This, the second book of The Chronicles of Narnia, begins with the Pevensy children being whiskedaway from a train station (where they have gathered to catch the train back to school) and dropped ontoa forest-covered island where there is an ancient castle that seems vaguely familiar. Investigationproves that it is their castle, Cair Paravel. Elation at being back in Narnia is tempered by the fact thatthey must have returned several hundred (if not thousand) years later and all their old friends would belong dead.
Simultaneously, we are told the story of young Prince Caspian, nephew of Miraz, current ruler of Narnia. In theory, Miraz is ruling Narnia in Caspian's place until the young prince is old enough to take over, buteven Caspian begins to sense that his uncle is not going to let him take over. Adding to hisconsternation are ancient stories he has heard that once talking beasts and dwarves lived in Narnia. Hewould like to know more of Narnia's past, but his uncle has banned any talk of the ancient world*.
When Miraz has a son of his own, Caspian's governor/tutor puts him on a castle and spirits him away inthe night. Caspian rides into then wild, fleeing for his life, only to be thrown from his horse. When heawakes, he finds that not only were the ancient stories true, talking animals and dwarves still live inNarnia. All but wiped out, they band together with Caspian as their leader to try and take back Narniaand are joined in the fight by the Pevensy children, the Kings and Queens of Narnia's golden age.
Prince Caspian is another wonderful work from Lewis, but the nature of the story forces it to generate acompletely different feel than The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. While TLTWATW ushered inNarnia's golden age, throughout this book is the assumption that even if Caspian and friends aresuccessful they can never fully recapture what was. Also, fans of the Pevensys may begrudge all thetime in the book given over to Caspian.
Additional Notes:
Perhaps intentionally, Lewis is rather vague about the amount of (Narnian) time that has passed betweenwhen the children were last in country and now. This is, along with the rest of the stories, perhaps areference to the discussions about the nature of time Lewis and his friend Tolkien are rumored to havehad. For a more thorough discussion of time, see Lewis's Mere Christianity, Book IV, chapter 3, "Timeand Beyond Time."
*One wonders if Lewis's Miraz was a dig at the people in Lewis's England who tried to pretend thatBritish history began with the Norman conquest, denying any of the history that might have come before.
