In the second book, The Search for the Red Dragon, the stories main characters have to save Peter Pan and the children of the Imaginarium Geographica. The third book was, in my opinion, the best of the three books I have read. The Indigo King features an altered time line a la It's a Wonderful Life or Back to the Future. Someone goes back in time and interferes with Arthur Pendragon from becoming King Arthur thus creating an alternate current reality -- a reality where England is not England, is ruled by a despot king who apparently can never die and is overrun with giants and mythical creatures. The Imaginarium apparently no longer exists. Its absence is not really explained in the book, but theoretically, it would be easy to wipe out a land based upon human imagination in an environment in which books, reading and creativity do not flourish.
After reading the first book, I was concerned about how the author was going to continue to carry off a series which featured much beloved writers as the main characters. Apparently, so was the author:
After Here, There Be Dragons was published, and the real identities of John, Jack and Charles became common knowledge, I realize that the challenge I faced with The Search for the Red Dragon was to be able to continue their story and still keep the characters (who were based on well-known and much-beloved authors) fresh and interesting. ~ Author's Note that appears at the end of The Search for the Red DragonAnd, that is the one thing that is bugging me about this series. It is apparent that the author of this series is a fan and respects the fantasy writings of John and Jack. I haven't read Charles Williams, but I suspect if I did I would find illusions to Williams' writings in The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica too. But, it doesn't appear to me that he has the same respect for these men's spiritual views. The best example I can give is the third book. There is a scene in the third book in which Lewis, Tolkien, and Hugo Dyson are on a walk. Lewis credits his conversion from theocracy, the belief in a higher power, to Christianity to these two men. The book is supposed to be speculation regarding what happened to convince Lewis that Christianity was true. And, the book does a dismal job of presenting the Christ of the Bible. Joseph of Arimathea, a saint venerated in both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic church, is transformed into the man who hides Christ's children in the Imaginarium. Lewis is converted to Christianity because he meets a descendant of Christ.
But, perhaps Lewis would be less annoyed with the portrayal than I am. Because, he knew that God cannot be made less by man's ponderings and story telling.
A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. ~ CS Lewis quoteThe fourth book comes out in October 2009. I have preordered it. Because, while I find the stories on one level brain candy, on another level a way to talk to my child about how the world presents Christ. It allows us to ponder, "Who do you say that I am?" She is loving them and reading them over and over.
You are a better mother than I. I don't think I could stomach his ignorance (either willful or not) of Lewis' spiritual life. I tend to be a stickler of accuracy though.
ReplyDeleteActually, I kept the key points of the real discussion between Lewis, Tolkien, and Dyson (which Jack credited for helping aid his choice to convert), and considered the rest of the story to be 'additional' experiences, and not necessarily the primary one (which was, again, the few hours' long actual discussion.)
ReplyDeleteI didn't deal more with Jack's spiritual nature in this book in part because I didn't want to veer too far in that direction - which would make a generally fun story more of a critical analysis of someone else's spiritual choices. That's not for me to do.
I also deliberately didn't paint any clear picture of Christ, in any way, because that would not have added to the reasons Jack converted; and it didn't have so much to do either with Rose's lineage (which made use of the mythology - I emphasize, mythology - of the Grail being the bloodline of Christ.)
The only think I can emphasize with that is that there is never any proof of that part of Rose's lineage. And there's going to be a discussion between she and John in Book Six, which directly addresses Jack's spiritual views, and answers the concerns you and others have expressed.
Believe me, I haven't ignored or disregarded these very important matters - I just can't do it all in one or two books!
I hope you enjoy Book Four.
Best regards,
James