That Hideous Strength

That Hideous Strength (1945) is a science-fiction novel by writer C.S. Lewis. Lewis subtitled the book “a Modern Fairy-tale for Grown-ups.” The book is the third installment in the renowned Space Trilogy, which also includes Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra. Though characters and plot devices from the two previous books appear in That Hideous Strength, it’s written so that it can be read as a standalone book. Like Lewis’s other work, the novel explores themes of morality, Christianity, faith, obedience, love, and the human condition. A professor of medieval and Renaissance literature at both Oxford and Cambridge, C.S. Lewis, who wrote more than thirty books, is perhaps most known for The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, and Mere Christianity. Lewis died in 1963.

Plot Summary

The novel, as the final book in a trilogy, follows an earlier character, Dr. Ransom, as he attempts to repel the forces of evil with help from a group of friends. The evil is in fact another vestige of the earlier books and takes the form of beings known asbad eldils.