Which book is the first novel in C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy?

Out of the Silent Planet is the first novel in C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy.

The novel was published in 1938 and introduces philologist Elwin Ransom, who is kidnapped and taken to the planet Mars, called Malacandra by its inhabitants. Ransom’s knowledge of language becomes central to his efforts to understand the planet’s societies and survive the plans of his captors.

The next two novels are Perelandra, published in 1943, and That Hideous Strength, published in 1945. The trilogy moves from interplanetary adventure to theological and philosophical questions about evil, humanity, science, and the misuse of power.

Lewis wrote the books partly in conversation with modern science fiction. He and J.R.R. Tolkien had discussed the genre and its possibilities, and both were interested in stories that treated spiritual questions seriously. Out of the Silent Planet is therefore not simply a space adventure: its invented languages and cultures support a larger moral and theological structure.