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The Explorers Guild #1
A Passage to Shambhala
The golden age of adventure stories returns with this splendidly designed, action-packed, globe-trotting tale that combines the bravura storytelling of Kipling with the irresistible style of The Adventures of Tintin.
Behind the staid public rooms of an old world gentlemen’s club operates a more mysterious organization: The Explorers Guild, a clandestine group of adventurers who bravely journey to those places in which light gives way to shadow and reason is usurped by myth. The secrets they seek are hidden in mountain ranges and lost in deserts, buried in the ocean floor and lodged deep in polar ice. The aim of The Explorers Guild: to discover the mysteries that lie beyond the boundaries of the known world.
Set against the backdrop of World War I, with Western Civilization on the edge of calamity, the first installment in The Explorers Guild series, A Passage to Shambhala, concerns the Guild’s quest to find the golden city of Buddhist myth. The search will take them from the Polar North to the Mongolian deserts, through the underground canals of Asia to deep inside the Himalayas, before the fabled city finally divulges its secrets and the globe-spanning journey plays out to its startling conclusion.
The Explorers Guild is a rare publishing opportunity, powered by the creative passion of one of the world’s true storytelling masters, Kevin Costner.
Behind the staid public rooms of an old world gentlemen’s club operates a more mysterious organization: The Explorers Guild, a clandestine group of adventurers who bravely journey to those places in which light gives way to shadow and reason is usurped by myth. The secrets they seek are hidden in mountain ranges and lost in deserts, buried in the ocean floor and lodged deep in polar ice. The aim of The Explorers Guild: to discover the mysteries that lie beyond the boundaries of the known world.
Set against the backdrop of World War I, with Western Civilization on the edge of calamity, the first installment in The Explorers Guild series, A Passage to Shambhala, concerns the Guild’s quest to find the golden city of Buddhist myth. The search will take them from the Polar North to the Mongolian deserts, through the underground canals of Asia to deep inside the Himalayas, before the fabled city finally divulges its secrets and the globe-spanning journey plays out to its startling conclusion.
The Explorers Guild is a rare publishing opportunity, powered by the creative passion of one of the world’s true storytelling masters, Kevin Costner.
770 pages, Hardcover
First published October 20, 2015
214 people are currently reading
3649 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 336 reviews
October 30, 2015
Let me start by telling you what this book is not. It is not a casual read; a book that you can pick up at odd moments and continue the story without really caring about it or the characters, as so many books are, nowadays.
No, this is a truly delicious book that demands your attention, that sucks you in from the first passage and doesn’t let you go until the last. The characters, the story, captivate you and make you want it all to continue. It’s not hyperbole to compare it with Kipling, Stevenson, Burroughs or London. They all have the same quality of storytelling, balancing the history and time period with making the characters real, not just caricatures.
Set during WWI, it is the story of a search for the fabled city of Shambhala, but much more than that. It’s a tale of intrigue, of desertion, of exotic locales and encounters with the strange and mystifying. And to further immerse you in the time period, it is presented in the language of the time, that proper English and beautifully crafted turn of phrase that evokes Kipling and H. G. Wells. Great attention has been paid, as well, to the history of the moment they are trying to recreate, and it is very difficult to not believe that it is the real journal of an epic journey, especially with the sepia toned pages and writings in the margins.
The addition of a graphic novel aspect to portions of the book is a brilliant device to allow the reader to experience a reminiscence, or some point of history integral to the plot. It adds another dimension to the depth of the story that couldn’t have been achieved otherwise. The art becomes an immersive experience, and does an amazing job of setting the atmosphere and helping to tell this tale.
Though I’m not one for reading out loud, I found myself saying, “Oh, you have to hear this!” many times during the reading of it. And when the adventure was over, I did something I never do. I wanted to immediately read it over again, so loathe was I to give up these characters, this story. It feels wrong, somehow, to relegate it to the shelf, when it begs to be read again.
It is an excellent, epic adventure, which I would encourage everyone to take. But be advised that it will only leave you wanting more.
No, this is a truly delicious book that demands your attention, that sucks you in from the first passage and doesn’t let you go until the last. The characters, the story, captivate you and make you want it all to continue. It’s not hyperbole to compare it with Kipling, Stevenson, Burroughs or London. They all have the same quality of storytelling, balancing the history and time period with making the characters real, not just caricatures.
Set during WWI, it is the story of a search for the fabled city of Shambhala, but much more than that. It’s a tale of intrigue, of desertion, of exotic locales and encounters with the strange and mystifying. And to further immerse you in the time period, it is presented in the language of the time, that proper English and beautifully crafted turn of phrase that evokes Kipling and H. G. Wells. Great attention has been paid, as well, to the history of the moment they are trying to recreate, and it is very difficult to not believe that it is the real journal of an epic journey, especially with the sepia toned pages and writings in the margins.
The addition of a graphic novel aspect to portions of the book is a brilliant device to allow the reader to experience a reminiscence, or some point of history integral to the plot. It adds another dimension to the depth of the story that couldn’t have been achieved otherwise. The art becomes an immersive experience, and does an amazing job of setting the atmosphere and helping to tell this tale.
Though I’m not one for reading out loud, I found myself saying, “Oh, you have to hear this!” many times during the reading of it. And when the adventure was over, I did something I never do. I wanted to immediately read it over again, so loathe was I to give up these characters, this story. It feels wrong, somehow, to relegate it to the shelf, when it begs to be read again.
It is an excellent, epic adventure, which I would encourage everyone to take. But be advised that it will only leave you wanting more.
December 23, 2015
People will make comparisons to H. Rider Haggard and the Adventures of Tintin because those comparisons are helpful and accurate. People will evoke Kipling and Victorian adventure tales and the authors of this thing are hoping that you will do exactly that. But there's something more pressingly obvious that this review must address before moving on to the content of the book.
The corpus codex, if you will, the stuff of the book itself, the actual item you hold in your hands. If you are reading this book electronically, it is possible that (in this case alone, we shall restrict our judgmental assessments) you have altogether missed the point, and if not, at least a singular joy. The item is gorgeous, lovingly constructed with gilded map interiors and lavish color illustrations at the beginning of each "book" within the tale. The book is printed to look as though the pages have been affected by dust, water and age over time spent, one pictures, in a library which catches the sun about five hours a day, and the scent of brandy and pipe smoke for a minimum of ten. It closes with a reassuring "wumph" of paper and cover and authority and it's just a fun book to look at, switching as it does from rafts of antiquated typeface to sepia-graphic comic content and back again. You could buy this book and just set it out, and that would be okay, but you'd miss out on the stories within.
