What's so special?

[Áthas]

[NarniaLover89]

[Bill]

Its a very difficult question to answer.

I think that Lewis considered this world of ours less than perfect. (perish the thought it might have even crossed his mind that God had it wrong about some things). I always feel when I read the first two books at least that he was attempting to create a solar system (unlike some scifi writers I don't think he thought in terms of the the Universe or even the Galaxy) which was was as perfect as it could be. I think he used to worry for instance about the unpredictability of the sex urge in humans so he conceived an intelligent species which only mated, was it just once (?), and was content with that. His creations also had a direct and personal relationship with God. As far as I can remember there was no disease but people just died from old age when their time had come, and so on!

I may be way off the mark but this is how see Malacandra at least, and he was hoping that Perlandra would turn out the same once the enemy had been eliminated.

It may have been his conception of a world without "the fall" but I have a feeling that there was more to it than that.

Bill

[Sylvia Lee]

[Monica]

[Sarah N.]

[Gabriel Syme]

[jo]

I don't know .. just because Merlin was appalled that Jane and Mark used contraception doesn't mean that Lewis necessarily was not in favour of zero population growth.. it's a big jump from one to the other :). And wasn't there a specific reason why Jane and Mark were supposed to have had a family and hence it was appalling that they didn't?

[Stanley Anderson]

[BeeLayne]

I think what was special to me about the trilogy was seeing God (or His messangers) from an alien perspective. The thought that life could be out there and know our same God from a different view is so cool. I love reading normal Science Fiction, but the few "Christian" SF books I've read have fallen hopelessly short. Lewis overcame that for me, and at the same time gave me something lacking in regular SF.

[jo]

[Theo]

[StrawberryRose]

[VixenMage]

Perhaps I don't apply to this discussion, having only read Perelandra thus far. But even on that one book, I'd have to agree with jo. There is just something about it, something that draws you in. The first time I read it was about three years ago, so I didn't understand it very well. Yet at the same time, even only grasping the basics of the story, it was still so... intriguing. I don't know why, still, even after reading and rereading it over and over [until I can get my hands on a copy of the rest], it's such a great book. I just know that it is, and that's good enough for me.

(And yes, much better than regular Sci Fi.)

[The Pfifltrigg]

I agree: I'll pick up a book of SF short stories at the library, to read between the shelves. But if Asimov et al are good hot-dogs, the Space Trilogy is steak! I used to read some J. Verne and H. G. Wells, too, but they only hold a candle to Deep Heaven, which shines so bright as never to need one.