Allan Quatermain

Allan Quatermain #2

by H. Rider Haggard

Allan Quatermain
by H. Rider Haggard

Genres: Adventure, Classics, Fiction, Fantasy, Africa, Historical Fiction, Thriller

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1887

About the author

Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and the creator of the Lost World literary genre. His stories, situated at the lighter end of the scale of Victorian literature, continue to be popular and influential. He was also involved in agricultural reform and improvement in the British Empire.

His breakout novel was King Solomon's Mines (1885), which was to be the first in a series telling of the multitudinous adventures of its protagonist, Allan Quatermain.

Haggard was made a Knight Bachelor in 1912 and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament as a Conservative candidate for the Eastern division of Norfolk in 1895. The locality of Rider, British Columbia, was named in his memory.

Reviews

[Henry Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Allan Quatermain's son Harry a physician dies of smallpox , he was a volunteer treating hospital patients; thankfully now an extinct disease, the father is naturally devastated and becomes very restless. Prosperous but bored in Merry Old England, Allan is alone in the world except for his two close friends, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good, the former a retired army officer in the service of Queen Victoria and the latter, an ex- British navy captain both much younger men.The trio had become rich after their King Solomon's Mines adventures,visiting Quatermain about a week after the funeral, Curtis and Good begin to talk of returning to Africa.The same idea that Allan has been thinking about, they decide... go to Mt. Kenya (second highest mountain on the continent after Kilimanjaro) and then, the vast unknown beyond with all the dangers. Rumors of a white tribe in the interior has been circulating recently, a lost civilization? The men half believe it but it gives them a goal to reach...Arriving in East Africa a few months later in the small town of Lamu on an island, with the same name. Meeting a former Zulu chief Umslopogaas, a born killer and outcast. Great friend of Hunter Quaterman (they haven't seen each other in many years), as he's known to Europeans, Macumazahn to the native people . Umslopogaas with a little forceful persuasion, gets his five Wakwafi companions to joins the expedition as needed carriers.Landing on the coast of Kenya things go bad quickly. All of their hired local porters desert, wanted more pay (this will cause trouble later) so the friends buy a couple of canoes in a village, and the remaining nine head up the Tana River. Slow but steady progress, but benefits outweigh the negatives when moonbeams hit the surface of the river making it a silvery stream and with the nearby majestic hippopotamuses rising and sinking in this watery, eminently enchanting place as close to Nirvana as you can get on Earth, but Hell shows up too, the Masai tribe unexpectedly attacks them. As torrential rains on an open canoe makes Quatermain's party miserable indeed ...if only they can escape the pursuers. Their destination is a Mission run by a Scottish missionary named MacKenzie, with his family, where they'll be safe? No one tells the Masai and a deadly battle commences, the Zulu warrior Umslopogaas is always smelling blood... not the last battle in this novel. Further on, an underwater river discovers the party and sucks them down into the dark, eerie, bowels of a volcanic crater mountain giving them a heart stopping ride... the end ; or does it lead to greater adventures and more unbelievable sights and sounds, hint their quest will not be in vain. There are four superior and quite exciting "incidents" in this book, better than the original this sequel is in my opinion... Warning this contains a lot of beautiful women and "hungry men".

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read Haggard’s She and King Solomon's Mines, and I basically knew what to expect when I began Allan Quatermain. In many ways, AQ is a combination of the other two novels, but not quite as good as either one of them. It’s an adventure fantasy, starring rich Englishmen in deepest darkest Africa. They shoot a lot of animals and incidentally kill off quite a few African servants in the course of their quest. And what are they searching for, you ask? Why an unknown civilization of white people in an area where almost no one has gone before.

When the men find their Lost Civilization, Haggard doubles down on a good thing. Instead of one mysterious white woman ruling the area (as in She), he provides two of them in this novel! And just to show that the love triangle trope is not unique to modern romance literature, both of these queenly personages fall head over heels in love with Allan’s companion, Sir Henry. To say that this causes problems is an understatement. Also similar to She is Allan’s position vis-à-vis Sir Henry, just as Horace Holly played wise, humbler advisor to his young companion Leo.

I adore Haggard’s She, having discovered this portal to fantastical adventure during my high school years. I feel affection for all of his work because of that and it is impossible for me to rate it objectively, but if you are only going to read one of his adventure fantasies, choose She and get to know She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed. Allan is just not quite as much fun.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been several decades since I first read King Solomon's Mines and was enthralled. Now that I've a E-reader, Haggard's other Quatermain novels are suddenly accessible in a way they haven't been before, so I've decided to revisit Mr. Quatermain.

The voice is the same, and this is a delight, since it's Quatermain's voice that, to me, sets KSM apart from other novels of this ilk and era. I confess it is in part for Quatermain's wry assessment of himself and others that I most enjoyed the other of his adventures. He waxes more poetical and philosophical in this book, but perhaps that's fittings, since this adventure occurs near the end of his life—as I understand it, even though there are some sixteen other Allan Quatermain novels, all or nearly all take place before the events in this book and those in KSM. I at first thought to read them in chronological order as far as Quatermain's life went, but I've decided that the character is what I'm interested in, and for that, it's best to read by publication date, which I am doing.

Doubtless some will gripe about the Caucasian patriarchal tone the book takes, but this is a first person narrative, and Quatermain can hardly be expected to be much else. Still, I think he accords most characters who merit it (in Quatermain's eyes) of any race or origin a basic dignity and respect. Even the 'joke' character, the French cook and notorious coward Alphonse, doesn't fare too badly at Quatermain's hands.