Crafted to ape a "boy's adventure story" in the form of a collected volume of penny dreadfuls, this book capitalizes on some of the tired stereotypes - the gruff man of action, the concerned young woman, the manipulated child, the violent Irishman and sage Sikh - while reminding you that perhaps these archetypes only become tired and useless when written poorly. Each primary and secondary character is given some room to shift about, and this refreshes what could be a boring use of stock "types" by making this into a story not so much of heroes and villains and monsters and neophytes but of people with sliding motivations and complex histories. The journey is the thing: the objective / destination is only part of that trip.
It's a big book at 700-odd pages, but much of that is graphic comics content, but don't let that fool you, either - some of it is quite dense. There are going to be people bored by this, because it's old-fashioned and takes every bit of its length to get where it's going, but I would ask you to get the book, pour a cold drink, put away your fucking phone and eschew the company of prattlers for the time it takes to complete an epic journey. Mssrs. Baird, Costner and Ross have completed a thing that if you don't at least look at it, you'll be poorer for the experience.
The corpus codex, if you will, the stuff of the book itself, the actual item you hold in your hands. If you are reading this book electronically, it is possible that (in this case alone, we shall restrict our judgmental assessments) you have altogether missed the point, and if not, at least a singular joy. The item is gorgeous, lovingly constructed with gilded map interiors and lavish color illustrations at the beginning of each "book" within the tale. The book is printed to look as though the pages have been affected by dust, water and age over time spent, one pictures, in a library which catches the sun about five hours a day, and the scent of brandy and pipe smoke for a minimum of ten. It closes with a reassuring "wumph" of paper and cover and authority and it's just a fun book to look at, switching as it does from rafts of antiquated typeface to sepia-graphic comic content and back again. You could buy this book and just set it out, and that would be okay, but you'd miss out on the stories within.
Crafted to ape a "boy's adventure story" in the form of a collected volume of penny dreadfuls, this book capitalizes on some of the tired stereotypes - the gruff man of action, the concerned young woman, the manipulated child, the violent Irishman and sage Sikh - while reminding you that perhaps these archetypes only become tired and useless when written poorly. Each primary and secondary character is given some room to shift about, and this refreshes what could be a boring use of stock "types" by making this into a story not so much of heroes and villains and monsters and neophytes but of people with sliding motivations and complex histories. The journey is the thing: the objective / destination is only part of that trip.
It's a big book at 700-odd pages, but much of that is graphic comics content, but don't let that fool you, either - some of it is quite dense. There are going to be people bored by this, because it's old-fashioned and takes every bit of its length to get where it's going, but I would ask you to get the book, pour a cold drink, put away your fucking phone and eschew the company of prattlers for the time it takes to complete an epic journey. Mssrs. Baird, Costner and Ross have completed a thing that if you don't at least look at it, you'll be poorer for the experience.
February 5, 2016
Sadly, this is the first book in recent memory I didn't finish. I just couldn't get through it. Still, there were pros and cons.
First, what I liked. I liked the book itself. The pages are browned to simulate antique paper, and I thought that was a nice touch. I also liked the format. Its part text and part graphic novel, and while I was leery at first, I don't think the format was what gave me trouble. Also, the book did manage to capture the flavor of the old time adventure writers, most notably Kipling. But while it did capture the feel of the writing, it never quite grasped the "story" itself, if that makes sense. As in, it read like someone trying to write like Kipling, and doing a good job of imitating him, but without his imagination the story didn't support the writing style.
Now, what I didn't like. I just couldn't get into it. The book never did grab me. Now, I will say that I read about 1/3 of it and then didn't read it again for a few weeks, and that may have been part of the problem. The story was much more complex than I was expecting, and I may have gotten offtrack by not reading straight through.
Also, the length. It was just too long. I think the story meandered, and less pages would have meant less stalling. Granted, if the book had managed to really hook me, I don't think the length would have mattered, but because it didn't, it just felt like torture trying to get through it.
And finally, the complexity. I'm sure there are several readers out there who probably loved following all the different characters and all of the different plot intricacies, but for me it just got boring.
I really wanted to like this one because I'm a huge fan of graphic novels and I also love adventure tales like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Jungle Book, etc. but this one just didn't do it for me. I don't really want to tell people to avoid this one, because I think even moreso than most books this one is entirely a matter of taste. If you aren't intimidated by numerous characters, dense plots, and high page counts, you still may like this one. But it just wasn't for me.
First, what I liked. I liked the book itself. The pages are browned to simulate antique paper, and I thought that was a nice touch. I also liked the format. Its part text and part graphic novel, and while I was leery at first, I don't think the format was what gave me trouble. Also, the book did manage to capture the flavor of the old time adventure writers, most notably Kipling. But while it did capture the feel of the writing, it never quite grasped the "story" itself, if that makes sense. As in, it read like someone trying to write like Kipling, and doing a good job of imitating him, but without his imagination the story didn't support the writing style.
Now, what I didn't like. I just couldn't get into it. The book never did grab me. Now, I will say that I read about 1/3 of it and then didn't read it again for a few weeks, and that may have been part of the problem. The story was much more complex than I was expecting, and I may have gotten offtrack by not reading straight through.
Also, the length. It was just too long. I think the story meandered, and less pages would have meant less stalling. Granted, if the book had managed to really hook me, I don't think the length would have mattered, but because it didn't, it just felt like torture trying to get through it.
And finally, the complexity. I'm sure there are several readers out there who probably loved following all the different characters and all of the different plot intricacies, but for me it just got boring.
I really wanted to like this one because I'm a huge fan of graphic novels and I also love adventure tales like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Jungle Book, etc. but this one just didn't do it for me. I don't really want to tell people to avoid this one, because I think even moreso than most books this one is entirely a matter of taste. If you aren't intimidated by numerous characters, dense plots, and high page counts, you still may like this one. But it just wasn't for me.
December 30, 2015
Got to page 500 & saw almost 300 more to go. Couldn't do it. Intrigued by format & Kevin Costner. Burned!! Boring story. Characters and driveling plot not cohesive. Read the last chapter & felt a big "so what". Breaks from narrative to "graphic novel" make no sense. This is probably the 4th book in my whole life, I've not completed but I'm getting too old for crappy reading and want to start the new year with a new book. Sorry Kevin, I hope the movie version is better.
