S Pl0tz # 6 That Hideous Strength

This book has a very slow beginning, similar to the other two in the trilogy, but as you reach the end of the book you see why. Hideous Strength is an amazing blend of fantasy, sci-fi, and history. Personally the first hundred or so pages were a challenge to focus thought. Jane's dreams were the only things I looked forward to. When Mark's chapter's came about I would be disappointed. To me it was a lot of business and forms politics that I am not very passionate about. Yet as I went through I did gain more understanding for why the book had such a slow beginning. The information was all extremely relevant at the end. It just seemed so far stretched as I was going through it. That being said, I do wonder if I would have had a different approach to the beginning of the novel if I were to live at the times of Lewis. Perhaps in England that type of information and news held more importance and drew people in more. Or my other thought is I have never read a book quite like the one in this setting. Most the books I read are epic-fantacy and adventure novels. And while this book does have an adventure, it is one independent of anything I have ever read. Even in regards to the other two books in the Space Trilogy, Hideous Strength is very unique. I am really glad this was an assigned reading for the class, honestly I'm not sure if I would have gotten very far if I were reading this novel on my own accord. But of course, as the story unfolds in the second half of the book I was hooked and could not put it down. :) To me, the book served as a new challenge for my reading, out of the many things I take form this book, in the whole of it all, I see it as a testament of how patience brings great reward.