The Master

by T.H. White

Eleven-year-old twins & their dog are marooned on an island ruled by a mind-controlling genius bent on world domination...

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Literature

244 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Born in Bombay to English parents, Terence Hanbury White was educated at Cambridge and taught for some time at Stowe before deciding to write full-time. White moved to Ireland in 1939 as a conscientious objector to WWII, and lived out his years there. White is best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.

Reviews

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like terrible, really racist, but interesting as a peek into White's psychology - wishing for childhood, for strength, this imaginary world battle between fascism and democracy, the cleansing power of violence.
I must also admit any lingering fondness is built on an unhealthy bonding with his much better The Goshawk.

[Anna Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, I am a fan of incredibly weird books, and I will defend anything T.H. White writes to end of the Earth, but this is a freaking weird book.

It has all the great hallmarks of his more famous works, namely the same precocious, intelligent, but realistic children that are continually underestimated by adults around them. Also the brilliant, respectful treatment of animals is strong in this story, as (SPOILER) the chief villain is eventually done away with by this type of anti-hero, a scruffy rag of a lapdog named Jokey. The fun of this story is the mystery of it, as these two children get left on a supposedly abandoned rock spit in the North Atlantic, only to discover it has a bustling technological operation buried in its core, run by a mysterious gentlemen who is never known to us as anything more creative than The Master. How he came to be on this island, what he is doing there, and how he has gotten a number of people to cooperate with his bizarre plan is what drives the reader to stick with the story, even when it is completely unbelievable.

Not saying that White's other works, even similar ones like "Mistress Masham's Repose", are in anyway believable, but somehow you are more inclined to get on board with them. If you pick up "The Master" expecting it to be like Mistress Masham (as I did!) I think you will be very disappointed. It is less a tribute to The Borrowers or Gulliver's Travels and more a disturbing, slightly racist, eminently sexist, subtly violent story that ends with a tea party celebrating the narrowly averted global apocalypse. Yay?

Worth a read I'd say only if your goal is to read all of White's works--which is a worthy one! But pick up "The Once and Future King" or "Farewell Victoria" first.

[Kai Szulborski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two things.
1. So he just like....gave up at the end? He saw that it was gonna be really hard, tripped over a dog and was like OH MY GOD FUCK THIS.
2. Jokey will fucking cut you. Jokey is my hero. Is there a shirt with jokey on it? Cause I'm wearing that to NYCC. Hardcore.

[PJ Ebbrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a weird book and I picked it up by chance. It feels like an early James Bond, but is rather quaint with it depiction of two children. There is much debate about the use and abuse of power set on the tiny islet of Rockall in the Atlantic. It felt old fashioned in its view of the world and people. A fascinating cul-de-sace.

[Margareth8537 · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of those books that catch you out because you know the author's other books.
this was a real disappointment

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is somewhat shallow satirical novel billed as a "science fiction adventure" about an 11-year old duo, twin brother and sister Nicky and Judy, who find themselves kidnapped on a remote island off of coast of Ireland, where an ingenious psychic supervillain is headquartered and plotting to take over the world. The humor is dry and absurd and "philosophical" side of the novel is mostly grug-brained observations about the nature of power and the use of force to accomplish good (or evil) in the world.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only give this two stars, instead of zero, because there is some interest in how bizarre it is. Definitely would not recommend it to anyone. It has a 1950s science fiction movie plot and I believe it’s intended for children, but has lots of story elements that are wildly inappropriate for children.

[Margaret Rosen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I liked The Once and Future King when I was young, so I thought I'd give this a try when I found it in a used bookstore. Oof. It is terrible. The racist aspects are the worst but the entire thing is boring and the ending makes no sense at all. Um, spoiler for a 65-year-old book, but when The Master trips over the dog and breaks a hip he just... yeets himself into the ocean to drown?

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have started this book four times since I was given at as a child in 1974. It is not kid's book and it took a lot of effort to finally finish it.
End was not predictable.

[Ben VanDine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story but that's about it

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very charming and racist little book.

[Στέφανος Στοϊκός · Rating 1 out of 5]

Minus 5 stars.

[Jillian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad James Bond
Bad Nancy Drew
Ineloquent pacifist philosophy
Lazy, offensive, racist, and sexist characterizations.

What the hell was that?

[Tvermar · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 from me

[Christian Hauswaldt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional and strange. An adventure story. But ultimatively, a book about totalitarianism and the choice between living under a wise king or in freedom.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/76945.html[return][return]A while back Dave Langford quoted an unintentionally humorous passage from this novel:[return][return]"Look," said the practical Judy. "Do you approve of being spanked?"[return]"No, I don't."[return]"Well, then."[return]"Well, then what?"[return]"If you can't make people be good with a hair brush, you can't with a vibrator, can you?"[return]"I don't think it is the same."[return]"It is the same," said Judy.[return][return]But in fact the vibrators in question are the sinister machines with which the 157-year-old Master plans to Take Over The World from his island hide-out on Rockall in the North Atlantic. Judy and her brother Nicky, twins who, quite by coincidence, are the children of a duke and whose uncle is an American senator, happen to stumble across the Master's secret plans; what can they do to foil his fiendish plan?[return][return]And yet that's not fair to this remarkable book either. The Master's entourage are beautifully sketched, and each of them has their own moral dilemma of how to prevent - or take over - the master plan. And most of the time we get the story from the children's point of view (indeed the above dialogue is about as close as they get to a philosophical discussion); with one memorably sympathetic though brief chapter told from the point of view of their pet dog.[return][return]White of course is much better known for The Sword in the Stone and its expansion The Once and Future King, but this is a nice example of his skills.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Woops! White must have used up all his genius in "The Sword in the Stone" and "Mistress Masham's Repose" - cuz.there.was.nothing.left.for.this.book! Don't even try!