The Dark Tower and Other Stories

A few short stories, leaning on the science fiction side. One stood out as dreadful - "The Shoddy Lands." That one felt like a misogynistic screed, and nothing more. A few others were unremarkable; neither particularly good nor especially bad. However, two of them, the first and last stories in the book - weren't even completed. Unless you are devoted scholar of C.S. Lewis, why would you want to read incomplete works? Skip this and reread The Chronicles of Narnia instead.

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A collection of stories by C.S. Lewis, including the time-travel story of the title. It's not finished, but it would have been an interesting read - the Dark Tower itself turns out to be a replica of Cambridge University Library, built in an Othertime by people who our hero tries to understand. I think Lewis was probably better advised to go to Venus rather than take this route, but there are elements of the story that made it into That Hideous Strength. I see that there is some controversy about the extent to which Lewis's literary executor Walter Hooper may have had a hand in the text; I didn't detect anything that set off my alarm bells.

The other interesting fragment in the book is the very show more last one, about Helen's return to Menelaus after the siege of Troy - only a few pages, but taking the stroy in a slightly different direction.

I had not realised that Lewis published two stories in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. One of these, "Ministering Angels", is an awful pile of sexism, but the other, "Forms of Things Unknown", struck me as rather good, as did the two other complete shorts, "The Shoddy Lands" and "The Man Born Blind". show less

This collection of mostly unfinished tales was an interesting read. First, the preface by Lewis' former secretary Walter Hooper was worth a read. Hooper explained that much of Lewis' work was disposed of in a bonfire by Lewis' older brother. What we're presented with here is what he was able to save from incineration and Hooper as the executor of Lewis' literary estate held onto.

Questions have been presented as to whether Lewis actually wrote all these stories or if Hooper embellished or outright wrote some.

Regardless, most of the stories weren't reaching the heights of Lewis' works that I'm familiar with- (Screwtape Letters and Chronicles of Narnia). They were just OK. Maybe that's why he had put them aside long ago and just never show more finished them. Fortunately, the last few stories were really enjoyable. Unfortunately, what may have been my favorite, "After Ten Years," was another among the unfinished.

"After Ten Years" tells the story of what happened AFTER Troy was defeated and Helen was taken back. It's upsetting and yet in a way, wonderful that Lewis didn't finish it. It lets the reader fill-in his or her own blanks in a tale begun by a master. show less

I have really mixed feelings about this book (probably more reflective of me as a reader than the book or author themselves, lol). I loved listening to Simon Vance narrate--he's my favorite narrator ever--and yay for CS Lewis, but I realized I entirely struggle with unfinished stories! And, sci-fi can be totes hit or miss for me; sadly more or less a miss here.

I think any CS Lewis Dan will appreciate this collection. All of the stories are pretty good, of course since they are unfinished manuscripts, there are not endings for most of them. I appreciate the notes that explain how these were found and details from Lewis life at the time of writing

This is a collection of Lewis’s short fiction, some of it unfinished. The Dark Tower is set in the same universe as the Space Trilogy but not related to the main plot of that series, and it’s unfinished. My favourite story was Forms of Things Unknown about a mission to the moon, and I also enjoyed After Ten Years which reinterprets some Greek mythology. Unfortunately that one is also unfinished, but a couple of Lewis’s friends discuss where he was planning to go with the story based on their conversations with him.

A posthumous publication of manuscripts that was interesting yet unfulfilling.