The Prisoner of Zenda (edition 1994)

Via Daily Lit.

It is resolved that a certain proportion of the books I've read ultimately derive their plots from The Prisoner of Zenda, and from there obliquely from Shakespeare and other comedies of mistaken identity. Hope's writing is clear, the story moves quickly, and it was refreshing to read a classic with a contemporary feel. ( )

A rattling good read - not high literature, but certainly high adventure. Kingly doubles, distressed damsels and princesses, noble heroes and dastardly villains! I shall now seek out the sequel, [b:Rupert of Hentzau|3010856|Rupert of Hentzau|Anthony Hope|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1306663794s/3010856.jpg|2661175]. ( )

Another 1001 Children's Book to Read Before I Grow Up read. Another to cross off my list.

This one is action and adventure and mistaken identities and kings and beautiful princesses and castles. The ending was a little too open-ended (had to leave things open for a sequel, I suppose) for my liking, but, overall, a good read. ( )

How did I miss this story for so long? This is the kind of heroic fiction I've enjoyed for years--the strong and resourceful hero fighting for right with honor and dignity. Yet until now, I've never bothered to read this book or even watch the films made from it. Oh, well. Now I know better and can put it on my shelf. Anyway, the story is thus: Rudolf Rassendyll ventures to the small country of Ruritania on a lark, to see the coronation of the new king. He is aware that he is a distant, if illegitimate, cousin of the crown prince but he is surprised to discover that he is a dead ringer for him. This happens in a chance encounter with the prince, also named Rudolf. Fortunately, this also puts Mr. Rassendyll at the right place when the prince's brother, Michael, springs his trap to remove Prince Rudolf from the scene. Rassendyll impersonates the prince to thwart Michael's scheme, but then Michael alters his plan and forces Rassendyll to carry on his impersonation longer than expected. Both sides endeavor to gain the upper hand without revealing their own machinations to the people of Ruritania. An engaging tale with wonderful characters.
--J. ( )

A couple of years ago Penguin released a (beautiful) series of Classic Boys’ Adventures. I got a few of the books (Tarzan, She, The Lost World) before they disappeared from the bookstores again. Last week I found one of the books from the series I didn’t have yet, in a different version, ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’.
Rudolf Rassendyll is a well-to-do English gentleman who doesn’t want to work or do anything. In his family he is the odd one out, with red hair, because of an affair one of his ancestors had with a royal from Ruritania. He decides to find out his heritage and travels in secret to Ruritania, where it turns out he looks exactly like the king who will be crowned the day after he arrives. His similarity to the king leads to a big plot by the king’s evil brother, Black Michael. The book covers a big adventure to save Ruritania from Black Michael, all while falling in love, fighting with swords and guns.
The book is a true adventure, a bit more geared towards boys than the other books in the Penguin series, and because of that a bit less interesting for me. But it was an enjoyable adventure to read, so three out of five stars. ( )

Ruritania royalty-napping decoy diversion shenanigans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner_of_Zenda

http://freesf.strandedinoz.com/wordpress/2012/05/the-prisoner-of-zenda-anthony-h... ( )

I was reminded of "The Prince and the Pauper" while reading the "Prisoner of Zenda" - mainly through the switching of people in their role's. I enjoyed the themes of loyalty, honor and friendship. This is a quick, enjoyable read. ( )

How nice when a classic actually is a classic. After a bit of a silly start, Hope's book kicks into high gear when its hero arrives in Ruritania, whose monarch, though a family indiscretion a few generations ago, he happens to resemble closely enough to be an identical twin. Although he appears in the opening chapters to be a lazy upper class Englishman, he turns out to be brave, resourceful, and true to his purpose when he has to impersonate the king to prevent his evil brother from stealing the throne. Along the way, there are beautiful and mysterious women, swordplay, great villains, and great allies as well. The book only suffers a half star reduction in comparison with the perfection of something like Sabatini's Captain Blood.

