"True, in uniting himself to this dread woman, he would place his life under the influence of a mysterious creature of evil tendencies, but then that would be likely enough to happen to him in any ordinary marriage." ( )

Bill Homewood's narration really added to my enjoyment of this classic. ( )

The prototype for adventure/lost world stories from Burroughs & Baum to Tolkien & Lewis. It holds up pretty well. ( )

Much of this book is filled with beautiful language. However, at times I hated these characters; they see a beautiful wild creature and all they can think of is killing it:
" 'yes, I shall go, uncle; and if I don't find the "rolling pillar of Life," at any rate I shall get some first class shooting.'
Here was my opportunity, and I took it.
'shooting?' I said. 'Ah! Yes; I never thought of that. It must be a very wild stretch of country, and full of big game. I have always wanted to kill a buffalo before I die. Do you know, my boy, I don't believe in the quest, but I do believe in big game, and really, on the whole, if, after thinking it over, you make up your mind to go, I will take a holiday, and come with you.' "

The travelers lose their ship in a storm, but having the forethought to provision their whaling boat, the three of them are saved, along with Mahomet, their navigator, a black man. Struggling up a clogged canal, they are overtaken by tribesmen:
" 'we are travelers, and have come hither by chance,' I answered in my best Arabic, which appeared to be understood, for the man turned his head, and addressing a tall form that towered up in the background, said, 'father, shall we slay?'
'what is the colour of the men?' said a deep voice in answer.
'white is their colour.'
'slay not,' was the reply. 'four suns since was the word brought to me from "she-who-must-be-obeyed," "white men come; if white men come, slay them not." Let them be brought to the land of "she-who-must-be-obeyed." Bring forth the men, and let that which they have with them be brought forth also.' "

Because Ayesha is more than 2000 years old, she doesn't know about Christianity or the Muslim religion. And she enjoys talking with Holly:
" ... I did my best to expound to her the doctrines of Christianity, to which, however, with the single exception of our conception of heaven and hell, I found that she paid but faint attention, her interests being all directed towards the man who taught them. Also I told her that among her own people, the Arabs, another prophet, one Mohammed, had arisen and preached a new faith to which many millions of mankind now adhered.
'Ah!' She said; 'i see - two new religions! I have known so many, and doubtless there have been many more since I knew aught beyond these caves of kôr. Mankind asks ever of the skies to vision out what lies behind them. It is terror for the end, and but a subtler form of selfishness -- this it is that breeds religions. Mark, my Holly, each religion claims the future for its followers; or, at the least, the good thereof. The evil is for those benighted ones who will have none of it; seeing the light the true believers worship, as the fishes see the stars, but dimly. The religions come and the religions pass, and the civilizations come and pass, and naught endures but the world and human nature. Ah! If man would but see that hope is from within and not from without – that he himself must work out his own salvation! He is there, and within him is the breath of life and a knowledge of good and evil as good and evil is to him. Thereon let him build and stand erect, and not cast himself before the image of some unknown God, modelled like his poor self, but with a bigger brain to think that evil thing; and a longer arm to do it."

Ayesha's people have a way of preserving corpses, utilizing a chemical concoction, and pouring it through a funnel into the arterial veins. When she who must be obeyed gives a dance for her visitors, hundreds of these mummies are brought out and torched, to light up the dance.
"Nero illuminated his gardens with Live Christian soaked in tar, and we were now treated to a similar spectacle, probably for the first time since his day, only happily our lamps were not living ones.
But although this element of horror was fortunately wanting, to describe the awful and hideous grandeur of the spectacle thus presented to us is, I feel, so absolutely beyond my poor powers, that I scarcely dare attempt it. To begin with, it appealed to the moral as well as the physical susceptibilities. There was something very terrible, and yet very fascinating, about the employment of the remote dead to illumine the orgies of the living; in itself the thing was a satire, both on the living and the dead. Caesar's dust – or is it Alexander's? -- may stop a bunghole, but the functions of these dead Caesars of the past was to light up a Savage fetish dance. To such base uses may we come, of so little account may we be in the minds of the eager multitudes that we shall breed, many of whom, so far from revering our memory, will live to curse us for begetting them into such a world of woe." Amen!

Ayesha takes Leo and holly, journeying for a day and a night, to where the pillar of Life giving force is located, in treacherous caves. What happens then is crazy, and delightful. Somehow our Heroes come out alive, though Ayesha is destroyed. But at the end of the book, the author makes clear that Ayesha will be returning. ( )

I’d seen the film of this (with Ursula Andress) many years ago and wondered what the book would be like. I’ve also come across H R Haggard’s characters in other works (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).

Sorry to say that the book didn’t fulfil my expectations. The basic plot was good, but there were too many monologues that didn’t come really add much to the tale.

The climax of the story was over in a couple of pages; not a good pay-off for the effort put in getting to that part!

The character of She (Ayesha) was well considered, her longevity giving her a different frame of reference, attitude and moral values to others not so fortunate to live so long.

It’ll be a while before I read another HRH book...unless someone can convince me that the story isn’t as padded and the quality of the writing is better.

( )