Wilhelm Storitz'in Sırrı

by Jules Verne, Pınar Güzelyürek Çelik (Translator)

Fransa'da yaşayan Henry Vidal, ünlü bir ressam olan kardeşi Marc Vidal'in, köklü bir ailenin kızı olan Myra Roderich'le yapacağı evlilik için Macaristan'a yolculuğa çıkar. Tuna boyunca yapacağı eşsiz güzellikteki gemi yolculuğunun ardından, senelerdir görmediği kardeşine kavuşacak ve güzel nişanlısı Myra'yla tanışacaktır. Uzun zaman önce anne ve babalarını kaybetmiş olduklarından, babası yerine koyduğu ağabeyinin bu düğüne katılması Marc için büyük önem taşımaktadır. Fakat ne yazık ki düğün planları, Myra'nın, evlenme teklifini kabul etmediği esrarengiz Wilhelm Storizt tarafından bozulur. Babası ünlü bir bilimadamı olan Wilhelm, Myra'yı görülmemiş yöntemlerle cezalandırır. Önce düğün öncesi verilen daveti sabote eder, ardından da, düğüne birkaç gün kala Myra ortadan kaybolur. Zorlu araştırmalar sonunda bulunsa da Myra artık eskisi gibi değildir...

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Science Fiction, Adventure, Mystery, French Literature, France

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1910

About the author

Novels of French writer Jules Gabriel Verne, considered the founder of modern science fiction, include Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

This author who pioneered the genre. People best know him for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870).

Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before people invented navigable aircraft and practical submarines and devised any means of spacecraft. He ranks behind Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie as the second most translated author of all time. People made his prominent films. People often refer to Verne alongside Herbert George Wells as the "father of science fiction."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_V...

Reviews

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here is a beautiful story of adventure, both surprising and very playful. The great Jules serves us with great simplicity that lets itself embarked by human hatred that appealed to the supernatural relatively advanced science for sow terror or wreaked vengeance over time. Still, at the same time, we discover that what man can build can also untie it. We need intelligence to fight other information...
This fact is the adventure that Henri remembers. It tells us that misfortune has drilled the skin of his brother Marc, a painter about to marry Myra Roderich but previous suitor, Storitz Wilhelm, whom the Roderich family had refused the hand of their daughter. Being the son of a great scientist who would have made significant discoveries that the world could not imagine, he openly proclaims revenge against Henry and Marc Vidal because Myra will marry no one but him. So a series of terrors will win the city of Ragz. The torn posters, the wedding contract was torn by the wind, the bouquet flying in the void, voices thundering in the gap, people struck by the wind oh yes, it is the art Wilhelm Storitzchoses the invisible to make this marriage fail. ... but Henri is not ready to abandon his brother in this hell. There is always a way to fight the unseen and find his secret.

[Ehsan'Shokraie' · Rating 4 out of 5]

داستان فوق العاده جذاب و لذت بخش با نثر روان و غنی فرانسوی..و یک مقدمه ی خیلی خوب در باب منشا کتاب..
ظاهرا ژول ورن در اواخر دوره کاریش به دوستش از اینکه در فرانسه اغلب مردم او را نویسنده ای جدی حساب نمیکردند ناراحت و عاصی بود!
این اثر به شکل اصل ان 100سال پس از مرگ ژول ورن چاپ شده..و عالیه!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of Verne's last books and it's his version of "The Invisible Man." A German, Storitz, is insanely jealous when a Frenchman is going to marry the Hungarian beauty that he is in love with. So, making himself invisible, he creates a Reign of Terror in the Hungarian city of his beloved. Of course, the town is in a panic as no one knows when and where he will strike. I kept wondering why no one in that town had a dog, as that was all that was needed to find the German villain.