Please read this - don't worry that you have seen film versions of it in various guises all your life. You will still immensely enjoy your time in Ruritania. ( )

The original Ruritanian romance - adventure, love, loyalty, drama, what more could you want! Rudolph Rassendyll takes a holiday to Ruritania and discovers his likeness to the soon to be crowned monarch (result of a family scandal several generations previously) leads him into trouble, impersonation and forbidden romance! Great fun, I see the genesis of John Buchan's Dixon McCunn... ( )

Dated. That is the one word that comes to my mind when I want to describe Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda.

I’m not a fan of historical fictions or swashbucklers in general. Nevertheless I’ve quite enjoyed my occasional forays in to these genres. Besides I enjoy reading classic books and am mostly willing to overlook the difference in outlook between then and now. But finishing The Prisoner of Zenda was an uphill battle for me

The Prisoner of Zenda is a swashbuckler/adventure novel. It was published in 1894.

Rudolf Rassendyll, a happy-go-lucky Englishman, travels to the fictional kingdom of Ruritania only to be drawn in to a political plot. The would-be king of the country, who is also the hero’s look alike, gets abducted by his evil half brother, Black Michael. Rudolf is forced to act as his ‘replacement’ until the rightful king can be rescued.

The King’s abduction and imprisonment in the castle of Zenda and all of the plots and counter-plots are somewhat entertaining. The final rescue was good.

But the whole atmosphere is so dated. The over the top attitude of the hero and the ever brave knights, the ‘evilness’ of the bad guys, the flowery dialogues, so so clichéd! Even the devil may care attitude of the celebrated villain Rupert of Hentzau is so dated that it is almost funny.

The upper classes support the fun loving, drunkard king and the lower income people (who are all ‘criminals’ according to the book) support Black Michael. Even those loyal to the king admit to him being unfit to rule but still stand by him just because he is of royal blood and Michael is not. They keep hoping that with the help of the pretty Princess Flavia, he’ll somehow manage the whole ‘ruling’ business. The importance of blood and birth may have been monumental in 1894 but more than a hundred years later it just makes no sense.

Hope keeps reminding us how ‘good’ the hero is by informing us every second or two about the hero’s fight with his own selfish desires. The hero is a good guy but he is also a human being. I get it. Is it necessary to repeat it over and over again?

Though barely 200 pages long, finishing this book was hard work. I don’t understand how this book has been in print for so long. True classics remain timeless. Something The Prisoner of Zenda is, definitely, not.

This story is adventure. So I was very excited.
Rudolf fighted enemy and saved Prince.
He is cool and brave man.I want him to live happy life. ( )

Unexpected story makes me excited.

Rudolf is kind and brave man.
He is very cool.

This is simple story.
This story is adventure so I was excited.
I like this story. ( )

Rudolf Rassendyll visit Ruritania to see the king Rudolf Elphbergh.one day they met accidently at the certain.town and surprisingly, he resembled the king... This is an adventure story. ( )

Rudolf Rassendyll made a good fight to rescue the king.
I was surprised that he was brave.
I also enjoyed the love between Rudlf and Princess Flavia. ( )

Rudolf Rassendyll went to the castle of Zenda rescue the king.
This was adventure story.
I like this story because it was exciting. ( )

'The Prisoner of Zenda' is a page-turning adventure story, driven by its colourful characters. I came to it after seeing the 1937 film and found the book every page as exciting as the film. It is a short novel, made shorter by the compelling style of Antony Hope.
I also enjoyed the way it discussed the idea of dopplegangers, although was slightly dissapointed that it did not offer more food for thought on this aspect. I was hoping for a great adventure story combined with a look at literary doubles, in the vein of 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'; in the end it is just a great adventure story and an interesting glance into a late 19th century English writer's view of the world. ( )

I’ve wanted to read this book for 15 years or more. The story is fine, though not novel, and the temptation to remain the king and marry Princess Flavia marks it as modern, but finishing it was more of a duty than a pleasure. It’s interesting as an artifact of late Victorian English attitudes- the gadabout younger son of a titled family does his duty to king and country (though not his own) and gets to kill a few bad guys and kiss a pretty girl. The first two pages smack of Oscar Wilde. The most finely sketched character is the notorious Rupert of Hentzau. Of course, anyone who can rise above the name Rupert must have something going for him.