The plot may seem to some a re-hash of KSM, but there are some profound differences, one being that none of the 'main' four characters seriously plan to come back from this adventure—it is to be a 'swan-song' for all. Too, the land they seek is more fantastic and less realistic, and Haggard's African expertise comes more into play with geography than with explaining them and their customs to us.

Overall, Allan Quartermain, just like the preceding novel and all of the Quatermain tales I've read thus far, is a yarn. If you enjoy yarns, you'll enjoy it. If you read seeking some deep truth, you may well find the book wanting, and need to mine elsewhere.

There is one quote, however, which I'll extricate for you.

I detest individuals who make one the subject of their disagreeable presentiments, or who, when they dream that they saw one hanged as a common felon, or some such horror, will insist upon telling one all about it at breakfast, even if they have to get up early to do it.

Alan Quartermain, Alan Quartermain H. Rider Haggard

Which leaves me wondering how much Twain Haggard read.

[Omar Faruk · Rating 4 out of 5]

অনেকদিন পরে হ্যাগার্ডের বই পড়ালাম। দারুণ উপভোগ করেছি বইটা। অনুবাদ, গল্প সব সবকিছুই পড়ে তৃপ্ত হওয়ার মতো।

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 2 out of 5]

ENGLISH: This novel is a sequel to "King Solomon's Mines" with the same three main characters, and the last of the novels about Allan Quatermain in the Allan's chronological order, although not the last Haggard wrote.

I have found the following problem with this book: In "King Solomon Mines" there was a reason for the trip toward the unknown, as Henry Curtis was looking for his lost brother, and Allan, although he did not want to go, was convinced by the offer of a great amount of money that would be put at the disposal of his son, if something happened to him. In "Allan Quatermain," however, they start on a dangerous trip, just because they have heard a rumor that there may be an unknown kingdom in the heart of Africa, inhabited by white people, and travel to discover the truth of this report, moved only by curiosity.

I have never liked much those adventure novels based on the existence of a captivating white woman hidden somewhere (usually in Africa), who has a devastating effect on the heart of the main male character. I put in this subgenre books like "L'Atlantide" by Pierre Benoit, and "She" by Rider Haggard. I think Haggard had fulfilled his due by writing "She," and another novel in the same line was totally unnecessary.

ESPAÑOL: Esta novela es la secuela de "Las Minas del Rey Salomón" con los mismos tres personajes principales, y la última de las novelas sobre Allan Quatermain, en el orden cronológico propio de Allan, aunque no fue la última que Haggard escribió sobre ese personaje.

Tengo el siguiente problema con este libro: en "Las Minas del Rey Salomón" había una razón para el viaje hacia lo desconocido, pues Henry Curtis quería encontrar a su hermano perdido, y a Allan, aunque no quería ir, lo convenció la oferta de mucho dinero, que se pondría a disposición de su hijo, si a él le sucediera algo. En "Allan Qatermain", en cambio, se lanzan a un viaje peligroso, sólo porque han oído el rumor de que puede existir un reino desconocido en el corazón de África habitado por gente de raza blanca, y emprenden el viaje para descubrir la verdad de ese rumor, movidos únicamente por la curiosidad.

Nunca me han gustado demasiado las novelas de aventuras basadas en la existencia de una mujer blanca cautivadora escondida en algún lugar remoto (generalmente en África), que afecta de forma devastadora el corazón del principal personaje masculino. Este subgénero incluye libros como "La Atlántida" de Pierre Benoit, y "Ella" de Rider Haggard. Creo que Haggard había cumplido plenamente con este subgénero al escribir "Ella", y que otra novela en la misma línea era innecesaria.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

ALLAN QUATERMAIN is a lunk-headed adventure yarn that manages to entertain despite its patent absurdity. But if you're the type of reader who can't take stories at face-value, chances are you will hate it. This is, after all, a story about three priviledged Englishmen who, out of boredom, head over to Africa for a little adventure and wind up instigating vast cultural upheaval and the loss of countless human lives. Deconstructionists will doubtlessly find the novel packed full of racism, sexism, jingoism...basically any "ism" you can think of. Plus, our intrepid heroes seem bent on shooting a lot of exotic animals for no good reason (Though, to their credit, they do refrain from shooting any elephants because the ivory would be too difficult to transport). But H. Rider Haggard was a product of his time, so let's cut the guy a little slack, ok?
ALLAN QUATERMAIN reads like a mix of elements culled from two of Haggard's earlier books, KING SOLOMON'S MINES and SHE. Actually, most everything Haggard wrote was basically a rehash of these two books. Some sections of ALLAN QUATERMAIN are vibrant and fun to read, whereas other sections are incredibly dull and made me wish for something more interesting to do, like wash the dishes. It doesn't help that ALLAN QUATERMAIN is written in the style of a journal or diary. Now there's a literary device that never fails to get old fast!
Still, there's a lot to like about ALLAN QUATERMAIN. A lost civilization ruled by a pair of majestically beautiful queens, a savage African warrior tribe, an underground river near the heart of a volcano, a land filled with gold, homicidal sun-worshippers, ancient prophecies, political intrigue, and an epic battle that culminates in a desperate race against time. Taken for what it's worth, ALLAN QUATERMAIN is a passably good time.

