The science fiction novel The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was originally published in 1912. It is considered one of the greatest sci-fi adventure novels and it has influenced many an author since as it tells of an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin where prehistoric animals still survive. This story is guaranteed to stir your imagination and give you an adventure worth savouring.

The story has a small company of 20th century scientists and adventurers arriving at the top of the strange plateau only to find themselves trapped. They set out to test their courage, skill and knowledge against the gigantic dinosaurs and flying pterodactyls that they find there. Of course it is quite dated and one has to overlook some derogatory terms that are used for the natives and the ultimate enemy that they encounter, a tribe of missing link man-apes seems to bring out the very worst “white man arrogance” in the characters.

If one is able to overlook the blatant racism, The Lost World does provide plenty of adventure and excitement. The author also makes the scientific information easy to swallow as it is steeped in the humor of Professor Challenger and Professor Summerlee disagreeing on every fact. The Lost World is a fine example of a Victorian swashbuckler with it’s chin-up, confident turn of the century British attitude. ( )

Entertaining, but honestly the best parts were those at home in England, not the adventurous parts. ( )

A newspaper reporter goes on an adventure because he's trying to impress a woman. Not knowing what he could do that would impress her, he turns to his boss for some ideas and is pointed in the direction of Professor Challenger, a man who claims to have visited a place in South America where animals of the Jurassic period survived extinction. By a fortunate turn of events, Challenger is planning a return trip to bring back the evidence he needs to convince all those who doubt him, and a reporter is just the person he could use to round out the team. The dangers will be great, especially if Challenger is telling the truth, but what greater adventure could there be than roaming a land of dinosaurs?

Written in the early twentieth century, this book is very much a product of its time. A group of Englishmen (and one Irishman) go to an "exotic" land to "discover" a place the native people are already well aware of. The non-white members of the party are explicitly described as servants and treated as such, while constantly being referred to in terms of their race (with words that make a modern reader wince). There are a couple "white savior" narratives. And more besides. There were some parts that weren't as bad as I'd feared they might be, and even one part that turned out almost exactly the way I was hoping it would despite thinking it wouldn't due to the time period, but these were balanced out by moments that disappointed me. It's best for readers to set their expectations accordingly.

But it is very readable for a book of its time. It also has some good action scenes and some instances of the characters being impressively clever. Hints dropped early on are followed through on by the end, so that everything wraps up in a neat and satisfying way. All of which makes the reading an enjoyable enough experience.

Like the Sherlock Holmes books, the first-person narrator is also the person who is writing down the adventures for the sake of in-world readers. Professor Challenger is also depicted as being an expert in his field and having far more knowledge in it than our point of view character, but unlike Holmes he makes a number of mistakes. He also has a rival who is an expert in the same field, and the two of them engage in frequent arguments, which shows he isn't an exceptional genius whose conclusions are unquestionably correct. This creates a dynamic in which Challenger has reason to explain himself and his thinking while also appearing to be simply human, a man who is good at his job, as any of the other characters are good at theirs. There's also the addition of a character who's an expert with a gun and has more practical knowledge than the others when it comes to defending themselves, so that the group is well rounded overall, each having their own strengths and weaknesses.

I will say that the dinosaurs don't feature quite as heavily as I would have expected. They certainly do appear and they certainly are dangerous, but they seem to be just one aspect of the "exotic" landscape to be observed and discussed from a scientific angle. When the characters aren't killing them or running back to safety, of course. The main problem ends up being that the characters get stuck there, and one of the largest concerns is simply whether their stories will be believed.

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think it's good for prospective readers to know that it's very much an exploration story with some high-stakes action. If you think that might appeal to you, feel free to give it a try. In fact, I found it so easy to understand that I think a modern reader would have little trouble, even if they do with other sorts of classics. Because of that, I think it might be an excellent choice for a reader looking for an easy start into the literature of this time period. I think it would also be an excellent choice for anyone who wants to take a closer look at the sort of cultural narratives told by the British during this period in history.

This was a two-star book for me in terms of how much I enjoyed it, but it might be just the thing for you if this review didn't turn you off. It certainly still has its merits.

I surprisingly really enjoyed this book not because of the originality of it, but because how truly funny some parts of it were. I love that it's essentially the precursor to Jurassic Park, and that it goes into the scientific implications of what it would mean if a portion of the world had dinosaurs and primitive men living on it, but some parts of it were actually laugh out loud funny. I really enjoyed ACD's science fiction writing and honestly, I wish that he was more well-known for this rather than Sherlock Holmes (as he famously wanted to be). ( )

A ripping yarn, exciting and humourous.

(The mild melancholy with which he acknowledges the discovery of the Lost World means its exploitation and end is too the credit of his sensibilities, to their debit that no alternative occurs to him. European colonialism unquestioned.) ( )