November 16, 2020
It is really difficult to describe a book like The Explorers Guild. On the one hand, it's an adventure novel that somehow mashes Jules Verne, Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling and Indiana Jones all into one. On the other, it's a graphic novel that somehow reminds me of The Adventures of Tin-Tin, despite not having a youthful reporter nor a rascally dog. But, really, The Explorers Guild is really its own thing, which makes it difficult to review. I loved the narrator, who deigns to give you the information that you need while holding the mystery-solving bits to himself for later. I loved the art, which is simple yet detailed, and inked in beiges and browns, like a vintage comic book might look after years kept in a dusty attic. There are spies and starlets, adventurers and abbots, men in black cloaks and men of war, all thrown together to seek after Shambhala: the mythical city that only admits the worthy. Those that aren't worthy, are driven mad, leaving a trail for our heroes to follow as they seek after the city for themselves. And while it is a commitment at over 700 pages, I think it is well worth the effort.
Want to read
November 27, 2015Kevin Costner is writing books now?!??!!?
October 22, 2015
I love the idea of this book. It's beautiful, well done, and historical. However, the writing was just not interesting enough to convince me to stick around for that many pages.
For an adventure story, it wasn't very exciting.
For an adventure story, it wasn't very exciting.
November 24, 2015
This was a book of incalculable ambition but it falls short of it's goal. I am a big fan of the prose/graphic novel style and the ideas involved were fascinating (the abbot is so obese he's been turned into an island!) however in the execution of this story the actual story itself gets lost. Who are we rooting for, what is the adventure about? I feel as though I've missed something vital that would pull this book together for me. If this had been chopped up (seemingly random things just happen for no reason) and filled in (scenes are just dropped and not really explained), picking a central character and following that character throughout all of the adventures (so many points of view here I struggled to figure out who was doing what) this would have made an awesome novel and/or graphic novel. As it is though it is a book to be commended on it's beauty and the care given to it's appearance.
September 8, 2022
I agree with the grievances shared here by other reviewers who gave this book 2 or 3 stars: its structure is a mess and many scenes are included (or dropped) seemingly with no reason at all. In short, the writing overall could have been much, much better.
The visual style of the book is unique and beautiful, but I couldn’t get past the childish look of every character: with that disproportionately big head, everyone looks like a funny puppet. The tone of the book, meanwhile, is not juvenile or funny. So there’s a mismatch there that threw me off.
In addition, like other readers said, the story told is just not very interesting.
The visual style of the book is unique and beautiful, but I couldn’t get past the childish look of every character: with that disproportionately big head, everyone looks like a funny puppet. The tone of the book, meanwhile, is not juvenile or funny. So there’s a mismatch there that threw me off.
In addition, like other readers said, the story told is just not very interesting.
February 5, 2016
I saw this for fifty percent off at Barnes and Noble and had to have it. It is a beautiful book. Normally, I don't buy a book based solely on its cover. The Explorers guild was an exception. It is not an easy read. It mirrors the style of old adventure books that were popular in the early 1920s and is written in an almost archaic style. It consists for traditional blocks of writing, but the story is also supplemented by comic book strips. The art in this book is as wonderful and intricate as the writing. If you can get past the archaic writing style, this book is a wonderful read.
October 21, 2015
A great top notch adventure novel.
December 12, 2015
I can understand why some people may find it difficult to switch back and forth, from reading a novel to a visual novel, then back again, but I loved it.
I enjoyed reading the novel portions of the book, with it's rich descriptions, but I also loved having the visual novel format for the conversations. I really appreciated being able to "watch" the action, so to speak, rather then being told it all.
I also loved the setting. I can understand why the writing's been compared to Kipling. I think if Kipling had ever written about an Indiana Jones-type adventure set during WWI, he may have come up with something like this. I think he would have approved the use of the inked drawings as well.
I actually deliberately drew out reading this book, reading a chapter or two each night, so I could live in this adventure for a little longer. Until the last bit anyways; my self-control's not THAT good.
I understand that the style the story is presented in may not be to everyone's taste, but I loved how the book was done. I would be thrilled to read more adventures set in the same style, although preferably with new characters. I like the way the story left these people.
November 12, 2015
I enjoyed so many things about this book; the design is superb, the narrative voice is very proper and humorous, the characters each have their own identity and a genuine camaraderie, the artwork is simplistic yet extremely effective, and its usage to illustrate key moments is downright perfect. It's a 750+ page book but much of that is artwork; nevertheless it takes a bit of an investment, time-and-focus wise. But if you enjoy classic adventure tales like Treasure Island or 20,000 leagues under the Sea, or if you enjoy reading just for the pleasure of seeing sentences unfold perfectly before you (I enjoy both), TEG will take you on a wondrous journey.
Read
June 15, 2024DNF'd at page 314. The pacing is so slow, I don't like any of the characters, I don't really care about the mystery.... Really, the style of the hardcover is the only thing I liked, and since the thought of picking this book back up after an extended break fills me with dread, it's time to be done.
December 7, 2017
Imagine an epic tale that takes place mostly in 1917-18 amid the backdrop of World War I, about an imaginary group of clandestine adventurers from all walks of life but with the common goal of finding the legendary mystical Buddhist city of Shambhala. Imagine further that their various journeys, often undertaken separately from one another, take them from the arctic regions of the North Pole to the desert expanse of Mongolia and just about every shadowy place in between. And finally, imagine the writing style to be reminiscent of Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad, and Jules Verne.
I first saw this book on the shelves of an old fashioned brick & mortar bookstore and simply had to buy it. It’s a marvelously produced product with gorgeous old-world illustrations and pages that are slightly browned at the edges to provide that old-timey feeling. But even more interesting was that throughout the book, we are treated to high quality graphic novel content and artwork mixed in along with the prose. So in essence it’s an illustrated adventure novel. This really speaks to what can be done with real paper books vs. eBooks and I’m so happy to have this in my home library.
As for the story itself, the novel is a real throwback to the style of those authors I mentioned previously. It’s told in five parts (or “books”). We're treated to hidden cities, underground rivers, a mysterious order of monks, zeppelins, séances, Theosophists, intrepid lady explorers, battles at sea and in the air, etc. etc. We visit places that are, as Conrad would put it in Heart of Darkness, "the blank spaces of the earth" such as found in Africa, India, South America and Manhattan. I found it best to not rush through this epic story, preferring to read on it a bit and then set it aside in favor of other, more traditional novels. But each time I left it I felt drawn back to it in short order, I was that compelled. The characters are vibrant and interesting and the settings are just plain cool. The reader must certainly keep up their level of concentration for fear of losing the threads on the many story arcs that are happening. This is certainly not a book to read in a busy airport amidst multiple distractions.