[Zoeb · Rating 5 out of 5]

"King Solomon's Mines' was an extraordinary adventure, indeed and "Allan Quatermain" is an equally brilliant, absorbing, vividly rendered and even poignant sequel that broadens the story's expanse, takes our heroes beyond the pale into an adventure crammed with violence and wonder and into a world where they find a new destiny awaiting them. Above all, it is also the rousing and moving story of its titular hero and his search for solace away from the trappings of civilization. A superbly written, sensational adventure that will appeal to both boys and grown-up men.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the sequel to King Solomon's Mines (my review). It’s an early Lost World genre story. This story was “more of the same” of King Solomon’s Mines. It is considerably more authentic in narration and world building than contemporary historical fiction. The author did not “mess with” the previous story's popular formula. If you liked that one, you’ll like this one.

This book has a copyright of 1887. It’s been continuously in print for more than 130-years. Its also very short. My copy was 160-pages, although print is small and closely spaced. That’s about the size of a modern novella. The book is also in the public domain. A free copy is available on Project Gutenberg. Also, while reading the previous novel is not necessary, its certainly very helpful.

I've developed an interest in books written during the Victorian era. This was an easily readable Victorian novel. However, readers should prepare themselves for the period vocabulary. The style will seem overly flowery and verbose to most. For example, don’t become "flummoxed" by “notwithstanding”. In addition, there is no built-in historical education in the story's narrative. It's audience was assumed to have a background knowledge of 1880-90’s British involvement in Africa, mostly through reading the newspapers.

A now very old-fashioned artifice is used for the story. The reader is led to believe the story is the publication of a surviving manuscript mysteriously received by the heirs of lost African adventurers. It being a diary account of Allan Quartermain and his companions’ adventures. The story is actually written in a semi-epistolary form. It cuts back and forth between first-person narration, the manuscript’s entries, and “Editor’s Notes”. The main POV is of Quatermain, the protagonist, although Sir Henry Curtis contributes an epilogue-like final chapter. Action scenes are in Quartermain’s first-person POV, with the manuscript artifice being used for exposition-type narration.

Writing was well done. I could find no technical problems. After so many publications, I believe the text has been thoroughly combed over editing-wise. Spelling and sentence structure was all in British English. Some of the place names have changed their spelling and some their names entirely. (Following the expedition's progress on a map is problematic.) I found the action and descriptive prose to be better handled than the dialog, which I though too melodramatic. I appreciated the author’s hand at the imagery.

This story was written for a popular audience during Victorian times. Certain aspects of the story have obviously been sanitized. There was no use of profanity or any other vulgarity. Some “kissing” occurs, but all sex is within the context of marriage, which may be polygamous. (Only animists have multiple wives.) There is no drug usage, except for pipe smoking and snuff usage. The British adventurers use alcohol in moderation, mostly medicinally, although the natives do overindulge. Violence is moderate. It consists of: physical, edged-weapon and firearms. The trauma inflicted on victims is not graphic. The body count is high. The story bears a striking resemblance in content to modern YA literature.

Characters were good. The main characters being the Gentleman Adventurers. Quatermain is The Great White Hunter, also known by his Zulu name Macumazahn ("Watcher-by-Night"). He’s the wise old man. Sir Henry Curtis is a wealthy, privileged, proper British gentleman action hero. Oddly, Sir Henry doesn’t use his Zulu name. Captain Good RN (retired) is their friend and companion. His Zulu name is “Bougwan” (“Glass Eye”), because he has an artificial ‘glass’ eye. He’s the group’s boffin and clothes horse despite being in the bush. Alphonse is their braggart, cowardly (like all of his race), French cook. Umslopogaas is the noble (black), Zulu savage. The author differentiates amongst the blacks by tribe. For example, the Zulu’s are noble, warriors and the Maasai (modern spelling) are cruel, bloodthirsty, rampaging brigands. I suspect this has a colonial historical reason. South Africa (the Zulu homeland) had recently been militarily pacified. The pacification of Kenya (the Maasai homeland) was looming. There are numerous other black NPCs, many of which are end up dead.

Women don’t fare well in this story character-wise. Women characters of consequence are all white. They’re either maidens, wives or the mothers of maidens. Flossie the young daughter of a Scottish missionary, is the perfect example of British rectitude in a savage land.

Although she was at an age when in England girls are in the schoolroom and come down to dessert, this ‘child of the wilderness’ had more courage, discretion, and power of mind than many woman of mature age nurtured in idleness and luxury, with minds drilled and educated out of any originality or self-resource the nature many have endowed them with.

Flossie’s mother, Mrs. Mackenzie spends a lot of time wringing her hands over her daughter's welfare. Umslopogaas has a treacherous native wife, who caused his lamentable life of exile. That story was rather interesting. Later in the book appear the twin, (white) queens of Zu-Vendis: Sorais the treacherous, Cleopatra-looking, ‘Lady of the Night' and her ‘good’ sister the Anglo-Saxon looking, blonde haired, blue-eyed Nyleptha. Victorian gentlemen prefer blondes.

There are several antagonists, although a large part of the story is man-against-nature. Central Africa is a trackless, unmapped wilderness. Shortly, the story pits the adventurers against a faceless, marauding, Maasai raiding party who threaten Scottish missionaries. They massacre them. In the later part of the story, a jilted Sorais is joined by a corrupt, treacherous and xenophobic high-priest of the Zu-Vendis (Agon) and the manipulative, greatest lord in the country (Nasta). They don't end well either. Both of these characters are rather thin.

