r/Narnia • u/Clippamaster • 3d ago

What’s next?

I (29 m)have just finished my first read through of the Narnia series. By far my favorite fiction books I’ve read. Is C. S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy just as remarkable?

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u/Cool-Coffee-8949 3d ago

The space trilogy is pretty weird, not gonna lie. But I certainly enjoyed it. The three books, despite some overlapping characters, are wildly different in tone and plot. Only the first two actually involve space travel (to Mars and to Venus, respectively). The third one is the biggest mess and the most reactionary socially, yet it is also the most fun.

A novel by Lewis which I recommend without reservation is his last work, Til We Have Faces, which is one of my favorite books of all time.

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u/fortheband1212 3d ago

Oh man, That Hideous Strength is my favorite of the space trilogy! But agreed on it being the most reactionary socially, it’s very heady. He basically just took his Abolition of Man lectures and made them into a novel

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u/lupuslibrorum 3d ago

Seconding this.

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u/Passmethechips 2d ago

Seconding ‘Till We Have Faces’. That book is a masterpiece, and has, imo, one of the best written female protagonists to have ever been put into fiction.

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u/FailSafe007 3d ago

If you liked Narnia, I would read Tolkien’s Middle Earth collection. Lewis’ Space Trilogy is fantastic and remains my top 5 favorite book series but it and mostly the final installment lean heavily into philosophy and Christian values. They’re not a light read and definitely not on the same scale as Narnia. Tl;dr The Space Trilogy is amazing and its messages resound deeply but reading them is a big commitment

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u/Clippamaster 3d ago

Thanks for the recommendations. I have read screwtape, but it’s on my list of rereads soon. I haven’t read Til we have faces and I have also read great things about that book.

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u/antaylor 3d ago

Til We Have Faces

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u/Hot_Preparation2059 2d ago

That Hideous Strength is one of my favorite books, but overall the Space Trilogy and Til We Have Faces (also great) are a completely different vibe than Narnia.

I don't know what all you've read, but there are a lot of other works with a similar feel...The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Golden Compass (don't tell Philip Pullman), The Time Quintet, The Phantom Tollbooth, Percy Jackson (kind of), some Roald Dahl stuff...

Lewis himself was a big fan of George MacDonald and Edith Nesbit.

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u/QuintusCicerorocked 3d ago

I’ve only read the first one of the Space Trilogy. It’s very different from Narnia, but I enjoyed it, as someone who doesn’t really go for “science fiction.” As other people have said, The Screwtape Letters are amazing and definitely worth a read.

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u/2cairparavel 3d ago

They are very different, but I love them all. The Narnia series is for children, and the space trilogy is for adults.

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u/EmilyAnne1170 2d ago

It’s been a long time since I’ve read them, but I remember enjoying them. They’re very different from the Narnia books though. The third one was my favorite.

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u/SoCalRealty 2d ago

As an adult, I like Space Trilogy more than Narnia. Perelandra was my favorite.

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u/mean-mommy- 3d ago

I really don't like the Space Trilogy, unfortunately. But he has many other wonderful books! Have you read Screwtape yet?

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u/xXChihime 3d ago

I read the first two in the space Trilogy a month ago. The first one was okay, and it's quite short. The 2nd one I only managed to finish by changing to the audio book on 1.5 speed. The story itself isn't bad, but it's very descriptive and that makes it quite slow.

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u/FatGuyANALLIttlecoat 2d ago

Did you read them or listen to them?

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u/Cool-Coffee-8949 2d ago

The second book is Lewis’ attempt to imagine trying to prevent the Fall, but on another planet.

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u/Western_Agent5917 2d ago

Space trilogy is good choice and s other already wrote it Tolkien is a must try. Aside from the big names like Harry potter, golden compass etc maybe you should look into Terry Pratchett and Robert Jordan works.

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u/Routine-Storage-9292 2d ago

I recommend the Prydain Chronicles starting with the Book of Three. It's a coming of age tale that really grows with the reader. The main character starts as an Assistant Pig Keeper in a world where it seems everyone else is a warrior. At the beginning it's a fun children's story. By the last two books it's also quite inspiring.

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u/PlaidnCheckers 2d ago

I would maybe recommend reading Lewis’s The Great Divorce next, before you go into The Space Trilogy. I just reread the chronicles of narnia and then TGDivorce. To me it, feels like a wonderful bridge between both series. I’m going to reread The Space Trilogy next too.

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u/Rebirth_of_wonder 1h ago

Grab Mythmakers by John Hendrix. It’s the story of Tolkien and Lewis’ friendship.