Review: ‘Prince Caspian’ by C. S. Lewis
Troubled times have come to the magical land of Narnia. Gone are the days of peace and freedom when the animals, dwarfs, trees and flowers could live in absolute peace and harmony. Civil war is dividing the kingdom and final destruction is close at hand. Prince Caspian, the rightful heir to the throne, resolves to bring back Narnia’s glorious past, so he blows his magic horn to call up Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund to help in his difficult task. (Goodreads Summary)
While it’s becoming apparent that none of the Narnia books are going to rival ‘The Magician’s Nephew’ for the honour of being my favourite so far, I definitely enjoyed this next installment in the series. I thought the book did an excellent job of developing the characters of the four Pevensie children; they were markedly different, but it seemed a logical character progression after the events of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ rather than an arbitrary change. I also enjoyed the new characters introduced in this volume, particularly Reepicheep the mouse, and I hope that some of them will appear again in the remaining installments.
Curiously, some events which seem as though they should be very important and hold great significance for the characters are not given a great deal of time or attention, whereas other less vital situations are dwelt on more thoroughly. Although I think this is a shame, it is a very minor complaint. Most of the story was well-paced and exciting and on the whole I found ‘Prince Caspian’ to be an excellent book.
Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis. Published by Diamond, 1996, pp. 190. Originally Published in 1950.
N.B. This is an old review written in 2010 and posted on Goodreads and LibraryThing before I started keeping track of all the books I read here at Old English Rose Reads. I’ve decided to keep copies here so that this remains a complete record of my reading since I started reviewing books for my own pleasure.