Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

*This review does contain spoilers

Novel Facts:

• Published: October 15th, 1951
• Publisher: Geoffrey Bles
• Genre: Fantasy
• Series: The Chronicles of Narnia
• Pages in Paperback: 101
• Preceded by (chronologically): The Horse and His Boy
• Followed by (chronologically): The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• It was the 2nd published of seven novels though it takes place 4th in Narnian history
• Quote: “Things never happen the same way twice”
• Goodreads
• Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Book Depository

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Plot:

A prince fights for his crown. Narnia… where animals talk… where trees walk… here a battle is about to begin. A prince denied his rightful throne gathers an army in a desperate attempt to rid his land of a false king. But in the end, it is a battle of honor between two men alone that will decide the fate of an entire world.

Review of the Characters:

Prince Caspian– He was okay. I say okay because there was zero character development with him. From the minute the reader is introduced to Prince Caspian we see a young, hopeful boy and at the end of the novel we see the same young, hopeful boy. Don’t get me wrong, he was endearing but also extremely boring. There was no depth and no development making him boring to watch and unrelatable.

Susan– I never cared for Susan when I first read about her in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but my opinion of her sunk even lower with Prince Caspian. She grew even more whiny and sulky with every minute that passed and I began to wish one of the other characters would just knock her out to quiet her complaining. She doesn’t deserve the title of Queen of Narnia and she is no role model for women. It’s not even the same case as Edmund in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in which case Edmund does an awful thing and atones for it. Susan is simply not a great person and I was actually happy to hear that she won’t be coming back to Narnia. (Though I will miss Peter).

Trumpkin– Easily the best character in the novel, because he actually develops. He starts off as a good-natured but skeptical dwarf. However his loyalty trumps all so that though skeptical he will go on any journey that need be. When Trumpkin meets Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy he is humbled as he sees that it is wrong to judge a book by its cover. Then he learns about faith when he meets Aslan and finds out that just because you don’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there. This character grows and along the way gives the reader a good chuckle every now and then.

Review of the Story:

I have to say I was very disappointed with Prince Caspian. This story had so much potential with a king usurper, a young prince who is the rightful heir and the old kings and queens of Narnia but instead the story fell flat. There is little suspense that builds up during the flashback to Prince Caspian. This was the only exciting part of the novel. Then the reader has to endure a dull journey of the children looking for Prince Capsian’s army and then an even more dull battle scene. There was no true character conflict and very little obstacles, the only obstacle being Susan not wanting to do anything. I could not believe that the children once again did not believe Lucy when she said that she saw Aslan, especially after everything they went through in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I believed it to be very out of character for them.

Review of the Writing:

The writing was what it always is with C.S. Lewis, charming. He does a great job at speaking to children, not afraid to talk to them as if they were adults. His interactions with the reader always add a level of excitement to the story making for an enchanting read.

Rating:

Prince Caspian is definitely the weakest novel in the Chronicles of Narnia (so far at least). The problem is this story could have been an epic tale and we all know C.S. Lewis has the talent to do so why then did he allow it to fall flat?

Overall Rating:

P.S.– My next read is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis (hoping it’s better than its previous companion)!

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