PRINCE CASPIAN, the 4th book in C.S. Lewis' THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA series and the 2nd one published, continues the adventures of the Pevensie children in Narnia. The story opens with Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy waiting at the train station to return to boarding school for the year where they are yanked by magic onto the shores of a strange forested island.

Time, one must remember, does not move the same way in Narnia as it does in the real world; the Pevensies could spend 100 years in Narnia and return to reality to find that no time at all has passed. It turns out that hundreds of Narnian years have passed during the year that the children have been away and the Narnian world has been thrown into chaos -- the animals no longer speak; a new line of kings govern the land with a harsh scepter; the oceans have risen and the landscapes changed; the people have forgotten the ways of the old line of kings; and the stories of the old Narnia have been forbidden to be told. Beyond that, it seems forever since the last time the great lion, King Aslan, has been seen at all, and his existence has been dismissed by most as mere silly legend.

This installment of the series pales only slightly to THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE. The story of our four Narnian protagonists shows us once again that their identities in Aslan's Kingdom have nothing to do with what they do and everything to do with who(se) they are. Lucy is faced with the toughest decisions this time around, as she is asked to choose whether she will follow Aslan even if the people closest to her consider her crazy for doing so. I am struck again by the ease of C.S. Lewis' storytelling voice. While he may not deliver the most complex plots or character arcs, the tone and pacing of his language makes me wish I were a child again and could sit in front of the hearth and listen to his stories aloud.

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