Plot? The story starts out as a classic man-against-nature and then becomes man-against-man conflict. After the events of King Solomon’s Mines Quatermain, Curtis and Good grow bored with their life of wealthy leisure in Britain. They decide to become adventurers again and search for a land populated by a ‘white race’ in the heart of Africa. Along the way they brave the wilderness, and savage natives who kidnap a young, white maiden. They then discover a Lost World (Zu-Vendis) about the size of Metropolitan France in Central Africa. There is a lot of sword and sandal type fighting once their bullets run out. The story also contains a romantic component.
Sir Henry, the most eligible bachelor of the group marries the fair queen of Zu-Vendis. The adventurers fight a Civil War to help him retain his throne. Heros are made and perish. Sir Henry reigns an English Gentleman in the heart of Africa.

As an adventure story, we have all seen this before, although it was a fun, quick, read. The Indiana Jones franchise is a riff on the Quatermain character. In addition, both the previous story and this one are a large early part of the Lost World genre which became popular in the States with the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The real Victorian POV remains one of the more interesting parts of this story. Some readers may find the anthropological whiteness of the story appalling. That the author was a believer in anti-suffragism was made plain. The author’s thoughts on miscegenation are more clearly found in King Solomon’s Mines. However, its helpful to know this when you consider that Zu-Vendis was populated by a white race, albeit likely Semitic. That made it sought-after. Otherwise, why look for it? Finally, even after reading several books written between the 1870’s to before the first World War, I found the author’s attitude toward women to be peculiar.

The story was also geographically interesting. Unlike in King Solomon’s Mines, the author goes into some detail in describing the east African geography of the time. For example, the squalor of Lamu in Kenya where the expedition starts from and the European influence on the east African coast are detailed.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was short, had a lot of stiff upper lips and contained: exotic environs, a bit of history, gun-play and swordplay. The prose, particularly the descriptions were interesting to read. The world building was authentic.

‘Well, where are you gentlemen steering for?’ asked our friend the hospitable Consul, as we smoked our pipes after dinner.

‘We propose to go to Mt Kenia and then on to Mt Lekakisera ,’ answered Sir Henry. ‘Quatermain has got hold of some yarn about there being a white race up in the unknown territories beyond.

However, in places I found the social commentary disturbing to my modern sensibilities. For example, Big Game hunting is no longer a prestige sport. You'll also likely miss many of the references without having a serious knowledge of Victorian life and British African history. (Its not modern historical fiction.)

If you have a serious interest in early Imperial British Africa, you might want to read The Scramble for Africa: The White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912 . This will be very helpful for historical background with this story. A Princess of Mars is a good story to read, for an American Lost World one.

[Julian Worker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the sequel to King Solomon's Mines written in 1885.

This book is written by a Victorian male writer who has certain preoccupations and stereotypes, which were I suppose typical in most male writers of the time. Readers should be aware of this.

Having said that, this is a cracking yarn for the first half but does get a little bogged down with a love triangle theme in the second half which leads to a civil war. The story is wonderfully imaginative and I loved the descriptions of the journey the people make in the first half of the book.

Don't get too attached to the lead characters, as only one of them manages to leave their final destination - for various reasons - and makes it back to their home country.

[Dimitri · Rating 3 out of 5]

***1/2 Still holds up as a pageturner if you skim the Thou speeches.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm. And again...Hmmmm.

I'm not sure what I really thought of this, hence the very neutral star rating. The first half of the book I loved - it's everything I expected. Quatermain and his friends set off across Africa to discover a lost 'white' tribe. Despite not giving any real justification for the Masai attack, the author does a good job of describing the journey and the area. The discovery at the lake and the 'Rose of Fire' was also all good, very reminiscent of 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth', but still a good read. But then I kind of lost interest.

The Zu Vendi, cut off from the rest of civilisation in their mountain valley, should have been an interesting twist to the story - yet the arrival of five strangers seems to have little effect, other than both Queen's falling in love with the same man! I didn't really understand why this was a good plot line - I like a bit of romance, but it even fell short of that. Maybe just a justification to have our heroes fight and die in a civil war?

So overall an OK read, but not one I would return to or really think about at all now that its over.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to Librivox.org podcast. I found this Victorian African adventure captivating. Having lived in Nigeria for a year during my yout(h) :-) , it kept my attention with its description of the countryside. The Zulu character appeared to stay true to the Zulus I have read about in factual texts/stories. ** I enjoy Victorian literature, so my opinion is biased.

[Daren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sequel to King Solomon's Mines, and it is an even better crafted adventure story. Yes Rider Haggard's writing and outlook is dated, bigoted and Anglophile, but it is exciting and fun.
I think this one is even better than the first.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

When taken in context of the time period, it's easy to like H. Rider Haggard's works. Blending adventure fiction with mysticism, Haggard weaves stories -- mostly in undiscovered Africa -- of Europeans who journey in search of lost treasures, adventures, or both. Like most colonial writers, there is a general superiority of the light-skinned over the dark- and darker-skinned natives, though Haggard, who spent time in Africa, is not as bad as most. He even employs the "noble savage" idea frequently, sometimes to the point of placing the natives in higher esteem than the Europeans. Though women, I'm afraid, do not get the same treatment and, if they are not "beautiful," are pretty much awful creatures in his works, and even some of the beautiful ones are petty, petulant, and conniving. But I digress.