You will notice Kevin Costner’s name on the cover and my research indicates he was a large part of the heart and soul of this book and was planning on developing it as a multi-platform vehicle as well (meaning movies, TV, etc.) All of the amazing artwork was done by Rick Ross and it is truly inspirational and provides a huge impact. It is evident that all of those behind the development of this book have a considerable passion for what they were doing, harking back to a very specific tradition of adventure stories, one that belonged to the nineteenth century.
Wonderful stuff indeed!
I first saw this book on the shelves of an old fashioned brick & mortar bookstore and simply had to buy it. It’s a marvelously produced product with gorgeous old-world illustrations and pages that are slightly browned at the edges to provide that old-timey feeling. But even more interesting was that throughout the book, we are treated to high quality graphic novel content and artwork mixed in along with the prose. So in essence it’s an illustrated adventure novel. This really speaks to what can be done with real paper books vs. eBooks and I’m so happy to have this in my home library.
As for the story itself, the novel is a real throwback to the style of those authors I mentioned previously. It’s told in five parts (or “books”). We're treated to hidden cities, underground rivers, a mysterious order of monks, zeppelins, séances, Theosophists, intrepid lady explorers, battles at sea and in the air, etc. etc. We visit places that are, as Conrad would put it in Heart of Darkness, "the blank spaces of the earth" such as found in Africa, India, South America and Manhattan. I found it best to not rush through this epic story, preferring to read on it a bit and then set it aside in favor of other, more traditional novels. But each time I left it I felt drawn back to it in short order, I was that compelled. The characters are vibrant and interesting and the settings are just plain cool. The reader must certainly keep up their level of concentration for fear of losing the threads on the many story arcs that are happening. This is certainly not a book to read in a busy airport amidst multiple distractions.
You will notice Kevin Costner’s name on the cover and my research indicates he was a large part of the heart and soul of this book and was planning on developing it as a multi-platform vehicle as well (meaning movies, TV, etc.) All of the amazing artwork was done by Rick Ross and it is truly inspirational and provides a huge impact. It is evident that all of those behind the development of this book have a considerable passion for what they were doing, harking back to a very specific tradition of adventure stories, one that belonged to the nineteenth century.
Wonderful stuff indeed!
June 12, 2016
3.45 Review soon
February 8, 2017
Originally posted on BlueAnteater
The short: A lengthy, somewhat dense book that mostly captures the aesthetic of early 20th century literature but fails in the most important aspect: heart.
The long:
This book wasn't at all what I expected, and that's both a good and bad thing.
First, the physical aspects. It really is a gorgeous book. You open up the cover, and the gently aged appearance of the thin pages do look like a novel from the 1910s. And the illustrations, though sparse, are lush and old-fashioned and beautiful. The most unique (and modern) aspect, however, is the graphic novel-esque comics within. There is very little regular dialogue in A Passage to Shambhala ("he said," "she said," etc.). It all is mostly contained in these panels with the characters talking in speech bubbles, with a few action sequences tossed in. This is a good thing because the rest of the text is very . . . authentic.
By that, I mean near-perfect 1900s speech, of the proper excessive tone you might find in a Jules Verne novel. Whoever did the lion's share of the writing (I suspect Jon Baird) definitely did their homework. References to countries and inventions and schools of thought are accurate (as far as I can tell), and the prose is on-point. I genuinely think that if I didn't know better, I'd've thought this was actually from the World War I era. Well, besides the sexy stuff. This isn't a children's book, regardless of what you might think from the cover. The sexual content and violence is relatively tame, but it's in the adult genre for being complex, though a well-read teenager should be able to make their way through this. Unfortunately, along with old-timey speak comes the reality that this book tends to be dense and rather boring. Any English or History major will know this feel.
And there's a mark against its being accurate: racism. It's one thing to say that white people, especially back then, were distrustful of foreigners. It's quite another to use actual derogatory language to describe the physical and cultural characteristics of people of color. I don't care if this was "written" by an ignorant rich fool traveling through an unknown territory; in reality, it was written in 2015, and this is inexcusable - and hurtful. I almost abandoned the book then and there but decided to keep going in hopes it wasn't repeated. Luckily, this turned out to be correct, though the bitter taste in my mouth lingered.
Anyway, this is all mostly aesthetics; what about the story itself? Again, this is where A Passage to Shambhala falters. It takes awhile for the plot to get going, at least so we, the audience, understand what's going on. I'll avoid spoilers, but in short, there is a mission to find Shambhala, a city that has a tendency to disappear and then reappear halfway across the globe. There is an omniscient narrator, but we also see the perspectives of Arthur Ogden, one of the "lucky" few to have come across the mysterious city, and Mr. Sloane, an equally mysterious man with many agendas. Other characters include Miss Harrow, an actress turned explorer; Bethram, a very special boy; Corporeal Buchen, a young soldier who gets caught up in the adventure; and Major John Ogden, Arthur's brother and leader of his "dragoons," who are basically ex-military pirates. I don't remember hardly any of their names, but the most prominent are Mr. Renton (?), a boy entirely too sassy by half; Mr. P-- (?), the Major's Sikh adviser; and Mr. Giant (alright, I forgot all their names). In any case, there's a lot of characters, and it's hard to keep track of who is who. This maybe wouldn't matter so much if I cared more about them, but the narration is very detached, as per the style of the late 1800s/early 1900s, and so I rather looked forward to the comic panels, for at least I could have a visual of what was going on.
All in all, it's a fascinating book, if perhaps too ambitious. I also don't quite understand Kevin Costner's role in this, as it seems to be almost entirely Jon Baird's writing, and Costner isn't even mentioned in the acknowledgments. So there's that, but I only know Costner from Field of Dreams, so though his name wasn't an impetus for me to pick up the book in the first place, it was why it was featured in Entertainment Weekly and how I learned of it. Anyway, I'm not sure that I'd recommend it beyond general interest in a modern take on an old writing style, and appreciation for the beautiful artwork.
The short: A lengthy, somewhat dense book that mostly captures the aesthetic of early 20th century literature but fails in the most important aspect: heart.
The long:
This book wasn't at all what I expected, and that's both a good and bad thing.
First, the physical aspects. It really is a gorgeous book. You open up the cover, and the gently aged appearance of the thin pages do look like a novel from the 1910s. And the illustrations, though sparse, are lush and old-fashioned and beautiful. The most unique (and modern) aspect, however, is the graphic novel-esque comics within. There is very little regular dialogue in A Passage to Shambhala ("he said," "she said," etc.). It all is mostly contained in these panels with the characters talking in speech bubbles, with a few action sequences tossed in. This is a good thing because the rest of the text is very . . . authentic.