I still can’t figure out why this has been in print for over 100 years. Maybe it was gathered to the bosom of a nation on Sherlock Holmes’ coat tails and it’s a time/place thing? Thrilling adventure or a penny dreadful for the ruling class? It’s an enjoyable, quick read? I dunno. Maybe it was the first airplane book, a mind movie. (I also can’t figure out why anyone would want to read anything more challenging than Christie when they fly. I once sat across the aisle from a very pretty woman who was reading Plato; I was reading the Princess Bride. She stopped reading and I didn’t.)

Hope's classic novel is a great read from beginning to end. The characters are well drawn and compelling. If you loved the movie (the Ronald Coleman version), you'll love the book, which provides a bit more background to the story. ( )

The Prisoner of Zenda is an enjoyable adventure story in the vein of King Solomon's Mines, Around the World in Eighty Days, Scaramouche, and even a bit of Wilkie Collins' thrillers. Rudolf Rassendyll is the second son in the nobel house of Burlesdon of England. His brother is an aristocrat but Rudolf doesn't quite conform to his sister-in-law's ideas of gentility. First there is the matter of his hair. It's red. This may not sound like a crime, but way up in the family tree there's a Ruritanian lord, Rudolf Elphberg, who came to England and had an affair with the Countess Amelia. He was wounded in a duel with her husband, but Elphberg survived while Baron Rassendyll died six months later of a chill he had caught during the early-morning duel. And two months after that, his wife gave birth to Elphberg's child, a son. And the family simply absorbed him into itself, though it wished it could forget the entire sordid affair. This is why our hero Rudolf's red hair and distinctive nose made him such a scapegrace in his family. And he lives up to those nefarious features by being a young gentleman of independent means and an adventurous disposition.

When he takes it into his head to visit Ruritania, he is mistaken for the king, and soon embroiled in a plot to rescue the captured king from his power-hungry brother Black Michael. Rudolf must play the part of the king to Ruritania and woo the Princess Flavia, who falls in love with him. And he falls in love with her. But Rudolf cannot stay and play king forever. The real king is languishing in Black Michael's castle at Zenda, and is guarded in such a way that rescue is nearly impossible. He is growing ill meanwhile, and must be rescued soon. If he dies there, Black Michael will kill Rudolf and seize the throne for himself. But as long as the king lives, Black Michael and Rudolf must keep up the pretense that Rudolf really is the king. Black Michael can't expose him because to do so would be to admit where the real king was, and Rudolf can't expose Black Michael's treachery without revealing that he is really not the king.

The writing is a bit abrupt and choppy, and sometimes the characters were over the top, but the plot kept me reading and I really wanted to know what happened next. Hope creates an interesting villain in Black Michael's right-hand man, Rupert of Hentzau... who also happens to be in love with the woman who loves Black Michael, Antoinette de Mauban. Of course Rupert escapes in the end and there is a sequel that bears his name. I'm sufficiently interested to seek it out, just to see what Hope does with him. And of course one wants to know if there is more to the story of Rudolf and Flavia.

I read this book in one sitting. Overall, it was an enjoyable adventure story and I would recommend it to fans of historical fiction. ( )

The most famous of these "Graustarkian novels". A fun read. ( )

What a great read. It has the feel of John Buchan, Walter Scott, and all the best 'Stories for Boys' of the 19th century.

This is a really cool novel. It is the arch-type for the swashbuckling adventure novel. All about a King that is drugged and taken prisoner by his evil half-brother and a look alike is recruited to play the king and save the kingdom. There is much sword-fighting and action as well as just the right amount of romance. A great read. ( )