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. ( )

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.) ( )

It takes a long while for the main characters to reach ‘the lost world’. Prior to this, we get some scientific debate, some of which I found amusing, some of it not.

One of the best early scenes is when the narrator – Mr Malone – meets the arrogant and bad-tempered Professor Challenger. It’s an entertaining conflict.

When we reach the lost world, it turns out to be engaging at times, but sometimes bland or slow paced. The threat of danger is in the air, but it rarely feels life-threatening. Dinosaurs are apparent, but without the celebrity that is Tyrannosaurus Rex, excitement is limited.

Upon the main characters leaving the lost world, I felt underwhelmed by their adventures. It needed some added sparkle; some dire threat to get the pulse racing. A female character in the group might've improved the dynamic.

What follows is over-long and tedious. Apart from the odd scene, much of the closing chapters read like a newspaper report, including much repetition of what we already know. The author should’ve cut this short, or cut it altogether, rather than have this passive rambling following on from the characters’ departure of the lost world.

So, while this is not a bad novel, I did find it a disappointing one. ( )