I finished the final book in C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy – That Hideous Strength.

I was trying to figure out what it reminded me of; even more than its predecessors, it felt derivative. But derivative of what.

Then it hit me. Madeleine L’Engle.

But that really means that she was derivative of Lewis (it should be noted that, like Lewis, L’Engle was a devote Anglican).

But… I think L’Engle was better.

Frankly, Lewis muddles up what makes him good. He references (and acknowledges) some ideas stolen from his friend J.R.R. Tolkien. Specifically, the ancient race of ‘Numinor.’ Of course, Tolkien, when he eventually published his opus, spelled it ‘Numenor.’

Lewis inserted a bunch of faux Arthurian ideas which, frankly, muddled his Christianity with a bunch of ideas and plot devices that he simply was not in control of. That, and the climax was… I don’t know. What did it have to do with the rest? What actually happened? A bunch of magical rules never before referenced were, apparently, the cause of the good guys winning. And a pretentious reference to Trahison des Clercs (Treason of the Intellectuals) was pointlessly inserted. Don’t know why that bothered me, but it did.

And the hero of the two previous books is transformed from a more fully fledged man of early middle age into a permanently handsome and young icon and a nearly perfect messianic figure. Ugh.

Look. Read the first two books and call it day. Skip this one and, instead, go back and read my favorite Narnia novel, The Horse and His Boy.