রিটার্ন অভ শী

Ayesha #2

by H. Rider Haggard, Neaz Morshed (Translator)

মৃত্যুর আগ-মুহূর্তে বলে গেছে আয়শা, আবার সে আসবে। অন্তত একবারের জন্যে হলেও সে সুন্দর হবে। কিন্ত কি করে?
জানে না লিও ভিনসি, জানে না হোরেস হলি। তবে তারা অন্তর থেকে বিশ্বাস করে কথা রাখবে আয়শা - আবার সে আসবে, আবার সে সুন্দর হবে।
অবশেষে সত্যিই একদিন দৈব-সংকেত পেল ওরা, আয়শা ডাকছে।
দুর্গম পর্বতমালা, দুস্তর মরুভূমি পেরিয়ে রওনা হলো লিও ও হলি।
আয়শার খোঁজ কি ওরা পাবে?

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Fiction, Classics, Romance, Novels, Historical

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1905

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

[Alfie Shuvro · Rating 4 out of 5]

টান টান উত্তেজনা রয়েছে । একই সাথে প্রেম , ভালবাসা, ত্যাগ আর গল্পের প্লট সমূহের বর্ণনা ও বেশ সুশৃঙখল । অনুবাদ যথেষ্ট ভাল হয়েছে।

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Return of She," although not as exciting or groundbreaking as the classic "She," is nevertheless a worthy sequel, and one that all admirers of Haggard's original story should enjoy reading. It is a direct continuation of the earlier book, and as such may be called required reading for all fans of Ayesha, Leo Vincey and Ludwig Holly. The novel contains many exciting scenes, including a great avalanche, the pursuit of the death hounds, Ayesha's reincarnation, and the climactic battle with Kalloon. The Dover edition comes with beautiful illustrations from the original 1905 edition that greatly enhance the text. In light of the fact that the overwhelming preponderance of Haggard's books are sadly out of print, this book becomes even more worthy an addition to any fan's library. Now when is somebody going to release "She and Allan" again???

[Rifat · Rating 4 out of 5]

শুরু থেকে শেষ পর্যন্ত একটা টান টান উত্তেজনা ছিল।

হোরেস হলি আর লিও শেষ পর্যন্ত প্রাচীন ক্যালিক্রেটিস, আমেনার্তাস আর সে: যাকে মানতেই হবে'র ব্যাপারে রহস্য উন্মোচন করেছিল। অন্য দিকে আয়শা! সে! যার জন্য অপেক্ষা করেছিল তাকে পেয়েও শেষ রক্ষা হয় নি। মৃত্যুর আগে আয়শা শপথ করে বলেছিল সে আবার ফিরবে তার প্রিয়তমের জন্য। সে বিশ্বাসেই লিও আর হলি খুঁজে ফিরছে আয়শাকে, পুনর্জন্ম নিয়ে আসবে সে।
লিওর বয়স চল্লিশ পেরিয়ে গেছে অপর দিকে হলি বার্ধক্যে পা দিয়েছে। আয়শার জন্য লিও পাগল প্রায়। এমন সময় এল সেই দৈব সংকেত যার ফলে লিও আর হলি বুঝলো আশা আছে! আয়শা ফিরবে। স্বপ্নে দেখা ক্রুক্স আনসাতা বা জীবনের প্রতীকের পেছন পেছন ঘুরে লিও আর হলি আসলো এশিয়ার দিকে। তারপর? আয়শা কোথায়?? দেখা পেল এক অপরূপা নারীর- খানিয়া আতেন। কে এই আতেন? লিও আর হলি আতেনের কাছে খোঁজ পেল দেবী হেসার। কে দেবী হেসা? কোথায় আয়শা? ওদের মনে হল যেন অশুভ কিছু ঘটতে চলেছে।