The story is set at the end of Allan Quartermain's life (though other novels would be written with Quartermain as the protagonist, this one tells of his death) when he and two companions journey into unchartered Africa in search of a legendary white-skinned race. After some adventures, they find the race in a hidden location, but then the twin sister queens are both attracted to one of Quartermain's companions, resulting in a bloody civil war. And while there is the resolution that one would hope for, it is not without cost and not truly a happy ending.

I really wanted to enjoy this book more than I did, but I just couldn't. All of the characters seemed to be made of cardboard and the plot always hinged on reasons that were too flimsy to be realistically supportable. I was able to get to the end and somewhat enjoy it, thus the 3 stars, but of all the Haggard books that I've read (including She, which is just far too long), I liked this one the least.

If you're a fan of H. Rider Haggard and want to read all of his books, you can pick this one up. If you're just a casual fan, stick with She and King Solomon's Mines as probably the best examples of his works. Everyone else is probably better off watching the film versions.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having come home to England to retire, Allan Quatermain is devastated when his only son dies of smallpox, contracted while doctoring among the poor. His old friends and fellow adventurers Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good visit to offer their condolences, but they also have a plan. They want to return to Africa and take Quatermain with them, partly out of friendship and partly because of his knowledge of Africa and his skills as a hunter. Quatermain jumps at the idea – England holds nothing for him now, and he hopes the journey will dull the anguish of his grief. They decide to head first for Mount Kenya, then at the outer limits of the colonised continent, and then continue on into the unknown beyond. There have been rumours of a tribe of white people who exist deep in the interior. The three travellers only half believe this, but decide that looking for proof will give them something to aim for. In the first part of the journey through Africa, they encounter an old acquaintance of Quatermain’s: Umslopogaas, a Zulu outcast, ageing now, but still a great warrior, wielding his notorious axe Inkosi-kaas (Chieftainess) with deadly precision against all enemies. Umslopogaas joins their party and the four men head into the uncharted interior…

This is the sequel to King Solomon’s Mines, one of my all-time favourite books. For me, Allan Quatermain doesn’t reach quite the same heights for reasons I’ll explain, but it’s still a great adventure story with some unforgettable scenes.

The first part of the journey takes too long, in my opinion, and is too full of descriptive writing which, while excellent, merely slows the story to a crawl. I say it all the time about contemporary thrillers, so I’ll hold Haggard to the same criticism – thrillers must be fast-paced or they don’t thrill! If this is true of adult thrillers, how much more so of thrillers aimed at children or teenagers. When I read this as a child after loving KSM, I remember having to fight past the worst insult I could throw at a book – “It’s bor-ing!”. Happily once the adventure proper gets underway there are enough thrills to satisfy even the most impatient child – or adult!

My second complaint is the romance. For a start, I’m not enthusiastic about romance generally, and I particularly don’t see the need for it in Boys-Own adventure stories. Cut the lovey-dovey stuff and get to the fighting! But usually I just sigh when the billing and cooing begins and skim swiftly past it. In this one, though, I can’t stand the woman and cannot understand why our hero loves her. To put you in the picture, they find the white tribe in the country of Zu-Vendis – not a spoiler, there would be no story if they didn’t – and discover it is ruled by two sister Queens, Nyleptha and Sorais, fair and dark, good and evil. My problem is that Nyleptha, the blonde, good one, is a cruel tyrant who thinks nothing of slaying anyone who crosses her, or indeed any girl who might possibly be attractive to Sir Henry. You don’t have to do anything to be slain by Nyleptha – it’s all down to her mood and. boy, is she moody!. While Sir Henry disapproves of her threatening to slay people all the time, he still sees her as delightfully innocent and charming – go figure. Gentlemen prefer blondes. Dark-haired, sulky Sorais actually seems the marginally more sane of the two to me, though she’s nominally the baddie, and she too has formed a mighty passion for Sir Henry. The sisters are rivals in love and soon will be rivals in war. Meantime Allan falls for Nyleptha while Good is in thrall to Sorais to the point of nearly betraying his friends (which always reminds me of Edmund and the White Queen, but without Turkish Delight).

I referred to Sir Henry as our hero, and that’s how our narrator, Quatermain, sees him. The reader, though, is very well aware that Allan himself is the true hero, just as he was in KSM. However, my own hero is Umslopogaas. Sometimes I feel we should look past the outdated language in some of these old colonial novels, especially Haggard’s, and see that they were often admiring of the people and cultures of the far-flung places they were taking us to. Umslopogaas is loyal, faithful, brave – he is both servant and great leader, and is shown as entirely the equal, in fact, the mirror image, of golden Sir Henry. He is treated with respect, both by the author and by the three white companions, and he is given all the best parts in the story. Is he shown to be like an English gentleman, educated at Eton and Oxford? No, Haggard would never be that crass, and that would surely truly be racist – Tarzan springs to mind.

There is, of course, some in-built racism in that the tribe has to be white, possibly because it wouldn’t have been the done thing for Sir Henry to have fallen in love with a black Queen. But the white tribe is seen as no more civilised, and in some ways less, than the black tribes we have met along the way. In fact, Zulu culture comes out as at least the equal of Zu-Vendi culture, and while the Massai don’t come out well, they are matched corpse for corpse in indiscriminate slaying by our two lovely white Queens.

I started listening to the BJ Harrison narration of this and soon decided his accents were terrible, so I swapped over to the Bill Homewood narration, and thought he did a great job.

