Allan Quatermain (1887)

The second Allen Quartermain book, and in some ways even greater than King Solomon's Mines, providing closure for most of the main characters, including Allen himself, who dies at the end of it. All the other stories thereafter are retrospective. ( )

This is the direct sequel to King Solomon's Mines. Feels not unlike a four phase journey. Starts with superior first half. Suffers from a very slow and overly narrated third quarter. Exceptionally strong ending. overall 4 stars. ( )

I've read and re-read this book and I love it everytime. There is something about that stiff upper lip, reserved, oh so British attitude that shouldn't work in an adventure story, but works magnificently here. ( )

The sequel to the much more famous King Solomon's Mines. Very much in the same vein.

Alan Quatermain - the 'hero' from KSM, is bored. He's been back in civilised and genteel england for a few years. Unfortunetly his son much loved son dies in the intervening period - from smallpox - And he concieves a yearning to return to the wilderness of Africa and the udulation of the natives. Fortunetly his old friends the irrepresible Cook and Curtis also feel similarly inclined. Quartermain remembers an old tale told to him of a tribe of "white" natives who live far out in central africa, and this seems like a suitable target for them to aim for.

Hence various adventures occur and a chance meeting with an old friend the Zulu Umslopogaas provides the necessary background to help ensure that the White men and the natives are suitably contrasted - very much a product of the era it was written in. There are the usual diversions with pretty women, scheming priests and just about everything you would expect from an adventure story, including of course graphically bloody massacres, and heoric deeds. Many of the trials they undergo seem to be quite realistic - porters deserting a group was a common hazard for example. The river through the mountain wasn't actually too unbelivable, although the gas jet was just bizarre.

In today's world it is of course horrendously stereotypical and often racist, but at the time it was written, it must have been close to how Africa was percieved, a mysterious continent far away, full of savages and strange possabilities. Only Alan Quatermain himself gets drawn into the story, even his closest aquaintances remain very much 2D shadows to accompany him, but we do get quit a bit of insight into Alan's view of events and the people around him, which is often dryly amusing. The pacing is excellant, and the story rushes along from one place to the next with suitable pauses for the characters and the reader to refresh themselves. There is some trully obvious foreshadowing, but the account is supposed to have been diary entries from AQ written after his travels, so in some respects this is excuseable.

Overal, enjoyable, not as thrilling as KSMs, but another quick fun read highlighting the social differences between the 1880s and today.

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