That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

I chose this book for this year's Back to the Classics Challenge as a Genre Classic.

This third book in C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy is by far the best. While still deep and very strange, it has a coherent story line that can be followed.

It follows Mark and Jane Studdock in their mediocre marriage as they are pulled in different directions by their individual lives. Mark, a progressive academic, desires to move his way up in the ranks of the university and society he has come to work in. Jane, a homemaker but also an academic, is plagued by realistic dreams that she cannot talk about with her husband, seeks the company of a woman who takes in students as her own to comfort her.

These two in their circles are drawn into a battle for Earth. It is a battle of ethics, science, faith and wills. It is a tale of spiritual warfare like never told before that draws you into a world that feels familiar yet not quite here yet. The NICE is progressive and wants to bring great evolution to the human race with science and technology. The group at St. Anne's is working to save humanity from the terrible force that seeks to destroy it.

As the two sides seek to work out their plans, the husband and wife are pulled apart to learn what is going on the world and who they really are.

Like all of Lewis's books, it is deep and will make you think. He has clear observations about humanity and has a deep view of the human psyche that will grow and stretch your own understanding. While mythical in nature, it is still very probable that many things in this book could happen. Many things feel like some of the conspiracies going around today.

For deep thinkers this is a good read. If you want to be challenged this is a good read. Definitely a better read than the previous two books in the triology.

I would give this book 4 stars.

Reading Challenges:
Back to the Classics Challenge as a Genre Classic
2020 Reading Challenges with Tim Challies a Book by an Author who is now Deceased in the Committed Section
The Modern Mrs. Darcy 2020 Reading Challenge as a Classic I Didn't Read in School