Tigers and Traitors

The Steam House #2

by Jules Verne

A thrilling story of a strange caravan that penetrates the Terai, the immense forest that stretches across India at the foot of the mighty Himalayas. In this forest wild men, and wilder beasts, are encountered. Thi book thrills from the first page to the last.

Genres: Science Fiction

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1880

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

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jules Verne was often ahead of his time, writing about many subjects and ideas long before reality brought them to life. In this case, however, his work has not aged well. Despite the interesting concept of a caravan pulled across India by a mechanical elephant, this is an exceedingly dull book. That is not the worst thing about it though. There are several main aspects of this book that are just at odds with a contemporary view of the world, so much so that it's hard to have any investment or interest in them. Take for example, that many of the "thrills" of this book come from trophy hunting. One character is trying to kill his FIFTIETH tiger, and his efforts to trap and shoot them for sport are held up as the pinnacle of bravery. In other moments of tension, wild animals such as panthers, tigers and lions, and even later on elephants, are portrayed as bloodthirsty and antagonistic, to a degree that seems fairly ridiculous. At one point, the group's camp is stormed by what is essentially an army of tigers and Panthers and various other animals, all working together with the goal of killing humans. In Verne's time this view of wild animals may have been more understandable, but today we know that this is not at all how animals behave, and so it just seems ridiculous instead of scary. And finally, the main antagonist in this book is the Indian leader of an anti-colonialist rebellion. Reading this in the 21st century, I find myself sympathizing more with the villain, who attempts to fight the invaders in his land, rather than the european protagonists who travel around their ill-gotten empire shooting tigers and dropping disparaging remarks about the native population. I understand that this book was written a long time ago, but literally nothing in it has aged well. I have read books by Jules Verne that I have really enjoyed, but this is definitely not one of them.

Disclaimer: I went into this book not knowing it was a sequel, but had I read the book that came before it, I think my opinions on this novel would still be the same.

[Norrel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dit werk behoort tot het saaiste dat Jules Verne heeft geschreven. Het gezelschap uit deel 1 trekt verder door India, en verliest daarbij uiteindelijk hun voertuig. Verne doet wat vruchteloze pogingen om spanning in het verhaal te brengen, maar slaagt daar absoluut niet in.
Heeft u nooit iets van Verne gelezen, begin dan niet in dit boek. Het lezen ervan was tijdverspilling.

[Zulfiqar Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A somewhat dated but imaginative and well written Jules Verne classic set in British India.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

As in the first half of "The Steam House" very little happens for most of the book; the party continues to travel
across post-Mutiny India in a train pulled by a steam-powered
elephant. They have a feebly comic encounter with a Dutchman
who traps animals for circuses and zoos. Towards the end,
the story finally becomes more exciting; the expedition narrowly escapes destruction by a herd of real elephants, and
then Colonel Munro, a Mutiny veteran, ends up tied to the
mouth of a cannon by surviving Mutineers who propose to treat him as the British treated their comrades...