By that, I mean near-perfect 1900s speech, of the proper excessive tone you might find in a Jules Verne novel. Whoever did the lion's share of the writing (I suspect Jon Baird) definitely did their homework. References to countries and inventions and schools of thought are accurate (as far as I can tell), and the prose is on-point. I genuinely think that if I didn't know better, I'd've thought this was actually from the World War I era. Well, besides the sexy stuff. This isn't a children's book, regardless of what you might think from the cover. The sexual content and violence is relatively tame, but it's in the adult genre for being complex, though a well-read teenager should be able to make their way through this. Unfortunately, along with old-timey speak comes the reality that this book tends to be dense and rather boring. Any English or History major will know this feel.
And there's a mark against its being accurate: racism. It's one thing to say that white people, especially back then, were distrustful of foreigners. It's quite another to use actual derogatory language to describe the physical and cultural characteristics of people of color. I don't care if this was "written" by an ignorant rich fool traveling through an unknown territory; in reality, it was written in 2015, and this is inexcusable - and hurtful. I almost abandoned the book then and there but decided to keep going in hopes it wasn't repeated. Luckily, this turned out to be correct, though the bitter taste in my mouth lingered.
Anyway, this is all mostly aesthetics; what about the story itself? Again, this is where A Passage to Shambhala falters. It takes awhile for the plot to get going, at least so we, the audience, understand what's going on. I'll avoid spoilers, but in short, there is a mission to find Shambhala, a city that has a tendency to disappear and then reappear halfway across the globe. There is an omniscient narrator, but we also see the perspectives of Arthur Ogden, one of the "lucky" few to have come across the mysterious city, and Mr. Sloane, an equally mysterious man with many agendas. Other characters include Miss Harrow, an actress turned explorer; Bethram, a very special boy; Corporeal Buchen, a young soldier who gets caught up in the adventure; and Major John Ogden, Arthur's brother and leader of his "dragoons," who are basically ex-military pirates. I don't remember hardly any of their names, but the most prominent are Mr. Renton (?), a boy entirely too sassy by half; Mr. P-- (?), the Major's Sikh adviser; and Mr. Giant (alright, I forgot all their names). In any case, there's a lot of characters, and it's hard to keep track of who is who. This maybe wouldn't matter so much if I cared more about them, but the narration is very detached, as per the style of the late 1800s/early 1900s, and so I rather looked forward to the comic panels, for at least I could have a visual of what was going on.
All in all, it's a fascinating book, if perhaps too ambitious. I also don't quite understand Kevin Costner's role in this, as it seems to be almost entirely Jon Baird's writing, and Costner isn't even mentioned in the acknowledgments. So there's that, but I only know Costner from Field of Dreams, so though his name wasn't an impetus for me to pick up the book in the first place, it was why it was featured in Entertainment Weekly and how I learned of it. Anyway, I'm not sure that I'd recommend it beyond general interest in a modern take on an old writing style, and appreciation for the beautiful artwork.
January 3, 2016
1.5 stars. When I first learned of this book I rejected it as Kevin Costner was listed as the author, and I felt that a 769 page adventure novel was far too ambitious for a first time writer famous for other things. Examining the book at a store I saw that other names were prominently associated with it so decided to take a chance on the download version.
The book is gorgeously designed. It is written in the manner of a boy's adventure book from the 1800's. There is also a graphic novel element which is very well done, and there are beautiful illustrations throughout. The plot was plodding and became boring for me, and the characters lacked enough development to hold my interest. I abandoned the book about a third of the way through. May go back to it in the future.
A word of warning. It is sold in the Kindle store, but after I purchased it there was a message that it could not be downloaded to a Kindle. I read it on my iPad which showed the beautiful colored illustrations and the graphic format very well.
The book is gorgeously designed. It is written in the manner of a boy's adventure book from the 1800's. There is also a graphic novel element which is very well done, and there are beautiful illustrations throughout. The plot was plodding and became boring for me, and the characters lacked enough development to hold my interest. I abandoned the book about a third of the way through. May go back to it in the future.
A word of warning. It is sold in the Kindle store, but after I purchased it there was a message that it could not be downloaded to a Kindle. I read it on my iPad which showed the beautiful colored illustrations and the graphic format very well.
November 1, 2019
I wish that I liked this book as much as I wanted to. It wins some points for presentation, as the book itself is a nice thing to look at. The idea of creating a novel/graphic novel hybrid is also creative and interesting. However, I do not feel that the story was very good. First of all, I will admit that I am not a fan of sci-fi or fantasy and "The Explorer's Guild" has elements of both. Secondly, and I don't want to be too pedantic, but this book's complete disregard for history drove me batty. It's fine to blend different eras if that's what you want to do, but "The Explorer's Guild" quite explicitly takes place during the First World War and is full of references to things that were out of period and that drives me crazy.
November 27, 2016
Po grafické stránce je tato kniha naprostým skvostem, jako byste z truhly vytáhli staré papíry s dobrodružným příběhem. Ta atmosféra z knihy přímo sálá a je opravdu radost na ni pohledět. Kniha je kombinací vyprávění, dopisů, deníkových zápisků a komiksu. Z tohoto důvodu se tato téměř osmi set stránková bichlička čte opravdu rychle. Nicméně přechod mezi vyprávěním a komiksem působí poněkud zmatečně a stejně tak i větší množství postav. Některé části příběhu byly možná až zbytečné. Kolem a kolem se jedná o kvalitně zpracovanou, originální knihu s dobrým příběhem.
February 1, 2017
As with many books thick enough to serve as masonry units, The Explorer’s Guild is slow to start and all too easy to set aside for more appealing distractions – and this despite the fact that the book is part graphic novel. Where there’s a case to stick with for the first few hundred pages or so, it lies in Rick Ross’ clean artwork and, most of all, Jon Baird’s beautifully crafted writing mannered after the style of Victorian/early 20th Century. Unlike Susanna Clarke’s clever but twee pastiche of English literature in her Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Baird’s prose succeeds as a charming recreation because it emphasizes the earnest rather than the ironic. It succeeds perhaps a little too well, however. The narration, set as a personal relationship between the narrator and the gentle reader, casts us along the lines of a guest of the Explorer’s Guild. All that’s missing is the brandy and cigar as the narrator regales us with the tale of adventurers in pursuit of a mysterious city alternately known throughout history as Shambala, El Dorado, Atlantis, and so on. But this approach creates a distance between us and the characters, precisely because the narrative is explicitly narrated, which means it is also interpreted. And when characters are filtered through the narrator before reaching us, there is less room for one of reading’s best delights: interacting with the characters through our own perspective and imagination. The result is that even by the time we reach the book’s end, it’s hard to feel all that vested in the characters’ welfare and purposes except in the most general, abstracted sense.