[Elentarri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 stars

Henri Vidal tells the tale of his adventures in the Hungarian town of Ragz, where his brother has proposed to Myra Roderich, and Henri must come to the wedding. Things don't run smoothly when Myra's obnoxious, previous suitor, Wilhelm Storitz, has objections to this match. Storitz makes his displeasure at the imminent nuptials very clear and manages to terrorise the whole town, using a "secret power" he has inherited from his father, a renowned chemist/alchemist. Henri and several other characters determine to put a stop to Storitz's interference, but first they have to find him. This novel has an interesting plot, but some very archaic ideas about women (it was published in 1910), and Verne really does make an issue of his dislike for Germans. A lovely, entertaining, light mystery.

[Joni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Escrito una década después del clásico de Wells, El hombre invisible, parecería que resultó en inspiración, homenaje o plagio para Verne. No está mal ya que aporta su estilo pero me queda la duda si Verne leyó antes la obra mencionada.

[Matt Kuhns · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably worthwhile for completists, only.

The introduction and notes to the new Schulman translation make much of this late, "darker" work by Verne and various symbolic interpretations. But the fact that the story closes in a somewhat jarring, unresolved manner doesn't really make it great art. Overall, what we have here is a readable but fairly sloppy, lesser work by a great author, written when he was bitter at Germany and perhaps life itself for France's 1870 humiliation.

Otherwise, the novel is probably only notable for its astounding sexism. Even allowing for more than a century's distance, the attitude toward women represented by the entire female cast's extreme fragility is appalling.

For the merely curious, it may be better to skip this and go re-read one of Verne's classic works instead.

[JennyPP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that I didn't like it, I actually enjoyed it a lot but it did have its issues. For starters there is only so much you can hear about the horrible Germans and the great, never wrong, ever loving French without rolling your eyes. Regardless your own opinions, at the end it almost feels like propaganda. My second issue is that it has a lot of plot holes. Many things, especially towards the end, could have been avoided or solved way easier that it frustrated me greatly. An obvious one being the fact that they destroyed the antidote, and even though they do mention in the book that it was a reckless mistake it doesn't make it any less annoying. But overall I did find the book enjoyable, the plot interesting and with certain changes it could have been improved significantly. Still a worthwhile read.

[শালেকুল পলাশ · Rating 4 out of 5]

বিখ্যাত কেমিস্ট অটো স্টোরিজের কুখ্যাত কুপুত্র - উইলহেম স্টোরিজ মায়ারাকে বিয়ে করতে প্রস্তাব দিল তার বাসায়, মায়ারার বাবা সরাসরি না করে দেন উইলহেম স্টোরিজকে। পরবর্তীতে মায়ারার বিয়ে ঠিক হয় ফরাসী মার্ক ডাইডালের। আবার বিয়ের প্রস্তাব নিয়ে আসে স্টোরিজ। এবারও মানা করে দিলে তাকে শাশায়ে যায় স্টোরিজ যে ফলাফল ভাল হবে না।
এর পর থেকেই হাংগেরীর রাগ শহরে একের পর এক ঘটনা ঘটতে শুরু করল। নরক ভেংগে পড়ল যেন। যার রহস্যের কেউ কুল কিনারা করতে পারলনা। কি সেই গুপ্ত রহস্য।

পাঠ প্রতিক্রিয়াঃ জুলভার্ন মানেই একবার সাধারন সাদামাটা ভাবে গল্প উপস্থাপন করে তার মাঝে বিজ্ঞান ঢুকিয়ে দিয়ে পাঠককে চমকে দেওয়া। ওই সময় এত এত ক্রিয়েটিভ চিন্তাধারা কেমন করে যে তার মাথায় এসেছিল এটাই এখনো প্রশ্ন থেকে যায়।

[Onur Toptaş · Rating 1 out of 5]

Verne, who was an ardent anti-German due to disputed territorial claims of France, suffered (excuse my language) heavy butthurt for a long gone areas and thus sacrificed his classical brilliant autorship to a militant and extremely biased mediocre propaganda. The book -unlike many of his fictions- has definitely not aged well, so it seems.

