Out of the Silent Planet — C.S. Lewis

In Out of the Silent Planet, the first book of C.S. Lewis' celebrated Space Trilogy, two men, Devine and Weston, capture a third, Ransom, and take him to the planet of Malacandra via a space craft. When Ransom learns that the men plan to sacrifice him to the strange planet's inhabitants, he escapes on foot. Lewis' descriptions of the otherworldly land of Malacandra are captivating, as well as his descriptions of Ransom's learning of the native language of the Hrossa and Sorns, the inhabitants of Malacandra. Ransom comes to realize that these beings have far different plans for him than he ever could have guessed.