C. S. Lewis is my favorite author. From Mere Christianity to The Chronicles of Narnia to his collections of essays, I enjoy his writings more consistently than those of any other author. Of his fiction, I have read precious little, aside from the aforementioned Narnia books, so this year, I thought I'd try reading his lesser known Space Trilogy.
Out of the Silent Planet, the first book in the series, is a departure for Lewis. I remember reading it yeas ago, expecting it to be like the Narnia books, and, although I finished it, I never moved on to the other books in the series. Reading it now, I see why. Most of the whimsy of Narnia is gone, replaced with a terse poeticism and rather adult themes. Like most of Lewis' fiction, Out of the Silent Planet deals with religious and philosophical themes in a very indirect way, although not quite as indirect as the later books in Narnia. Indeed, there is some obvious philosophizing at points, and the book sometimes reads slow, but if you enjoy Lewis, it's a slim book and worth the time.
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