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King Solomon's Mines (World's Best…
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King Solomon's Mines (World's Best Reading) (original 1882; edition 1994)

by H. Rider Haggard

Series: Allan Quatermain (11)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
5,6931271,784 (3.61)342
Classic Literature. Fantasy. Fiction. HTML:

H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines tells of a group of adventurers journeying into unexplored Africa in order to find the missing brother of one of the party. The book became an immediate bestseller after publication in 1885. At the time large parts of Africa remained unexplored by Europeans and the book captured the imagination of the public.

.… (more)
Member:Thulsa
Title:King Solomon's Mines (World's Best Reading)
Authors:H. Rider Haggard
Info:The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (1994), Edition: 1st, Leather Bound, 224 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

King Solomon's Mines by Henry Rider Haggard (1882)

  1. 70
    Hunter Quatermain's Story: The Uncollected Adventures of Allan Quartermain by H. Rider Haggard (MinaKelly)
  2. 70
    Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (souloftherose)
    souloftherose: King Solomon's Mines was written as a result of a wager between H. Rider Haggard and his brother on whether he could write a novel half as good as R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island. Why not read them both and decide for yourself?
  3. 60
    The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle (Rynooo, Polenth)
  4. 30
    The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling (mcenroeucsb)
  5. 30
    A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain (cbl_tn)
    cbl_tn: These novels have some similar plot elements.
  6. 20
    The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 1 by Alan Moore (LKAYC)
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» See also 342 mentions

English (114)  Spanish (2)  Danish (2)  Italian (1)  Finnish (1)  Portuguese (Portugal) (1)  Hebrew (1)  French (1)  Swedish (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (125)
Showing 1-5 of 114 (next | show all)
hang in until you get past the first 100 pages or so ... about the time they find the "entrance" ... then don't plan on putting it down until you finish ( )
  dlinnen | Feb 3, 2024 |
I loved this book. If not for the persistent casual racism (that thankfully mostly ceased after the first third, once the characters had left towns and civilisation for the desert and the mountains), it would have earned five stars.

That kind of talk, that was prevalent for those first few chapters, cannot go unchallenged, though.

What I long for is an adventure story told from the point of view of main characters of colour -- what of the African adventurers themselves who surely have histories and mythologies to share of their own culture? Of the Sherpas who tirelessly climb the slopes of Everest while the white people who pay them to carry all the gear garner the glory? Of the ancient southern, eastern, middle eastern and near eastern civilisations who built all of the magnificence characters like Quatermain, Umbopa, Curtis and Good seek? Those are surely magnificent, dramatic and exciting stories that deserve to be read as widely as those written by colonialists two centuries ago. ( )
  Joshua_Pray | Dec 30, 2023 |
A scary, swashbuckling story I may have liked, but so many years after, I'm not sure. ( )
  mykl-s | Aug 13, 2023 |
Classic adventure story although the Victorian attitude towards the native 'savages' of Africa was a bit much in a few places. A word of warning to the squeamish, there are some pretty grisly parts although not too graphic by today's standards.

Some significant differences from the Stewart Granger movie - most notably the fact that, instead of a wife searching for her lost husband, it is a brother which eliminates all the romantic aspects. I found Alan Quatermain a more interesting character as a widower & self-confessed coward than Granger's he-man (although I adore Stewart Granger). Overall, a better story than you might expect. ( )
  leslie.98 | Jun 27, 2023 |
I enjoyed the movie starring Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr, but the book lacked the romance of the film. Three Victorian gentlemen
search for diamonds with the help of local tribesmen whom they treat shabbily for the most part. ( )
  ReomaMcGinnis | May 3, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 114 (next | show all)

» Add other authors (74 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Haggard, Henry Riderprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
BrugueraEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Butts, DennisEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Casas, FloraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Eça de QueirozTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Foden, GilesPrefacesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fuller, AlexandraIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gemme, Francis R.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Green, Roger LancelynIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hampson, RobertEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hogarth, PaulIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Holmberg, NilsTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ivry, BenjaminIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Langford, AlanIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lopez, AbelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Méaulle, Fortuné LouisCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Meyer, HenriCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Monsman, Gerald CorneliusEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Nickless, WillIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Paget, WalterIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pardo, ÁngelIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pérez Rilo, RicardoIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Prebble, SimonNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stephens, TobyNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Whitear, A.R.Illustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Classic Literature. Fantasy. Fiction. HTML:

H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines tells of a group of adventurers journeying into unexplored Africa in order to find the missing brother of one of the party. The book became an immediate bestseller after publication in 1885. At the time large parts of Africa remained unexplored by Europeans and the book captured the imagination of the public.

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Book description
One of the best-selling novels of the nineteenth century, King Solomon’s Mines has inspired dozens of adventure stories, including Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan books and the Indiana Jones movies. Vivid and enormously action-packed, H. Rider Haggard’s tale of danger and discovery continues to shock and thrill, as it has since it was first presented to the public and heralded as “the most amazing book ever written.”

The story begins when renowned safari hunter Allan Quartermain agrees to help Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good search for King Solomon’s legendary cache of diamonds. Eager to find out what is true, what is myth, and what is really buried in the darkness of the mines, the tireless adventurers delve into the Sahara’s treacherous Veil of Sand, where they stumble upon a mysterious lost tribe of African warriors. Finding themselves in deadly peril from that country’s cruel king and the evil sorceress who conspires behind his throne, the explorers escape, but what they seek could be the most savage trap of all—the forbidden, impenetrable, and spectacular King Solomon’s Mines.
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