Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis was first published in 1951 and is the second published installment and fourth chronological entry in The Chronicles of Narnia. In the first volume we met four children -- Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy who find their way into a magical land and after many adventures spend long lives there, only in the end to return to the very moment they left. Children again, but older, these four are headed for school and while waiting for the train are swept away to an island and eventually Narnia itself.
But none of them are not the title character, that is Prince Caspian the legitimate heir to the throne of Narnia, but who unbeknownst to him has been raised by King Miraz, the man who defeated his father and rules as an interloper, the leader of a peoples called the Telmarines. When Caspian is made aware of these circumstances, he escapes and finds his way to the creatures of Narnia who have survived.
It turns out that hundreds of years if not thousands have passed since the four children left Narnia (in Narnian time) and our quartet find themselves among the ruins of their old castle. Eventually they find their way to join forces with Prince Caspian and the other Narnians, all the while being led by a returned Aslan (after a long, long time). They must fight for their lives against the King of the Telmarines and forces.
Prince Caspian is loaded with lots of great characters, such as Doctor Cornelius, Caspian's tutor; D.L.F. (Distinguised Little Fellow), a dwarf; and Reepicheep the swashbuckling leader of the mice. The ultimate solution to the story seems a bit bloated to me, requiring a lot of moving parts, but as much as in any of the books so far, I was swept along by a pretty nifty adventure. The fact that his "Christian" story has characters like a reveling Bacchus and his maidens is remarkable.
Next time what has long been my favorite of the Narnian books -- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
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