I know these old colonial adventures aren’t everybody’s cup of tea, and I can even understand why parents may be reluctant to give them to young children in our current state of heightened racial awareness, but it’s a pity. Haggard is one of the all-time greats of adventure writing, and I hope he will continue to be read at least by the young at heart. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.

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[Paul Cornelius · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a sequel to King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain would subsequently prove effective in generating a number of prequels. It's a good enough story--in fact, essentially two stories. But it's also clunky in more than a few instances and certainly nowhere near the equal of King Solomon's Mines. Once again, Quatermain and his companions, Sir Henry and Good, embark on a journey to uncover another lost civilization. This one is descended from what seems to be a remnant of Sassanid Persia.

First, what is clunky about it? The fact that you have two separate stories that not only diverge from one another but have but the barest connection, the Mackenzie Mission Station and the Kingdom of Zu-Vendis. There is also the introduction of a child into the Mackenzie story. The appearance of children in Victorian literature is usually annoying, and that is the case, here, with "dear little Flossie," who seems so entirely innocent that she is possessed of bovine stupidity. That is until facing danger, when she turns into the African version of a derringer wielding Annie Oakley. Last, there is Haggard's obsession with the detail surrounding the architecture of Zu-Vendis' palace and temple. When Haggard describes landscapes, he is at his best, even when he descends somewhat into purple prose. But when talking of these two buildings, he almost seems to be reading out a particularly nightmarish set of instructions from Ikea. The eyes glaze over. These weaknesses, nonetheless, are easily put out of mind, once the adventure picks up in the latter chapters.

Aside from the adventure, however, probably the most important part of Allan Quatermain is the "Introduction" to this novel. In it, Quatermain explains his worldview. There should be no mistake. It's anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist to its core. (How would a Zulu empire have developed had it never come into contact with Whites? What sort of civilization might the proto-Egyptians have built in isolation for thousands of years? What if one of Alexander's Greek generals had managed to lead his army into a place secluded from the world for 2000 years?) It all seems to reflect the influences building around Haggard himself. Clearly, there was the effect of Darwin's thought. (Indeed, with Quatermain's discussion of the rise and fall of empires and peoples, there is a hint of what would come to be called Social Darwinism about a decade or so later.) And there was also a strange sort of melding of Christian manners and Buddhist views towards life and the universal. I know very little of Haggard's biography, but I can't help but think he must have known something of Theosophy and, in particular, the work of the Theosophical Society of Madame Blavatsky. The spiritualism, the balance between nature and god(s), the role of the so-called Masters of Ancient Wisdom. So much of Blavatsky's tenets seem at work in Haggard's novels.

Whatever the influence, Haggard had little difficulty in generating an interest for the mystical and the hidden metaphysical realms in life. Far from being an agent of imperialism, Haggard and his protagonist, Quatermain, seem to be the last Romantic hero. They have more in common with the Byronic hero than some nineteenth century preview of Colonel Blimp.

[Baal Of · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the second novel out of a 50 novel H. Rider Haggard omnibus that I've read on my kindle. I probably won't be reading any more. I know that Haggard was a product of his time, but I'm not going to be able to stomach another of these novels that are so full of racist, paternalistic, misogynistic, and wealth-privileged themes. I know that people talk about how Haggard was ahead of his time, in how he portrayed non-white races as heroes (but of course still in the shadow of his main characters), but it doesn't change the fact that the word 'savage' is used to describe the natives of Africa in this story many dozens of times, and it becomes wearying for me. Haggard's narrow, parochial view bleeds through every paragraph in this stilted, overly verbose tale. Nor am I well disposed towards Quartermain's character, since he is a big game hunter of the shoot first and mount them on the wall variety. One of the major scenes that I hated involved the initial meeting of Quartermain's party with the fabled white race of Africa, in which he and his big men shoot a family of tame hippopotami in an effort to impress the natives with their power. This apparently only pisses of the priests, since the queens, and all the other people defend their actions almost immediately because, well, they are great white hunters or something. The depictions of the women is also embarrassing. The powerful queen, leader of her people, in at least 4 scenes, stamps her feet, which essentially renders the queen as little more then a petulant child.
Then there is the assumption that Christianity is the one true religion, which given my dislike of religion in general, and that one in particular, rubs me the wrong way. And it is saturated throughout the novel. Not unexpected, but a constant irritant. At the very end of the novel, Henry Curtis, one of the surviving members of Quartermain's party, talks about how he wants to protect the Zu-Vendi from the outside world to protect their noble barbarianism from corrupting influences such as telegraphs, steam, and universal suffrage, but just a paragraph before that, he expresses his intent to eradicate their existing priesthood and replace it with the One True Religion, and oh yeah, put them under a strong central government. Holy fuck.

But let me step back from all that. Take away all the bad, and what am I left with? Well, an adventure novel that is wordy, tedious, long, and ultimately dreadfully boring.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

“A hundred thousand spears shall sparkle in my train like star glimmering down.”

A lost world adventure. Later nineteenth century equivalent of contemporary science-fiction, fantasy adventure story. In 1887 it was plausible that a country “the size of France” could be hidden—and isolated—in central Africa, but we accepted that Asia could hide a mythical Himalayan utopia in 1933.

“I say that as the savage is, so is the white man, only the latter is more inventive, and possesses the faculty of combination; save and except also that the savage, as I have known him, is to a large extent free from the greed of money, which eats like a cancer into the heart of the white man.”