Still, when the going finally gets adventurous, the adventure gets going with increasing gusto. Alas, where it leads is straight to an anticlimax. As we follow John Ogden, a British major and force of nature during World War I, along with his rough band of dragoons on a global hunt for the fabled Shambhala at the behest of his brother Arthur, we are treated to an artful catalog of perilous classics: airships, underground cities, strange machines, hidden castles, and nostalgic parties inhabited by the closest approximation to zombies Old Europe could muster, namely, displaced and obsolete Aristocrats. Along the way, Baird treats us to innumerable details of this and that, many of which only serve to create a mood rather than develop characters or kick the plot forward. Yet none of that changes the fact that the narrative is resolved, not by the protagonists whose journey we followed, but by a quasi-antagonist who essentially shares the same goal yet operates on information the narrator purposefully withholds from the reader. In other words, our protagonists are sent on a wild goose chase only for their rival to swoop in and complete their task – for obscure reasons. It’s a sleight-of-hand, which isn’t at all like the charming deception of a stage magician but rather that of the con artist playing a shell game in a dingy back alley.
Baird’s, and fellow co-creator Kevin Costner’s, muddled conception of Shambhala does little to salvage an enduring sense of satisfaction from the ending. Never defined or described concretely, we are given oblique references that present the mystical city as surprisingly unappealing despite its supposed heavenly character . The city, which only appears at specific times in various places around the world, comes across as an elitist by-invitation-only paradise that offers amnesia, or death, to interlopers. Baird attempts to relate the city to the course of history, with Arthur’s early foray to the city serving as a violation of metaphysical etiquette that has to be redressed at the risk of some kind of cataclysm. Yet the final panel, which implies the restoration of world order brought about by our protagonists’ rival, rings false given what we know of the 20th Century after World War I: a century of horrors that Alan Moore grasped more keenly in From Hell than Baird and Costner do in this book.
Also unfortunate is how Shambhala is presented as a rebuke to science’s ability to know the world. For a book that celebrates adventure, it misses the point: science isn’t a dogmatic collection of facts, but an active pursuit of the unknown infused with a sense of awe.
Even if we were to be charitable and apply Stephen Jay Gould’s concept of non-overlapping magisteria, assigning science and spirituality their own territories, the book succeeds even less as a spiritual journey. Where the exploratory scientific aspect is given some weight thanks to the Explorer’s Guild concept – despite Shambhala looming over the narrative as the universe’s way of spanking materialists – none of the characters approach their quest as a spiritual one. And by the end, they certainly don’t achieve any sort of enlightenment. The mystical might as well be called by its real, if not entirely accurate, name: MacGuffin.
Finally, and this is a minor grievance, the book isn’t even really about the secretive yet globe-spanning Explorer’s Guild, that august club of adventurers (or perhaps genteel drunkards with a talent for fanciful storytelling). Other than launching the narrative when one of its members, Arthur Ogden, sets out to deliver a comeuppance to a hated social rival by setting out for adventure in the North Pole, the Guild puts in but cameo appearances. For the most part, the book’s major characters really have little to do with the Guild except for sporadic encounters.
Altogether, The Explorer’s Guild Volume 1: A Passage to Shambhala is a handsomely printed book with more potential than is realized and little incentive to look forward to further volumes.
Still, when the going finally gets adventurous, the adventure gets going with increasing gusto. Alas, where it leads is straight to an anticlimax. As we follow John Ogden, a British major and force of nature during World War I, along with his rough band of dragoons on a global hunt for the fabled Shambhala at the behest of his brother Arthur, we are treated to an artful catalog of perilous classics: airships, underground cities, strange machines, hidden castles, and nostalgic parties inhabited by the closest approximation to zombies Old Europe could muster, namely, displaced and obsolete Aristocrats. Along the way, Baird treats us to innumerable details of this and that, many of which only serve to create a mood rather than develop characters or kick the plot forward. Yet none of that changes the fact that the narrative is resolved, not by the protagonists whose journey we followed, but by a quasi-antagonist who essentially shares the same goal yet operates on information the narrator purposefully withholds from the reader. In other words, our protagonists are sent on a wild goose chase only for their rival to swoop in and complete their task – for obscure reasons. It’s a sleight-of-hand, which isn’t at all like the charming deception of a stage magician but rather that of the con artist playing a shell game in a dingy back alley.
Baird’s, and fellow co-creator Kevin Costner’s, muddled conception of Shambhala does little to salvage an enduring sense of satisfaction from the ending. Never defined or described concretely, we are given oblique references that present the mystical city as surprisingly unappealing despite its supposed heavenly character . The city, which only appears at specific times in various places around the world, comes across as an elitist by-invitation-only paradise that offers amnesia, or death, to interlopers. Baird attempts to relate the city to the course of history, with Arthur’s early foray to the city serving as a violation of metaphysical etiquette that has to be redressed at the risk of some kind of cataclysm. Yet the final panel, which implies the restoration of world order brought about by our protagonists’ rival, rings false given what we know of the 20th Century after World War I: a century of horrors that Alan Moore grasped more keenly in From Hell than Baird and Costner do in this book.
Also unfortunate is how Shambhala is presented as a rebuke to science’s ability to know the world. For a book that celebrates adventure, it misses the point: science isn’t a dogmatic collection of facts, but an active pursuit of the unknown infused with a sense of awe.
Even if we were to be charitable and apply Stephen Jay Gould’s concept of non-overlapping magisteria, assigning science and spirituality their own territories, the book succeeds even less as a spiritual journey. Where the exploratory scientific aspect is given some weight thanks to the Explorer’s Guild concept – despite Shambhala looming over the narrative as the universe’s way of spanking materialists – none of the characters approach their quest as a spiritual one. And by the end, they certainly don’t achieve any sort of enlightenment. The mystical might as well be called by its real, if not entirely accurate, name: MacGuffin.
Finally, and this is a minor grievance, the book isn’t even really about the secretive yet globe-spanning Explorer’s Guild, that august club of adventurers (or perhaps genteel drunkards with a talent for fanciful storytelling). Other than launching the narrative when one of its members, Arthur Ogden, sets out to deliver a comeuppance to a hated social rival by setting out for adventure in the North Pole, the Guild puts in but cameo appearances. For the most part, the book’s major characters really have little to do with the Guild except for sporadic encounters.
