King Solomon's Mines Wordsworth's Children's Classics: Amazon.co.uk: H. Rider Haggard: Books

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H. Rider Haggard

Betty Millsaps Jones

D. K. Swan

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King Solomon's Mines tells of the search by Sir Henry Curtis, Captain John Good and the narrator, Allan Quatermain, for Sir Henry's younger brother George. He has been lost in the interior of Africa for two years in the quest for King Solomon's Mines, the legendary source of the biblical King's enormous riches. The three companions encounter fearful hardships, fierce warriors, mortal danger and the sinister and deadly witch Gagool. In one of the finest adventure stories of its age, Quatermain, with touches of humour and great excitement, tells the tale of their struggle through unmapped Africa in pursuit of unimaginable wealth.

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are thinking Debra Kerr you will be shocked., 27 April 2010

By

bernie "xyzzy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: King Solomon's Mines (Wordsworth's Children's Classics) (Paperback)

I grew up on the movie so it was quit a shocker to read the book. As stated in the beginning there are no petticoated women in this book. It is a men's adventure written by a man for men. You can not miss the hand of H. Rider Haggard as he has a unique sense of humor that pops up at the strangest times. And as with written stories this one is much more intricate than the movie adaptations. You will find many assumptions of the time such as any complex construction must have been built by white people and natives on their own may turn savage.

The story is told first person by Allan Quartermain. Nevil is off to make his fortune by finding King Solomon's lost diamond mines. Allan sends him a map to help. This is the last anyone heard from Nevil. Turns out that Nevil is really the estranged brother of Henry Curtis. Sir Henry Curtis now wants to make amends and he with his friend Captain John Good, bribe Allan Quartermain to take them across an endless desert and trough impassible mountains to an adventure that will hold you to the very end. Along with them is their self imposed helper Umbopa who carries a secret of his own.

King Solomon's Mines Starring: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger

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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fortune favours the brave, 4 May 2006

By

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: King Solomon's Mines (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This classical story about the search for wealth (diamonds), for a lost brother and a lost kingdom is heavily tainted by the colonial mentality of the British Empire, 'the wisdom of the white people'.

It has a racial undertone: 'Can the sun mate with the moon, or the white with the black?'

It extolls war: 'It was a splendid sight to see brave battalions come on time after time over the barriers of their death'.

It asks full obedience to the powerful: 'Behold your king! fight and fall for him, as is the duty of the brave man.'

It shows the 'pleasures' of merciless shooting of elephants for their tusks.

But on the other hand, it contains general human insights: 'the eyes of mankind are blind to the discredited and he who is defenseless and undone finds few friends and little mercy.'

And what is life? 'It is a feather, it is the seed of the grass, blown hither and tither, sometimes multiplying itself and dying in the act, sometimes carried hence into heavens.'

'Out of the dark we came, into the dark we go. Like a storm-driven bird at night we fly out of the Nowhere, for a moment our wings are seen in the light of the fire, and, lo, we are gone again into the Nowhere. Life is nothing. Life is all. It is the hand with which we hold off death.'

Apart from its biased mentality, this book about the 'journey that a man sets his heart to', remains a classic adventure story of the battle of the brave against evil, hostile environments and adverse fortune.

Not to be missed.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Diamonds Lost Forever?, 21 July 2011

By

Barty Literati "Barty Literati" - See all my reviews

This review is from: King Solomon's Mines (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

A REVIEW OF `KING SOLOMON'S MINES' BY H. RIDER HAGGARD

In many ways, `King Solomon's Mines' is THE classic adventure story. First published in 1885, and written in response to a wager that he could not produce a story half-as-good as `Treasure Island', H. Rider Haggard left a legacy which continues today, not only in literature, but also in such films as `Indiana Jones...' and `National Treasure'. The plot is simplicity itself: Whilst in deepest Africa, gnarled elephant hunter, Allan Quartermain receives an irresistible offer from two fellow Englishmen to join them on a quest to find the lost treasures believed to be hidden in King Solomon's Mine. Added to this, one of the fellow adventurers, Sir Henry Curtis, is looking for his brother who seemingly disappeared on the same quest. Equipped with plenty of guns and ammunition, Quartermain's scrawled map of the region, and some native companions, they are off.

`King Solomon's Mines' wastes no time laboriously setting the scene. Indeed, the first third of the book is a fast-paced tale, full of movement, during which our heroes face all manner of hardships, attempting to reach the road that leads to untold riches. The perils that they face are evocatively and realistically told and the reader is easily drawn into the adventure.

And then, it rather grinds to a halt. The middle third takes the narrative in an entirely different direction. All thoughts of lost treasure and missing siblings vanish, as we are caught up in a bitter and brutal civil war between two rivals for the throne of Kukuanaland. Admittedly, once the fighting begins, the action comes thick and fast. However, for many pages, the momentum of the quest is lost. It's not that these pages are not entertaining. Far from it. They are filled with much humour and mystery, and make the best use of false-teeth and eclipses that I can recall in a novel! Nevertheless, the effect is a bit like expecting the crowd at a football match to be as equally interested in the half-time entertainment as they would be in the match itself.

Thankfully, we rejoin the hunt for the gold and diamonds in the final third of `King Solomon's Mines', and the wait is definitely worthwhile. The telling of the finding of the treasure is brimming with suspense, excitement and some liberal dollops of horror. Like the best moments of `Raiders Of the lost Ark', it all works brilliantly. The effect is enhanced by having Quaertermain as the narrator. At the start of the tale he made it clear that he was no fearless hero, and his responses to the unfolding predicament of the adventurers add a veneer of believability to what could have been presented as excessively far-fetched hokum.

Thus, on turning the final page, `King Solomon's Mines' emerges a terrific (if flawed by its pedestrian second act) adventure classic, worthy of its endless reprints. Haggard clearly knew that he was onto a winner as Quartermain was to return in a whole series of novels, the most famous being the first eponymous sequel. `King Solomon's Mines' may not be pure gold, but it shines brightly enough to keep lovers of boys'-own-fiction hunting for more such treasures.

Barty's Score: 8.5/10

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