The second book in the Chronicles of Narnia is a let-down to me. This time the Pevensies return to Narnia, but Narnian time has elapsed to the tune of a thousand years. The foreign-originated Telmarines rule the land. The usurpers have outlawed talking animals, giants, and all sorts of old creatures that once inhabited the country. Naturally, things need to be set right. The Telmarine boy-prince Caspian is not in power, but covertly sides with old-time Narnia. Magic transports Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy to Cair Paravel, now an abandoned island rather than the peninsular capital of Narnia.
What’s disappointing is the plot follows a very predictable direction. The children hook up with Caspian, fight with the Telmarines with a ragtag army of Narnians, and Aslan yet again saves the day. Different villians than the first book, and more boring. The villians are evil in the way that a bureacracy is evil. In book 1, the White Witch is a truly malevolent character. Not so this time. Read through this quickly and move on to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
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Title: Prince Caspian: the return to Narnia
Author: C. S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis)
Cover artist: Roger Hane
Illustrator: Pauline Baynes
Series: Book 2 of the chronicles of Narnia
Imprint / publisher: Collier Books / Macmillan
Format: Mass market paperback
Publication date: 1970
Length: 216 p.
ISBN-10: 0-02-044240-8