Altogether, The Explorer’s Guild Volume 1: A Passage to Shambhala is a handsomely printed book with more potential than is realized and little incentive to look forward to further volumes.
dnf
June 7, 2018So very, very long winded, and not any action in the first part. The combination of regular novel (for the narrating and backstory bits) and graphic novel (for the bits with the dialogue) was unique and I did enjoy the concept, but how the story was split up into these parts just didn't do it for me.
March 5, 2022
It is like a Wes Anderson movie but in book form. Written very much in the style of the early 20th century with long-winded descriptions of everything and sometimes nothing. I did not like the inconsistency of the foreign languages (i.e., German) not having translations.
Overall, an entertaining ride with a unique mix of text and comic.
Overall, an entertaining ride with a unique mix of text and comic.
March 25, 2016
“The future remains as closed as it ever was … and I am not sure the past is any less a mystery.”
A conscious throwback to the adventure tales of the likes of Verne, Burroughs, Kipling, and Haggard. Larger-than-life heroes and villains set upon a stage much like actual world history and geography to play out a great adventure. Even told, narrator and all, with a nineteenth century tone. There’s a reason we don’t write like that today. What’s starts as quaint, soon devolves into cute, and decays into tedious after 700 pages.
“Lost? No, you should consider, rather, that you are freed from the wheel of things.”
Don’t let the page count daunt you, more than half is presented in comic book (Sorry. I mean graphic novel) format. The drawings aren’t particularly good—that is, they are good, but they’re wooden and repetitive. (I’d be tempted to duplicate the same figures and faces, too.) I think they were reaching for the type of book which they liked as children. A credible attempt, but I’ll not rush purchase of the next volume.
“A man without a stake in the world loses the guiding light of his humanity.”
I read the hard-cover edition. The pages were artificially browned to appear aged. It’s of a piece with the cuteness mentioned above. I can’t imagine how an electronic version will read. My experience with maps and illustrations in Nooks and iPads has not been encouraging.
“I cannot tell if we are on to the greater and deeper workings of the world or only lost in some madness.”
Quibbles: The putative title appears nowhere on the dust jacket. Can’t tell that Costner did anything with the writing beyond helping to imagine the story and lend his name for publicity. (I assume it worked.) “… at or about the millennium …” referring to 1900? “… strikes a match.” In a hydrogen-filled dirigible? (The continent-spanning underground river is fine; it’s that kind of book.)
“You’re a d-mned little imp, too, though I know a great many good men who started out that way.”
Numerous verbal oaths are softened by omitting the vowels. Perhaps that is also a practice drawn from a century ago. Only marginally effective.
“These days [or childhood] are gone out of memory and we’re covered up with these wasting, old bodies.”
A conscious throwback to the adventure tales of the likes of Verne, Burroughs, Kipling, and Haggard. Larger-than-life heroes and villains set upon a stage much like actual world history and geography to play out a great adventure. Even told, narrator and all, with a nineteenth century tone. There’s a reason we don’t write like that today. What’s starts as quaint, soon devolves into cute, and decays into tedious after 700 pages.
“Lost? No, you should consider, rather, that you are freed from the wheel of things.”
Don’t let the page count daunt you, more than half is presented in comic book (Sorry. I mean graphic novel) format. The drawings aren’t particularly good—that is, they are good, but they’re wooden and repetitive. (I’d be tempted to duplicate the same figures and faces, too.) I think they were reaching for the type of book which they liked as children. A credible attempt, but I’ll not rush purchase of the next volume.
“A man without a stake in the world loses the guiding light of his humanity.”
I read the hard-cover edition. The pages were artificially browned to appear aged. It’s of a piece with the cuteness mentioned above. I can’t imagine how an electronic version will read. My experience with maps and illustrations in Nooks and iPads has not been encouraging.
“I cannot tell if we are on to the greater and deeper workings of the world or only lost in some madness.”
Quibbles: The putative title appears nowhere on the dust jacket. Can’t tell that Costner did anything with the writing beyond helping to imagine the story and lend his name for publicity. (I assume it worked.) “… at or about the millennium …” referring to 1900? “… strikes a match.” In a hydrogen-filled dirigible? (The continent-spanning underground river is fine; it’s that kind of book.)
“You’re a d-mned little imp, too, though I know a great many good men who started out that way.”
Numerous verbal oaths are softened by omitting the vowels. Perhaps that is also a practice drawn from a century ago. Only marginally effective.
“These days [or childhood] are gone out of memory and we’re covered up with these wasting, old bodies.”
November 18, 2019
"These carnivalesque little boats, Buchan thinks, and Mr. Boyanov himself, with his seagoing coat and his elaborate courtesies, and these stories of illustrious men and all the bygone amusements on the island--these must belong to some sunnier day when the castle lay open to the world. Today, they seem like the vestiges of a dream, fading in the growing darkness and secrecy of the castle, isolated and absurd..."
This entire 763-page experience is like the vestiges of a dream, isolated and absurd. (That's not a good thing.)
I picked up this book with no prior awareness of it from the graphic novels shelf at my local library. Kevin Costner is a co-author, and I thought this would necessarily be a sweeping, epic adventure, based on his track record as a filmmaker.
Flipping through, I noticed the unique format of alternating prose and graphic novel sections. Visually, the book is GORGEOUS. As other reviewers have mentioned, the pages are colorized to appear aged. The style of font, formatting, lettering, artwork, layout, and everything else are very much part of the theme's packaging. Reading it, to this extent, was a sensual pleasure.
Nested within the exquisite packaging is a story, though, and that central part fell completely flat for me. There were only vaguely any main characters. As a reader, I was baffled most of the time, even during crucial plot developments and action sequences. Who am I supposed to be paying attention to? Who am I rooting for? Who is this story really even about? What's happening here?! People are introduced needlessly, none of the characters are really explored in any meaningful sense, and character development is glossed over vaguely when it's done at all. I had a really hard time finishing this book. The conclusion at the end made sense, but it wasn't fully satisfying.
This entire 763-page experience is like the vestiges of a dream, isolated and absurd. (That's not a good thing.)
I picked up this book with no prior awareness of it from the graphic novels shelf at my local library. Kevin Costner is a co-author, and I thought this would necessarily be a sweeping, epic adventure, based on his track record as a filmmaker.
Flipping through, I noticed the unique format of alternating prose and graphic novel sections. Visually, the book is GORGEOUS. As other reviewers have mentioned, the pages are colorized to appear aged. The style of font, formatting, lettering, artwork, layout, and everything else are very much part of the theme's packaging. Reading it, to this extent, was a sensual pleasure.