জন্ম-জন্মান্তরের যে বন্ধনের ব্যাপারটাকে কেন্দ্র করে এত সব কিছু, সে ব্যাপারটা একটা রহস্যই রয়ে গেল। আচ্ছা, কার কথা সত্যি হ্যাগার্ড সাহেব? ¬_¬
আপনি বড্ড নিষ্ঠুরতা করলেন ¬_¬

বরাবরের মতো হেনরি হ্যাগার্ডের অপূর্ব বর্ণনাকে অনুবাদক সুন্দর করে উপস্থাপন করেছেন।
এবার হলি আর লিওর ভ্রমণ খুব উপভোগ করেছি। দুঃসাহসিক এডভেঞ্চার ছিল। প্রেমিকাকে খুঁজতে গিয়ে লিও বেচারা দারুণ এডভেঞ্চার করেছে 😁 তাই ৪তারা।

~ ৯ নভেম্বর, ২০২০

[Bayazid Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

ভালোই লেগেছে,তবে আরেকটু বেটার আশা করেছিলাম সিরিজের প্রথম বইটা পড়ে। এটা একটু স্লো লেগেছে মাঝখানে৷

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haggard's epic SHE suold've been the end-all of fantasy epics. It sold, unreal, 63 million copies and remains in print.
AYESHA is the sequel of all sequels. Written at the turn of the 20th century, Haggard's language is both beautiful and evocotive of a grander age.

The immortal queen is still there and gets a 2nd chance at finishing her mission: is it what we think it is? What's the reason she resists her lover's advances? Don't a lot of the elements sound like deja vu from SHE? Intentionally so, and with spectacular results. One of the best and the first of all scifi/fantasy lit, AYESHA is hard to top. Until, of course, one moves on to WISDOM'S DAUGHTER...

Watch for elements that were stolen by major filmmakers!

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twenty years after publishing his masterpiece (She), Haggard finally decided to tell us what Leo and Holly and Ayesha (yes, I know, she perished horribly at the end of the original book, but bear with me) were up to in the intervening years. Although Haggard, per his introductory note, is disinclined to call it a sequel, preferring to regard it as the continuation of the story begun in the first book; and honestly, I'm inclined to agree with him.

Spoilers for a 120 year old book, although I'll try to keep them to a minimum.

So we open, as per usual, with Haggard explaining how yet another mysterious manuscript came into his hands -- L. Horace Holly, after being absent from England's green and pleasant lands for some 20 years, has returned alone and in poor health. He provides Haggard with a manuscript (well, most of one -- he at one point had chucked it into the fire, but changed his mind and retrieved it with minimal damage) and an artifact, and then promptly expires.

After the calamitous events that ended the original book, Holly and Leo had returned to England where they spent a year recuperating (and, in Leo's case, moping) until Leo had a vision that suggested that Ayesha was maybe not completely dead? So he & Holly pack their bags and set out for central Asia -- Thibet [sic] and suchlike parts.

Smash cut to sixteen years later ... Leo and Holly have been wandering the Himalayas searching unsuccessfully for the vista that Leo had seen in his vision (a looming volcano with what appears to be a giant ankh on its crest). They find themselves (after dangers untold and hardships unnumbered) in a particularly isolated monastery and wouldn't you know it, the valley they seek is just up the way.

Well, in this case "just up the way" means "over there, across many, many miles of treacherous mountain terrain and glaciers in utterly unforgiving weather".

And it won't come as too much of a surprise, I assume, to say that yes, they do make it to that valley and yes, it's inhabited by two warring factions and one of them (the place where they first make their entrance via a glacial river) is ruled by a beautiful queen, Atene, and her jerk of a husband, and the other (over on the slopes of the volcano) is ruled by the goddess Hes and her oracle, and Atene gets the total hots for Leo, which will not do because Hes and her oracle have seen Leo and Holly arrive and have their own interest in the two of them.

And yes, there's a dramatic reunion with Ayesha, and Atene takes things most poorly and things progress to their foreordained, tragic conclusion.

And is this book as good as the original? Well, no, but what could be? But it's still very worthy in its own right, not least because we get to see Ayesha unveiled and actually using her powers and she's even more reminiscent of Galadriel in her "in place of a Dark Lord you would have a queen!" speech.