Reflects the racial and sexist idioms of the day, but surprisingly enlightened for that time. The reader doesn’t have to look too deeply to find a critique as well as a defense of English upper-class attitudes and behavior. On the other hand, the sensitive will find plenty to offended.

“Better it is to slay a man in fair fight than to suck out his heart’s blood in buying and selling and usury after your white fashion.”

Quibbles: unlikely after having lost all their supplies, they should happen to have retained three tunics of chain mail and one set of formal military wear. At least they had the decency to run out of bullets. “Sir Henry was able to show them how to make glass.” “We even succeeded in demonstrating the principle of the steam-engine.”

“How can a world be good in which Money is the moving power, and Self-interest the guiding star? Wonder is not that it is so bad, but that there should be any good left in it.”

With his critique of his own times, one wonders what Haggard would think of ours.

“I cannot see that gunpowder, telegraphs, steam, daily newspapers, universal suffrage, etc., etc., have made mankind one whit happier than they used to be, and I am certain they have brought many evils in their train.”

[Brenda Clough · Rating 4 out of 5]

A curiously dark book, all things considered. Somewhere I have a biography of Haggard. which I can't remember anything from. It would be interesting to find out whether he wrote this at a bad time in his life.
Haggard wrote KING SOLOMON'S MINES first, which introduced Allan Quartermain to the world. Then I believe he wrote ALLAN, in which the title character dies, only then going back and filling in with a number of other Quartermain adventures. They are not nearly as interesting as KSM and AQ, which are unquestionably the best of the Quartermain books.
Anyway, Allan is depressed and bereaved at the beginning of the book, so he gathers together his old buddies from KSM and they go back to Africa to adventure. There is no denying that from depressed and bereaved, through stressed and ill, to dying, is a gloomy arc for a novel. In spite of this all the proper accoutrements of a Haggard novel are there: hidden African kingdoms, scantily clad young women, armies in combat, treasures and treacheries. If you liked KSM and SHE you'll enjoy this.

[David Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, the quest for a "great white race" rumored to be in a remote part of Africa is risible, and a stretch in the middle about the customs, art and architecture of the Zu-Vendi people is recommended to insomniacs. But mostly this adventure story trots along, and in telling it Haggard has a lot to say about loyalty, bravery, love, male friendship and aging. This is nonsense at a very high level.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Less essential than King Solomon's Mines, certainly a lot less exciting overall, and also already beginning to feel that there's going to be a certain set of plot devices Haggard toys with throughout his career, namely that our heroes discover a lost civilisation, after a period of uncertainty they are eventually welcomed into the fold and end up on one side of a civil war. As such I found the first half of the book a bit fresher feeling and more successful, as Allan and friends are staying at a missionaries whose daughter is kidnapped and Allan's life is forfeit in her place. Pretty exciting stuff!

As ever, Haggard's writing which feels like quaint colonialism to us now would surely have been seen as quite radical in its picture of noble savages, detailing of intelligent civilisations that British polite society would probably have thought of as beneath them. More pertinent to this review, I think Haggard is generally underrated as a really good teller of tales, his prose is very fine shifting between broad comedy and exciting adventure as necessary, and whilst characterisation isn't complex he paints scenes - especially action -more vividly than most.

Easily recommended for anyone who has read and enjoyed the first even if it doesn't quite have the freshness of his two most famous books.

[Vircenguetorix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bajo el título en España de "Las aventuras de Allan Quatermain" se publicó la secuela de la célebre "Las minas del rey Salomón". No hay muchas novedades respecto a la primera, vuelve el equipo habitual a una nueva expedición al corazón de África pero en este caso con elementos del subgénero de civilizaciones pérdidas que ya Haggard había tratado en "She". Es decir que aquí aparecen elementos de fantasía y menos de carácter geográfico e histórico. A pesar de que la novela tiene un análisis de personajes algo mayor de lo habitual y que un aroma crepuscular se respira en sus páginas, la historia va decayendo a medida que avanzan las páginas, y una vez que la trama se establece en la ciudad perdida de raza blanca y sus reinas, la cosa baja muchísimo.

Una pena que el personaje que inspiró nada menos que a Indiana Jones no tuviera una continuación más aprovechable teniendo en cuenta el arranque y el material disponible en la idea de la trama que era sugerente. Creo que Haggard es un muy buen escritor de ideas, de argumentos pero que luego no le resulta nada sencillo redondear la novela, lo mismo con relatos cortos hubiera sido mejor escritor, aunque indudablemente menos famoso que con sus aventuras africanas.

[John Monro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometime ago, I downloaded all 50 Rider Haggard novels to my Kindle for a very modest sum indeed, where they must clutter up a good deal of RAM. I've read Children of the Mist, a while ago, and which indeed is rather misty in my memory, so I won't review this, but have just completed "Allan Quatermain". As a boy (in the late 1950's) one of my favourite books was "She", a totally splendid adventure story, of great originality when it was published, with many of the now clichéd motifs of the "Lost World" and the mystic and supernatural appearing for the very first time. "Allan Quatermain" is a sequel to King Solomon's Mines, which I haven't read for many years, so I can't really comment on that book so much, except of course it was the adventure yarn that propelled H Rider Haggard into fame, and fortune. However, to say it's a sequel is to somewhat mislabel the story; when the heroes of KSM meet up again many years later, AQ is depressed, he has just lost his only son, and he was previously widowed. His friends Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good RN call on AQ at his Yorkshire home a week later and stay a while to keep him company. It is apparent they are all now at a loose end, "civilisation" palls, no ties hold them, and in a remarkably short time the three come to realise that a new adventure calls, and that is back in Africa. AQ has already decided where they will go, a huge unexplored area north of Mt Kenya (which Allan spells Kenia) and Mt Lekakisera (which I assume is an invention) and to the Terra Incognita beyond.

