs without being preachy or silly. The tone of "Planet" is generally very somber and thought-provoking, with long stretches of ethical and philosophical dialogue. Parts of it almost seem like a dream, very eerie and surreal, and the dignified personalities of Oyarsa and his underlings are beautifully done. But Lewis rips loose with some comedy from time to time, like Weston trying to bribe the various natives with a cheap necklace and Tarzan-esque threats of "Why you take our puff-bangs [guns] away? We very angry with you!" Lewis based Ransom partly on his pal, fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien, and Ransom is a nicely done hero; he's not boring or preachy at all, but merely a "stranger in a strange land" who almost goes bonkers once or twice, but manages to triumph. Weston and Devine, on the other hand, are arrogant and dumb in an all-too-recognizable way. And the inhabitants of Malacandra take a little getting used to, but they're pleasant once you do. "Out of the Silent Planet" still stands up as a vivid and beautifully-written piece of science fiction. You think you know C.S. Lewis after the Narnia Chronicles? Try the Space Trilogy.
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