So if you read and enjoyed She and want to see how it all turns out, well, then, this is the book for you.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ayesha, known as She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, first appeared in serial form from 1896 to 1897 in the novel She. Along with King Solomon's Mines, She is Haggard's most popular and famous novel. Ayesha is one of the awesome, kick-ass woman characters in Victorian literature, and I rated Wisdom's Daughter, the later written prequel set in Ancient Egypt five stars. I loved that book even more than the original She. However, I do not think The Return of She is as entrancing as those two books. It's a lot better than the third book She and Allan though (where Ayesha encountered Allan Quartermain of King Solomon's Mines.) If you're a fan of Ayesha, and I am, this is enjoyable though. Great adventure, great fantasy--a genre that owes a great debt to Haggard. I'm not going to claim that Haggard even at his best is the same order of classic as the best by Charles Dickens, the Brontes, George Eliot or Thomas Hardy. But like Arthur Conan Doyle or Robert Louis Stevenson or Rudyard Kipling, Haggard really could spin a good yarn.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this though found it not quite as good as She. There seemed to be far too long searching for She and then when they did find her, for all that they were both obsessed with her they didn't actually seem to like her very much. What this book lacked that the first one had was the lovely long discussions on the nature of man and good and evil. She seemed smaller and less powerful here. The thing that I did like was the Asian setting, I was expecting to find it poorly done but Haggard's interpretation of Buddhism wasn't that bad. I read a lovely 2nd edition of this book with beautiful paper and lots of lovely illustrations. The story was quite slow but it was nice to revisit these characters. The ending was sad but I still liked it.

[Miss Sunshine girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ezen a könyvön nem nagyon fogott az idő, észre se vettem, hogy egy több, mint száz éves könyvet olvasok. Persze, a stílusjegyekről azért levehető, ha vki olvasott már ennyire régi történetet, tipikus kalandregény némi misztikummal, meg van benne romantikus szál egy benszülöttel. Verne jutott róla eszembe. Ez a könyv a maga műfajában nagyszerű. Ami tetszett benne, hogy nincsenek túltolva a dolgok. Nem felsőbbrendű lények a fehér emberek, nem gyűrnek le bennszülöttek hadait, meg ilyesmi, ugyanolyan esendőek, mint bárki más, a bennszülöttek csak kicsit vérszomjasak, a romantikus nincs túltolva, a kalandok a könyv világán belül teljesen hihetőek, csak a végefelé lévő deus ex machina lett sztem nem jól megírva. Vártam a deus ex machinát, az ilyen könyvekben ez megszokott, csak olyan érzésem volt, hogy a szerző nem tudta, hogyan fejezze be, aztán ezt erőszakolta ki magából, csalódás volt. Majdnem egyhuzamban olvastam végig, 5 óra 44 perc alatt olvastam el, jah, stopperrel mértem.

[Muntasir Al Anam · Rating 3 out of 5]

৩.৫/৪

শী এর তুলনায় রিটার্ন অভ শী ফিকে লাগল কিছুটা।ব্যাখ্যা পাওয়া গেল না অনেক কিছুর।অনুবাদটার মানও পড়ে গেছে কিছুটা।পরের পার্ট পড়���র অপেক্ষায়...

[Fowzul Fahad · Rating 4 out of 5]

ভালবাসা প্রকৃতির এক অপার সৃষ্টি। যার জন্য কোন কিছুকে ধ্বংস করতে যেমন পারা যায়, ঠিক তেমনি সৃষ্টিও করা যায়।
বেশ হয়েছে উপন্যাসটা। আতেনের ভালবাসার স্বরুপটা বেশ মজবুত লেগেছে। ভালবাসার দৌড়ে আয়েশাকে হার মানার মত চরিত সে। ভালবাসার জন্য নিজের জীবন দিতে একটুও পরোয়া করল না।
সব প্রেমের গন্তব্য মৃত্যুতে।

