Silent No More

This book has cemented C.S. Lewis as my all-time favorite writer. Just simply looking at his writing style, he is able to capture the most minute details of life and express them beautifully. His narrative style is the most immersive I’ve ever experienced and even though this book wasn’t a children’s book like Narnia, he still made the reader feel a childlike wonder for the world he created.

Similarly to Narnia, however, Lewis utilizes fiction to express Christian ideals which gives a fresh perspective on society today. The first 30 pages are exposition filled but still provide a lot of beautiful excerpts and immersive imagery. However, the real engaging part of the story comes in just a few pages later and you are immediately thrust into a new world that seeps out of the pages.

In being a fairly short story, it captures so much nuance with incredible characterization. Lewis does a fantastic job at creating in-depth characters even with so little time to do so. The main antagonists, Weston and Devine, are still given their own deeply rooted motives and are so much more than just ‘bad guys’. Lewis makes a point to highlight Weston’s admirable qualities reflecting the best of humanity when it becomes corrupted, specifically like those without Christ who may have good intentions but are misguided.

Malacandra is such a wonderful planet, and the inhabitants are so full of life and enjoyable to read about. The conversations Ransom (our MC) has with them are some of the most beautiful passages I’ve ever read, even written with simplistic structure and grammar.

I cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of this series; it is already incredible!