Nested within the exquisite packaging is a story, though, and that central part fell completely flat for me. There were only vaguely any main characters. As a reader, I was baffled most of the time, even during crucial plot developments and action sequences. Who am I supposed to be paying attention to? Who am I rooting for? Who is this story really even about? What's happening here?! People are introduced needlessly, none of the characters are really explored in any meaningful sense, and character development is glossed over vaguely when it's done at all. I had a really hard time finishing this book. The conclusion at the end made sense, but it wasn't fully satisfying.
January 21, 2016
This booked practically tossed me a rope to tow me in from its place on the library shelf. I’m a sucker for a good spine and cover design and the book just plain looked splendid! The old time type-face and mysterious illustrations, the inscription on the back cover addressing me as “Gentle Reader” and aged tone of the paper-they all called to me, as did the spine notation of Volume One, signifying more adventures to come! Cracking the booking, I found striking graphic illustrations interspersed with text and a gorgeous color painting to begin each of the five books inside this exciting journey, “A Passage to Shambhala.” To a girl who grew up trekking through Edgar Rice Burroughs’s jungles of Africa and tracking H. Rider Haggard’s Ayesha, She-who-must-be-obeyed, this looked to be another great imaginative quest to immerse myself in.
Correct! A cracking good tale of a secret society created to explore the still yet undisclosed corners of the planet, circa WWI. Our hero, young Corporal Buchan of the Third Light Cavalry, is charged to deliver a mysterious message to the legendary Major Ogden, enlisting his aide and that of his regiment of 40 crazy fighters to find the mythical Shambhala, crisscrossing the globe and crossing all manner of enemies on this dangerous quest. The illustrations rapidly move forward the fast-paced tale and also bring out its not inconsiderable humor. Further, the drawings delightfully serve in breathing life in the numerous characters, with their unique appearances and marvelous facial expressions, and perfectly complement the novel’s exposition.
I now have my eye out for the Explorer’s Guild’s coat of arms over non-descript doorways…and await the next expedition!~Therese@Carpe Librum on fb
February 11, 2016
I loved this book! Though it is long and takes some commitment of time, it is worth it. Baird and Costner have written a fully developed adventure story that keeps you guessing and at times nail-biting and yet they never vary the pace of the story from one of an elderly gentleman, sitting in the guild, sharing his tale with no regard to time. This goes against today's society of movie-goers and thrill-mongerers and yet it works beautifully. The story and its band of misfits made me laugh, cry, gasp, and--most importantly--read and wonder.
At it's core is Major John Ogden and his troop of dragoons who have deserted the British army in favor of an adventure that Ogden hopes will save his brother's life. While all these men are rough around the edges, we get to know them well throughout the story and it was hard to say good-bye at the end. They are joined by Corporal Buchan, Miss Harrow, Bertram. But how do their paths connect? And is Mr Sloane a good guy or a bad guy? Those lines often get blurry for most of the people we meet in this story.
Perhaps the most unique feature of the book is how it is told. Baird and Costner easily slip between traditional prose and graphic novel panels to relate their tale. The art is beautifully done and truly adds to the story in a way that just throwing in an occasional illustration couldn't do. I hope to see a volume two from The Explorer's Guild so that the adventures might continue!
At it's core is Major John Ogden and his troop of dragoons who have deserted the British army in favor of an adventure that Ogden hopes will save his brother's life. While all these men are rough around the edges, we get to know them well throughout the story and it was hard to say good-bye at the end. They are joined by Corporal Buchan, Miss Harrow, Bertram. But how do their paths connect? And is Mr Sloane a good guy or a bad guy? Those lines often get blurry for most of the people we meet in this story.
Perhaps the most unique feature of the book is how it is told. Baird and Costner easily slip between traditional prose and graphic novel panels to relate their tale. The art is beautifully done and truly adds to the story in a way that just throwing in an occasional illustration couldn't do. I hope to see a volume two from The Explorer's Guild so that the adventures might continue!
January 25, 2016
This is the first graphic novel that I have ever finished though I have started several others. I would give it some credit for being engaging enough to see me through a genre I wasn't certain of. I got this novel for Christmas from my husband after falling in love with the cover of the novel in Chapters.
This novel is a victorian style adventure story in the vein of Indiana Jones and other treasure hunting adventurers. I recently bought the board gamae Fortune and Glory and this reminded me of it a lot. Apparently, I have a thing for treasure hunting adventures!
The novel follows a rogue set of men during WWI as they follow their leader on an adventure to save his brother. His brother has been stricken ill be apparently discovering Shambhala in the Arctic. The adventure traipses around the world as they get into various shenanigans, collecting even more unusual characters and eventually discover what they are looking for.
I was surprised to discover by reviews that people either love or hate this novel. I suppose it is a bit slow to start and full of a fairly intense story. It is certainly not a novel you would want to give to children despite modelling itself off of old children's stories. If you can get through the slower bits it is definitely worth the read. I was sad when the novel ended and can't wait for the next adventure.
This novel is a victorian style adventure story in the vein of Indiana Jones and other treasure hunting adventurers. I recently bought the board gamae Fortune and Glory and this reminded me of it a lot. Apparently, I have a thing for treasure hunting adventures!
The novel follows a rogue set of men during WWI as they follow their leader on an adventure to save his brother. His brother has been stricken ill be apparently discovering Shambhala in the Arctic. The adventure traipses around the world as they get into various shenanigans, collecting even more unusual characters and eventually discover what they are looking for.
I was surprised to discover by reviews that people either love or hate this novel. I suppose it is a bit slow to start and full of a fairly intense story. It is certainly not a novel you would want to give to children despite modelling itself off of old children's stories. If you can get through the slower bits it is definitely worth the read. I was sad when the novel ended and can't wait for the next adventure.
February 17, 2022
I wanted to like this book. It's about explorers, and hidden cities! The text shifts from epistolary letters and diary entries to comics! There's maps! Illustrations! In short, it's right up my alley... except for how I've been so bored with it that despite renewing it several times from the library and honesty trying to read it all the way through, I didn't even get half-way. I have decided to officially give up on it :/
February 14, 2020
First of all I love the concept, a written book where most of the dialogue goes into comic form and back to a written story. I did enjoy the conceptual aspect of the story.
Yes I read the entire book. The story itself is truly a wtf did I just read. It was an incoherent story with a horrible flow with little to no character development. It was boring and often tedious. A true waste of my time and effort. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
Yes I read the entire book. The story itself is truly a wtf did I just read. It was an incoherent story with a horrible flow with little to no character development. It was boring and often tedious. A true waste of my time and effort. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
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