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In the cupboard lived... a disreputable rag doll of a particularly hideous aspect, with boot-button eyes, hair of black wool and a sinister leer painted upon its face… Rider, as a small child, was terrified of her, a fact soon discovered by an unscrupulous nurse who made full use of it to frighten him into obedience. Why or how it came to be called She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed he could not remember…” —Lilias Haggard, on her father

”…a strange book, but full of hidden meaning.” —Freud, on She

(1905) Back into the dream world of H. Rider Haggard, back to my favorite graveyard poet in the guise of an adventure novelist, and a return to the theme—of two soul mates separated by reincarnation—that so mysteriously hounded this peculiar artist. Indeed I wonder if he shouldn’t be remembered for that even more than for the Lost Race genre. The latter he wrote for money, the former for… who can say?

“What crime have I committed that this sore punishment should be laid upon me?”

Another overlooked side of Haggard (perhaps because it’s too unexpected to even register) is the emotional one. Underneath all the lofty words and fatalistic resignation, Haggard’s tales are full of raw emotion—again, not what you’d think to find in a genre better known for such whiz-bang books as The Land That Time Forgot by the overstimulated Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Here the author turns his spiritualistic premise into a kind of time-traveling love triangle. Unfortunately that means double the Ayeshas—not one but two proud and needy romantic interests, two times the speeches and grand scenery-chewing that kept She from being one of my all-time favorite books. You know the stuff. It’s the cliched dialogue you hear in every Hollywood movie that features some noble alien race. Many Haggard novels have some element of this sometimes Elizabethan, sometimes imitation-Attic style—several appear to be written entirely in that voice—and I try to base my decision on which to read in inverse proportion to it.

Haggard’s adventures are always best going to and from the lost world in question. This particular journey involves an avalanche, a yak, and a hunt that makes our narrator feel genuine empathy for foxes. Haggard is great at mayhem. The avalanche scene is truly mad, as the two heroes cling to their rock, bombarded by boulders, beside their now headless yak.

“Nor was this the worst of it…”

Their hairbreadth escape is followed closely by another at the chasm, where Horace, standing flat against a frozen waterfall, “crucified,” teeters over the abyss, while hanging below him is Leo, turning slowly on a rope in appalling silence. Some people, I’m sure, read Haggard for his epic battle scenes. Others (who knows?) may even read him for his fake anthropology—to learn the dimensions of a fictional people’s altars and their major crops. I read him for the glaring look Leo gives every time his rope spins him round towards Horace.

“That look which gathered on Ayesha's mummy face? At first there had been a little hope, but the hope died, and anguish, anguish, anguish took its place.”

The part where Ayesha’s wrappings are unwound to reveal the unspeakable creature beneath, and Leo forces himself to kiss her, is pretty great, like Grand Guignol theater. The love story becomes touching, and that flicker of hope after she is finally face to face with Leo felt both horribly pathetic and true.

I was glad to see Haggard expand on his chilling idea in She about Ayesha loose in England. Ah, now that’s the sequel he should have written! At long last, towards the end of the book he starts to reveal, one by one, her powers: alchemy, chemistry, clairvoyance, the ability to transmit this second sight to others. She’s impervious to fire, radiation, can wield massive objects as lightly as a feather, summon hurricanes, blow locks off doors with her mind, kill with a thought, with a kiss. Imagine that in Trafalgar Square. Her Chinese Strategy, by the way, is kind of funny and actually not that bad. With their numbers and intelligence and unfulfilled potential they would be perfect to mold and flood the nations of Europe, especially, Horace muses, in conjunction with her command over lightning. There’s also a fun discussion about the effect infinite wealth would have on the world economy. Leo argues the philosopher’s stone would ruin the gold standard and thus the civilizations founded on it. She thinks it would be better to go back to the barter system anyway.

