C S Lewis' Cosmic Trilogy
With the recent release of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe at the cinema, I thought I would
write a review of another, little known series of books by
C.S.Lewis - The Cosmic Trilogy.
Even before the television and cinema adaptations of the Narnia
series, the Cosmic Trilogy was much less widely known; and in my
opinion, rightly so, for I believe the series suffers from a
fundamental flaw.
Much fuss has been made over the overtly Christian symbology of
the Narnia books - a symbology which, as a child, I never
noticed, despite having been raised as a Catholic. I feel, and I
know others do differ with this opinion, that the writers'
religious beliefs do not interfere with the stories in the
Narnia books.
The same cannot be said, however, for the Cosmic Trilogy.
The trilogy is a science fiction series about travel to other
planets in the Solar System. The books were written before
humans travelled beyond the atmosphere, and do contain many flaw
in the descriptions of space travel and other planets such as
Mars and Venus.
This wouldn't be a fatal flaw; after all, to name just two,
Robert A Heinlein and Edgar Rice Burroughs have depicted the
same planets in ways that we now know not to be true, but the
books can still be enjoyed as good stories.
The fatal flaw with the Cosmic Trilogy is this: The writer does
not believe we should travel beyond our atmosphere, and this is
abundantly clear in the books. The interplanetary spaces are
referred to as "God's Quarantine Boundaries".
Why is this a fatal flaw? Simple. The trilogy is, at base, a
science fiction series, whose target audience would be mostly
science fiction fans. You therefore have a series about travel
to other planets, whose primary readers would be people
interested in the idea of travel to other planets, written by
someone who thinks the whole concept is, at best, a very bad
idea, and at worst, contrary to God's Will.
It is impossible for a series to be popular, when written by
someone who so clearly makes it known that their beliefs are so
diametrically opposed to those people who are likely to read the
books.
In conclusion. Read and enjoy
Narnia. But don't bother with the Cosmic Trilogy.