The three get to East Africa, and in the port of Lamu, AQ meets up with a truly fearsome Zulu warrior, whom AQ has previously known as a loyal hunting companion and guide, named Umslopogaas, whose favoured weapon is a large and keenly honed battleaxe, which goes everywhere with him. Umslopogaas greets AQ with overwhelming enthusiasm, calling AQ by his Zulu name, Macumazahn, a moniker which AQ is happy to use throughout his adventures. They hear of a tale of a race of white people in the north that a single explorer has contacted, but who dies and the tale fades, to becomes more of a legend. Anyway, with Umslopogaas, they travel north to Mt Kenia, on the way having a bloody adventure in a white settler's station, where the owner's daughter is kidnapped. Then their real adventure starts when they leave all known civilisation, and where an underground river spits then out into a lake where they succeed in making contact with a civilisation of white people who live in a country called Zu-Vendis (described as being the size of France) entirely cut off from the rest of Africa by mountains and forests.

I think that's enough of the plot other than to say that the four protagonists become an integral part of their new culture, that Sir Henry's love for one of the twin Queens who rule the land is the direct cause of a bloody civil war and where the ending of the story is not at all like most such romances.

RH really pulled out all the stops with this story, both in the quality of the writing, and the continued invention that his early age 19 to age 26 experiences of South Africa and travels in that continent, allied to an upper middle class English and Victorian British Empire upbringing provided him. And what struck me about this novel isn't just the calibre of the story telling, and the literary imagination, but the strong philosophical and environmental background to his writing, relating to and questioning what civilisation truly means - it creeps in throughout the book. RH gives the story to AQ, who writes it as a journal in the first person. AQ continues to express his doubts about progress and science and the worth of the world of his times - the modern, technological Victorian era - and contrasts this with the untainted, savage but sustainable civilisation he has previously found and grown to love in Africa, and the alien one he has found and stayed in. AQ and his companions all give up their attachment to their old lives, their old ways, their own civilisation, and become as one with their new and strange one.

From what I recall of "She" and KSM, I would suggest this story is of equal worth. I really enjoyed it. The story never really flagged and once I switched my mind to my old boyhood self, I had no difficulty accepting the adventure as a "spiffing good yarn". Racial and gender stereotypes abound, of course, but even here, AQ is given the capacity to recognise the common humanity in us all and RH gives heroic roles for other races.

For those who wish to pursue something of the background to this story and other Rider Haggard adventures, you can download his autobiography, "The Days of My Life" as an e-book from this address: https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hagg...

Chapter 10 tells you how RH came to write and publish KSM, and how he nearly accepted an offer of a payment of £100 for the copyright, only to have a clerk suggest that a £50 pound payment plus 10% royalties might be better. RH had much cause to be grateful for this advice. RH corresponded with R L Stevenson about this book and other matters, but always regretted never having met him. What is fascinating is that "Allan Quatermain", the sequel to KSM, was indeed his next novel and written even while KSM was earning the author a lot of money, was written over a summer holiday in the year 1885, taking him about six weeks in total. RH truly was writing in a white heat of invention.

I hope those that read this review find it helpful and interesting, and I hope if you read "Allan Quatermain" you enjoy it as much as I did. Put on your pith helmet, sit in the sunshine in your garden on the lawn under a tree, with a pipe in your mouth and a whisky in your hand, and you should do fine.

[Kim Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

For the most part, I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to. It’s been several years since I read King Solomon’s Mines, but I remember thinking that it wasn’t as “action-packed” as I was expecting. This one did have a lot of action. However, there was a lot of description of battles, which isn’t really my thing. If that had been cut shorter, I probably would have rounded up instead of down. I had done some reading about the story, and I was glad I was prepared for the end. I was surprised at my emotional reaction to it, which almost made me round up, but it’s not one I think I would ever re-read, so I didn’t. I did appreciate the author’s notes at the end.

[Micah Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice to read a bit about Allan Quatermain. Although this was my first read, and the last in his life story, his focus on being a gentleman at all times (showing deference to the deposed queen who had wanted to kill him, because she is a woman), being completely trustworthy, and generous will win you friends with the same qualities, and rewards far greater than wealth.

[Peter Vik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rider Haggard is a fantastic storyteller. I love that Quartermain is a 65-year-old hero, with companions on the older side. This is unusual and something he makes work well. The events and dialogue in the story are fantastic. My only complaint is that the story is too similar to King Solomon's Mines. But both are fantastic tales.

[Viktoria Faust · Rating 5 out of 5]

Još jedna pustolovina jednog od najvećih literarnih pustolova 19 stoljeća, koji luta neistraženim bespućima čarobne Afrike.

[Jorge Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff, very exciting throughout. Umslopogaas the Zulu warrior being my favourite character.

[Lel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book, but dated. The action holds up but the regard for women and their place in society is very very dated. But it didn't distract from the plot and it was a fun read.

[Brendan Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The (probable) main inspiration for Indiana Jones also kinda slaps for being so old.