The ending is beautiful, with Horace journeying home, camping outside the walls of the city he helped ruin, awaking one morning with his guides gone, and reuniting at the lamasery with the affectionate Tibetan monk, who delivers the last words, knocking Ayesha down a peg or two.

Part of the real horror of Ayesha—the book and the character—is the idea of trying to love someone you fear. Her capriciousness is worse than if she were just consistently wrathful.

4.5 stars.


_________________________
Marginalia:

*Haggard’s forbidden passion for his first love, Lilly, whom he supported financially even as a married man, crops up yet again, I believe, in this book. This is my explanation for the recurring metempsychosis theme. Ayesha cannot marry Leo until he has been made immortal, despite their terrible longing and temptation, because doing so means damnation. In other words, Lilly and the God-fearing Haggard must wait until they are dead. Is it from this that come all these works about eternal loves obstructed by the happenstance of life? Again I have to wonder what his wife must have thought reading these things!

*There’s a touch of Mordor and Mount Doom in this book’s landscape.

____
More quotes

“You forget that I have had no sign, and that the nightmare of a man so near to insanity… will be a poor staff to lean on when we are perishing in the snows of Central Asia.”

“Know ye not that this world is indeed the wide house of hell, in whose chambers from time to time the spirit tarries a little while, then, weary and aghast, speeds wailing to the peace that it has won.”

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the sequel to "She," which Haggard published in 1905, 18 years after the first book.
Although the title character seemed pretty definitively dead after the first book, still, she had vowed to return with her dying words, and, since then the characters of the beautiful young Leo and his mentor Dr. Horace Holly, have been wandering through Asia, seeking spiritual enlightenment, knowledge - and the return of that supernaturally beautiful immortal woman.
It wouldn't be much of a story if she didn't come back in some form - and, of course, she does.
The book is relatively free of the overtly offensive stereotypes and racial issues that were rather obtrusive in the first book, although it is still decidedly non-feminist, from a modern perspective - but in my perception, the Buddhist monks of "Ayesha" get a fairer (and more respectful) shake than the African cannibals of "She."
Overall, an entertaining adventure story, mixed with a deal of philosophy that ranges from interesting to annoying, depending...
Still, definitely worth reading... it was funny, because although some of the writing in this book did feel dated at times, it reminded me more of adventure-fantasy from the 70's than something more than half a century older.

[Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

The continuing adventures of Holly and Leo. After having found Ayesha and losing her, they embark on a life long quest to find her again.

Like She, this book is about Victorians, written by a Victorian for a Victorian audience. The language, attitudes and morés are Victorian. Many people will have a hard time fitting their mind into that box. I am a history fan, and it didn't seem hard for me to to.

It's a sequel, and as such suffers from the typical problems: in order to pick up a new audience, the author must retell the original as back story. Too much retelling bores those who have read the earlier work. I think Haggard struck a good balance but any retelling is going to slow the action down some. Still, he manages a very good tale; I was surprised to look up and discover that the real action starts 60% of the way through - it was already a page-turner before that!

[Wreade1872 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sequel to She, this is quite a long read and i was expecting a lot of messing about before getting to the main plot this wasn't the case however, it jumped quite quickly into the action and there really isn't any wasted pages.
I love the characters, the hero comes across as kind of lame and its really nice to see the two powerful heroines fight over this weaker man as the reverse is so often the case.
I like the layers of characterization, everyone is flawed and both the heroines are quite evil in their way. The action is great but its really the mystery and the lies which surround Ayesha which makes this work so well. She gives numerous versions of her origin until you have no idea what the truth might be. Its a really solid adventure/mystery/romance. I was kind of surprised how much i liked it, especially how superior it seemed over the original.

[Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although not quite as bold and adventurous as the first novel, this is a fine adventure and I felt that it was even more subtle with grander vision of the star crossed love than the first. Leo had more personality and drive this time around. In a way, it's almost a mirror of the first in terms of theme and plot. Haggard's prose is more polished and refined, but some of his lyrical descriptive power was muted. He seemed to favor more letting Ayesha spin the tale of her past and thread in Eastern mysticism throughout her history rooted in the ancient world of the Egyptians, Greeks and Arabians and let her musings on her love, their fates, and the great unseen powers driving the world become his lyrical output.