Since my childhood I have always enjoyed Monsieur Verne's wonderful pioneer works and appreciated his Poe-like scientific positivism in his stories, humanist and anti-militaristic science-loving characters but this has none of it. Monsieur Verne had this delusion that all Germans are stereotype villain, Hungarians hates them without exception and for that Germans should better burn at stake(so he says) and also the people of poor Europe(especially the Magyars and Serbs) must unite against this evil empire, under the compassionate wings of chère France. Knock knock. Who is there? It's a ministry of propaganda Monsieur Verne, we had a proposition for you!

There is also no trace of reasonable explanations of story's main plot, not even implications not even a guess whatsoever. The whole 'mysterie' sinks into obscurity(double joke). I mean he basically fails to illuminate even the slightest parts of the extraordinary events that occured in which we used to read from his previous works which he mastered at it. I presume he just wanted to write a Hungarian wedding preparations and how vile the Prussians were.

[Melda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haftalardır korkmak için korku-gerilim filmleri ve korku öyküleri okuyorum, bi türlü istediğim gibi korkamadım. Derken bu hiçbir korku öğesi içermeyen kitap beni o kadar ürküttü ki dün gece evin içinde arkama bakmadan dolaşamaz hale geldim. NEDEN BÖYLE OLDUĞUNU BİLMİYORUM. Sanırım hiç beklemediğin anda oluyor kuzum falan demem lazım

[Viktor Stevander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boken är gammal och den kändes verkligen förlegad - både till språket och karaktärer. Historien i sig var inte heller något speciellt. Följde en ganska rak bana som inte svävade ut eller uppmuntrade läsaren till att upptäcka mer av världen. En moderniserad översättning hade jag nog uppskattat i tidiga tonåren, men nu var det inte spännande förrän de sista sidorna. Men den är inte dåligt skriven på något sätt. Och den har fått mig att vilja resa från Wien till Budapest längs floden Donau.

[Manuel CV · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recomiendo este libro si estas buscando intriga, misterio y un poco de terror, es lento el desarrollo pero es rápido de leer me sorprendió más en las ultimas paginas pero sin llegar a gustarme por completo, sin duda es un buen libro de Julio Verne pero no tanto como los demás libros de este autor, no cabe duda que sigue siendo uno de mis mejores escritores.....

[Κεσκίνης Χρήστος · Rating 4 out of 5]

Βερν είναι, τι μπορεί να πάει στραβά; Ισχύει. Αν και σε σημεία μέχρι προπαγάνδα υπέρ των Γάλλων μοιάζει, αλλά σε γενικές γραμμές η ιστορία είναι μια χαρά, η περιπετειώδης γραφή του συγγραφέα σε ταξιδεύει στην εποχή και περνάς καλά διαβάζοντας, οπότε... όλα καλά.

[Sarra Tebib · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Heureusement qu'il s'est rattrapé dans le dernier chapitre sinon je l'aurais chopé par le col
Déçue de pas avoir eu toutes les infos

[Irene Lázaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Al ser una novela pionera en un tema que ahora está manido, uno pensaría que tiene todos los elementos del tópico, pero aún así los últimos capítulos han logrado sorprenderme. Es verdad que la historia es un poco moralista y exalta los valores del honor, la familia, la patria... Además, las mujeres son débiles y se desvanecen a cada momento. Aún con todo, me ha parecido un libro atmosférico y emocionante que me ha trasladado a la Hungría del siglo XIX.

[Pani Tau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henri si žije svoj pokojný život vo Francúzsku, teší sa z brata, ktorý pôsobí ako umelec v Uhorsku, keď tu od neho obdrží list. Marc sa ide ženiť a trvá na tom, aby Henri prišiel na vytúženú svadbu! Henri neotáľa, plný radosti hneď vybaví potrebné dokumenty a vydáva sa na cestu. Tu začína reťazec podivných udalostí, ktorý ešte obom bratom spôsobia poriadne vrásky na čele.

