Out of the Silent Planet

Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis, 174 pages

The first book in Lewis' Space Trilogy introduces Elwin Ransom, Cambridge philologist and avid walker, who finds himself kidnapped and taken to Mars as a human sacrifice for the alien gods.  His captors are Weston and Devine, the former a genius who has invented interplanetary travel, a tool which he intends to use to ensure the future of the human race no matter what - or who - gets in his way, the latter an investor who sees Weston's quest as a means to accumulate unimaginable personal wealth.  Luckily for Ransom, the universe is a far different place from what either imagines.

Out of the Silent Planet is the most conventional science fiction book in the trilogy, a planetary romance obviously inspired by Burroughs and Wells, the latter of whom is directly referenced by Ransom.  The depiction of Martian life is unique and, especially in terms of language, somewhat better developed than in most other such works.  But it is the climax, in which Ransom struggles to explain the "bent" thinking of Devine and Weston to the uncomprehending Martians, which makes the book truly unforgettable and presages the rest of the series.