A fine sequel to the first book.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually enjoy H. Rider Haggard, so I was completely shocked by how completely terrible this book was. It's probably the worst sequel of all time, apart from TRANSFORMERS 2. The story is dull and talky, the dialog is extremely stilted (like reading a high school kid trying to ape Shakespeare), and the main characters all behave like knuckleheads pretty much throughout. Very little about the plot makes any sense, and all the mystical reincarnation/destiny stuff is completely over-the-top and downright silly. It's going to be a long time before I can rid myself of the bad taste this book has left in my mouth.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took 19 years for Haggard to write this sequel to She and it seems he learned a few things, like how to put more action in the pages. There is a harrowing journey with visions and love and betrayal and tests and war and self-sacrifice. Good stuff, enveloped in fate and mythology. Haggard learned well in those 19 years.

[Wolk Zeven Ayesha]

I read the Dutch translation of the book. I found it less catchy than "SHE" but nevertheless I kept on reading.It's made me curious about the Egyption mythogology on which the story is evidently based. Looking forward to read Ayesha & Allan (if I can find the Dutch translation :-)

[Paulo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A continuation of SHE, Ayesha is a more melancholic book, portraying the eternal quest of Man for the unachievable in us. In the end, reaching a goal is not as satisfying as we would like to believe.

[Shahin S. Eity · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 star are not enough . The best adventure thriller I've ever read

[ফরহাদ নিলয় · Rating 4 out of 5]

এই বইটারও শেষ পরিণতিটা মন খারাপ করে দেয়া। হ্যাগার্ড সাহেবের উপর আমি বেজায় ক্রুদ্ধ। তিনি সুন্দর সুন্দর মেয়েগুলোকে এত কষ্ট দেন কেন? -_-

[Mitchell Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a random one. It was my nan's, who then gave it to mum (who never read it), who then gave it to me years ago. Finally did them a service by reading it and...yeah. Written in the early 1900s, gothic-fantasy novel about a father and son looking for the reincarnation of a goddess they met in Egypt in a secret city in the himalayas. Had some engaging moments like surviving an avalanche and outwitting an evil queen but was ultimately a slog to finish. Time for some contemporary YA to cleanse the palette 😮‍💨

[Lanil Marasinghe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this after reading the first book Ayesha: A History or Adventure because I felt really curious about what'll happen to the characters. As the title implies the majestic Ayesha is returned in this book. I felt a bit bored while reading this. But the first books kept me really interested about what's coming next. Looking forward to read the sequel: She and Allan .. ..

[Devero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Questo "ritorno" di Lei, Ayesha, è chiaramente il segno che il romanzo originale aveva avuto un grande successo all'epoca. Perché è praticamente la riproposizione della stessa storia solo trasposta in Tibet. Con la differenza che se nell'originale c'erano momenti di sorpresa reali, qui è tutto telefonato e verboso, estremamente verboso.
Non va oltre la singola, misera stella.

[Israt Era · Rating 4 out of 5]

জোস 🌼

[শাহ্‌ পরাণ · Rating 3 out of 5]

শী পড়ে এক্সপেকটেশন বেশি ছিল। এক্সপেকটেশন অনুযায়ী ভালো লাগে নি। কিছুটা হতাশ হলাম।
এমনি পড়া যায়। খারাপ না।

[Fred Conrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

One really great chase scene right in the middle.

[Diletta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Più bello del precedente. La caratterizzazione dei luoghi e dei personaggi di Haggard è come un manuale per chi vuole scrivere di fantastico (e non probabilmente). In uno scenario ancora più incantato e mistico la bellezza e la personalità della donna eterna sono indimenticabili.

[Fahad Ahammed · Rating 4 out of 5]

টানটান উত্তেজনা এবং প্রেম।