Po zdĺhavej plavbe Dunajom prichádza Henri do Ragzu. Zoznamuje sa s bratovou novou rodinou a spoznáva očarujúcu nevestu Myru. Prípravy na svadbu vrcholia a všetci sú šťastní. Netrvá však dlho a Henri sa dozvedá, že bratov ohrdnutý sok sa vrátil do mesta a je odhodlaný získať ruku Myry. A ak ju nebude mať on, nebude ju mať nikto! Beda manželom, budú musieť prekonať mnohé prekážky, aby našli svoj šťastný koniec.

Henri sa snaží pomôcť bratovi, bojuje však s nepriateľom, ktorý má k dispozícii skutočne neobyčajné prostriedky – pozná tajomstvo neviditeľna. Čo zmôžu proti neviditeľnému nepriateľovi, keď aj polícia je naň prikrátka?

Čudovali by ste sa, ale mnoho! Henri si zachová chladnú hlavu a hľadá racionálne možnosti, ako bojovať s neviditeľným mužom. Napokon, všetko sa predsa dá nejako vyriešiť.

Knihy Julesa Verna sú vždy zárukou istej kvality, aj keď priznám sa, tuto ma prekvapil zdĺhavý začiatok. Úplne som zabudla, ako zdĺhavo a podrobne popisuje autor plavbu Dunajom aj mesto Ragz. Na druhej strane máte však pocit, akoby ste mesto skutočne navštívili a môžete nasávať atmosféru Maďarska v 18. storočí.

Záhada nebola až tak veľkou záhadou, keďže samotný názov nám prezrádza, o čo v knihe pôjde, avšak aj napriek tomu je kniha skvelou ukážkou sci-fi a fantastiky Julesovej doby a príbeh je určite zaujímavý aj sympatický.

Do autorovho štýlu som sa opäť zamilovala, kniha je obohatená aj o pekné ilustrácie a určite stojí za prečítanie. Aj keď sa priznám, že nepatrí medzi moje obľúbené od autora, stále je to skvelá Verneovka.

[Büşra Köprü · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jules Verne sevdiğim bir yazardı. Birçok kitabını okumuş olmama rağmen hakkında bilmediğim bir şey varmış meğerse. Zeki bir adam olduğuna inanıyordum ancak bu zeka, üst düzey düşünme becerisini kazanmasına yardımcı olmamış olsa gerek. Kitabında tek bir sebep veya tarihi alt yapı dahi oluşturmadan, saf bir Haçlı zihniyetiyle milletime söven bir yazarı okumak bana hitap etmiyor. Türklerden veba, barbar vs. olarak bahseden bu kitabını kesinlikle tavsiye etmiyorum.

[Ayşe Akarçay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yine klasik bir Jules Verne kitabı. Hayal gücünü tetikleyen çok keyifli ve akıcı bir hikaye.

[Alexandra Gv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una joya!!!!

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

You're likely to get an odd look when someone asks what you're reading and you tell them it's the "new" Jules Verne novel. After all, Verne died 106 years ago and all of his work has been published. Yet therein is a tale itself.

The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz is a novel Verne hoped would be published before his death. It is, though, among roughly half a dozen novels and a short story collection published after he died. The problem is Verne's son rewrote many of them, recasting plots and adding characters. The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz is emblamatic of this. When first published, Verne's son placed the story in the 18th century rather than the 19th and changed the ending. Now, though, Peter Schulman, a professor of French literature at Old Dominion University and a trustee of the North American Jules Verne Society, brings us the first English translation of Verne's original manuscript.

The title character is the son of a famous German scientist, one many near his home regarded as possessing close to supernatural powers. The scientist's rumored secrets bring people to his grave on the anniversary of his death, many expecting him to rise from it. Yet it seems his son has possession of those secrets, one of which is the key to this blend of science fiction and fantasy.

The story is told by Henry Vidal, who travels from Paris to a fictional city in Hungary, where his brother intends to marry Myra Roderich, the daughter of a highly respected family. Myra and her family spurned Storitz's earlier marriage proposal. He invokes one of his father's secrets to prevent the marriage and take his revenge on the Roderichs. In fact, one of his misdeeds might shock even the modern reader. Who can imagine the effect it would have had on an early 20th century audience?

Naturally, The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz carries the style and tropes of the time in which it was written (1895). Thus, women who suffer an emotional shock must take to their bed until they recover their constitution. Geopolitical emotions and biases into play. Hungarians are portrayed as being prone toward superstition, far more ready to accept supernatural explanations than scientific ones. It also is not coincidence that Storitz is German as Verne displays an anti-German sentiment that set in following the Franco-Prussian War. For example, when Henry Vidal unknowingly encounters Storitz en route to Hungary, someone comments that Storitz "might be German twice over, as he's got to be a Prussian." Vidal's response? "And that's already once too many!"

Verne's style frequently incorporates references to contemporary scientific advances, artists and authors. Schulman does an excellent job footnoting names and terms that are of little or no significance today. These and more general footnotes also help explicate Verne's literary style, occasionally referring to Verne's life or other writings.

The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz may show its age to the modern reader. But there is never anything wrong with having something "new" from a classic author, particularly when earlier versions deviated from the author's original work.

(Originally posted at A Progressive on the Prairie.)

[Veronique · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Farseer · Rating 4 out of 5]

(61) Le Secret de Wilhelm Storitz (The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz, 1910) (1 volume) 54K words


The 61st and second to last Extraordinary Voyage, the seventh one published posthumously, takes place in the fictional Hungarian city of Ragz. It's the last science fiction novel by Verne (if we don't count some futuristic technology in "The Barsac Mission"), and despite the urban setting it also has some elements of Gothic horror, combined in a way that reminded me of "The Carpathian Castle".


First read or reread?: First read for me.


What is it about?: French engineer Henri Vidal is invited by his younger brother Marc to visit him in the (fictional) city of Ragz, Hungary, on the occasion of his wedding. Marc is engaged to Myra Roderich, from a respected and well-liked local family. Before leaving Paris, Henri learns that a man named Wilhelm Storitz had proposed to Myra, but had been refused. Wilhelm, who is the son of a famous physicist and chemist, the late Otto Storitz, has sworn vengeance against the family that rejected him, claiming to have powers beyond human understanding. Soon it becomes apparent that Wilhelm's threats were not empty, and he uses his astonishing powers to harass the Roderich family in an attempt to prevent the wedding.


As always for these posthumous novels, I'm reading the version that was originally published as part of the Extraordinary Voyages, the one edited and modified by Michel Verne, and not Jules Verne's unedited manuscript. In the case of this novel, Michel's changes are less extensive than in the previous two novels: He just changed the timeframe, taking the story to the 18th century, and made a modification to the ending, making it happier.

Moving the story from the 19h to the 18th century seems rather pointless, since it doesn't really play a role in the story. According to the correspondence between Michel and the publisher it was done at the request of the publisher. Maybe he thought that taking the story back one century would make the popular superstition around Otto Storitz's work seem more natural, although I think that in fact the end of the 19th century would work better for the kind of scientific discoveries that his son Wilhelm put to such evil use.

The change to the ending is easier to understand, being an attempt to make the story more pleasing to the general public and therefore more commercial.

The plot here was a bit thin, and maybe it would have worked better as a novella rather than a novel. As a result, the first part is slow, which is something unusual in Verne's shorter novels (the one-volume ones). We get an account of Henri's trip to Hungary, and in the short section where he sails down the Danube we probably are treated to more descriptions about the river and the riverside cities than we got in "The Danube Pilot", where the whole novel was devoted to such a trip. Not that there are that many descriptions here, it's just that there were barely any in "The Danube Pilot".

The characterization is quite conventional. The female characters are delicate, quick to faint and lose their minds. I mean, Verne is a writer of his time, and I don't ask for all of his female characters to be like the title character from "Mistress Branican" or like Paulina Barnett from "The Fur Country", but this fragility was a bit excessive. The male characters are also pretty conventional, nothing like the Kaw-djer from the previous novel ("The Survivors of the Jonathan"), who was full of internal conflict.

Verne's dislike of Germany, which as I have commented elsewhere began after the disastrous Franco-Prussian war, is apparent here, while Hungary is described as being friendly with France.

The plot includes a couple of unlikely coincidences. However, even a minor Verne has good things to offer, and once the hostilities began in the second half of the book, the atmosphere became tense and frantic, in a very enjoyable manner. I think Verne made the right choice in telling the story from Henri Vidal's perspective, since for this kind of story a first-person narration makes the reader feel closer to the characters as they go through the whole ordeal.

Readers familiar with H.G. Wells' work will notice that the premise of this story is similar to one of Wells' most famous novels. Wells' novel was published before this one, and maybe Verne got the idea from there but, beyond the premise, the two stories are different. Still, the idea is more what one would expect from Wells than from Verne. After all, Verne's science fiction was usually more grounded on contemporary scientific knowledge, while Wells didn't let a lack of scientific basis deter him. This is definitely more a Wells kind of plot.


Enjoyment factor: I did enjoy it, despite some flaws. Maybe a minor work, but in the second half the atmosphere was suitably disquieting and the whole thing was entertaining.


Next up: The Barsac Mission


See all my Verne reviews here: https://www.sffworld.com/forum/thread...

[Jordison Francisco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olá! Júlio Verne é amplamente conhecido por suas obras de ficção científica e aventura, mas O Segredo de Guilherme Storitz se destaca por ser uma incursão do autor no suspense com um toque de realismo mágico. Publicado postumamente, esse livro passou por uma reformulação feita pelo filho do autor, mas algumas edições modernas trazem o texto original, o que é um diferencial importante para os fãs do escritor.

Uma Trama de Mistério e Vingança

A história segue Henry, um francês que viaja para a Hungria para visitar seu irmão Marc, que está prestes a se casar com a jovem Myra Roderich. No entanto, o casal enfrenta um obstáculo inesperado: Guilherme Storitz, um alemão misterioso que também deseja se casar com Myra. Mesmo após ser rejeitado, ele não aceita a derrota e passa a arquitetar planos para impedir o casamento e se vingar.

A trama é envolvente e cheia de tensão. Conforme os eventos se desenrolam, ficamos cada vez mais curiosos para descobrir o que Storitz está tramando e até onde ele é capaz de chegar. Verne constrói um clima de suspense que difere de suas obras mais conhecidas, mas que ainda assim tem sua marca registrada na narrativa fluida e intrigante.

Uma História Inacabada?

Apesar de seu potencial, é evidente que a história não estava completamente finalizada por Júlio Verne. Alguns pontos ficam mal desenvolvidos ou soltos, deixando a sensação de que a trama poderia ter sido mais aprofundada. Um exemplo é a relação do narrador, Henry, com Myra. Existe uma estranheza nessa dinâmica que nunca é explicada de forma convincente.

Outro ponto que fica vago é a motivação de Guilherme Storitz. Por que ele é tão obcecado por Myra? O que o leva a ir tão longe para atrapalhar o casamento? O livro não responde completamente a essas perguntas, deixando espaço para interpretações do leitor.

E, claro, o final também é um tanto inconclusivo. Algumas pontas são deixadas soltas, o que pode frustrar quem gosta de desfechos bem amarrados. No entanto, para aqueles que apreciam narrativas que permitem diferentes leituras e teorias, isso pode ser um ponto positivo.

Uma Leitura Rara, Mas Valiosa

Diferente de outros clássicos de Júlio Verne, O Segredo de Guilherme Storitz não é tão fácil de encontrar. Mesmo assim, vale a pena buscá-lo, especialmente se você já conhece e aprecia a obra do autor.

A experiência de ler um Verne fora do gênero pelo qual ele é mais conhecido é interessante, e o livro apresenta elementos que mostram sua versatilidade como escritor. Embora tenha seus problemas estruturais, a história tem uma atmosfera instigante e se destaca dentro da bibliografia do autor por sua pegada mais sombria e misteriosa.

Vale a Pena Ler O Segredo de Guilherme Storitz?

Se você é fã de Júlio Verne e quer conhecer uma faceta diferente de sua escrita, esse livro pode ser uma ótima escolha. Apesar de algumas falhas narrativas, a leitura é envolvente e traz um Verne explorando novos territórios literários. Caso prefira histórias mais bem estruturadas, talvez essa não seja a melhor porta de entrada para o autor, mas, ainda assim, é uma curiosidade interessante dentro de sua obra. E você, já leu O Segredo de Guilherme Storitz? O que achou da história?

[ozzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a clever response to Well's book. The writing was great, as expected by Jules Verne, altough in the beginning I got kind of lost due to some extensive descriptive paragraphs. It was a nice story and it had a somewhat good ending but I do think it was very predictible and the plot twists were kind of expected in a way.
It was a nice short book. In my opinion it was very undeveloped. None of the character are explored much and everything is very quick to be solved. I do not regret having read the book but honestly I probabily wont be reading this again. Especially when there are other amazing books by Jules Verne to read.

[Dori-anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75
Un côté gothique et paranormal assez sympa. Toujours ce mélange entre voyage, science et imaginaire si spécifique à Jules Verne. Cependant, ce n'est clairement pas ce qu'il a fait de mieux : le scénario est très prévisible, les personnages plats et insipides sont longs à la détente et incapables de prendre de bonnes décisions, et puis quelques incohérences scénaristiques m'ont à plusieurs reprises fait lever les yeux au ciel. Sans parler de cette fin décevante... L'auteur aurait pu s'arrêter au chapitre XVIII. Ah oui et avec le racisme anti allemand et le sexisme ambiant, ça commence à faire beaucoup de points négatifs.
Lisez plutôt Michel Strogoff !

[Books Worth My Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t know what to say about this novel. I have previously enjoyed Verne’s adventures several times before, but this particular work is just too different from the others. It is said that his son published some novels under Verne’s name, and I believe I just finished reading one of those.

The novel is absolute fantasy and not credible, in my opinion. True enough, “A Thousand Leagues Under the Seas” is also fantasy, but Verne made it seem totally plausible. This is not the case with the present novel. Moreover, although it is quite short, it felt unnecessarily long and that, at times, the characters were not smart enough (I’m trying to avoid any spoilers).

[John Peel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The is an oddity among Verne's books. He often has low-key romances in his novels, but this is the first I've read that actually revolves around a love story. And the motivating factor in the entire book is Wilhelm Storitz's jealous fury when the girl he's obsessed with rejects him to marry someone else. Storitz then uses an invisibility serum to plot his insane revenge... The style is quite unlike most of Verne's stories (though there is the inevitable travelogue!), rather more Gothic than normal. But the tale is very skimpy, and padded with pointless description, which detracts.

[Rafael Ontivero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leída la versión de Sáenz de Jubera de finales de los años 1910, que se corresponde con la versión modificada por Michel Verne, aunque creo que no difiere de la original más que en el final y alguna cosa de por el medio, siendo la de Verne un poco menos final feliz, pero tampoco puedo confirmarlo ya que la edición original anda en el correo y estoy a la espera de recibirla.

[Can Kartoglu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bu kitap diğer Verne kitaplarında olduğu gibi bilimsel ya da coğrafi öğretilerden ziyade psikolojik gerilim teması üzerine yazılmış. Jules Verne'den ziyade Arthur C. Clarke ya da Agatha Christie romanlarını andırıyor.

[Larry Wegman · Rating 3 out of 5]

More psychological and darker, and less of a "grand adventure" than his earlier, more well-known works. He clearly doesn't like Germans at this point in his life. It's less future-science predictive, too, but still pretty exciting.