Product Description
Mark Twain once famously said “there was but one solitary thing about the past worth remembering, and that was the fact that it is past and can’t be restored.”Ê Well, over recent years, The British Library, working with Microsoft has embarked on an ambitious programme to digitise its collection of 19th century books.There are now 65,000Ê titles availableÊ (that’s an incredible 25 million pages) of material ranging from works by famous names such asÊ Dickens, Tro… More >>
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Older book which is what I expected but in good condition. Haven’t read it as yet,but looks interesting.
Rating: 5 / 5
- – That was C. S. Lewis’s verdict.
Having read about twenty of Haggard’s novels, I thought this one was unusual in having a bickering couple for the love interest, fairly frequent references to Leonard or Juanna being annoyed, etc. The happy ending is rather muted. Also, while Leonard is basically in the usual Haggard mold of physically strong hero, for quite a lot of the book he is passive, reacting to events. A third difference is that the book is almost free of the spiritualistic musings that one finds in many of Haggard’s books. There’s virtually no supernatural element here, too.
In the second half, things maybe drag just a leetle, but I have to say that Haggard pays us off well with that amazingly cinematic climax!
Ballantine reprinted a few Haggard novels in the Seventies (two in its Adult Fantasy series — this one and The World’s Desire, which I don’t remember very well); it is much better than When the World Shook, which has pages of talk — which was obviously much easier to write than the narration and description that are lavishly deployed here.
Rating: 4 / 5
Although not of the Allan Quartermain storyline, which has some great novels, and not one of Haggard’s more famous novels, I view “People of the Mist” as the best novel that Haggard ever wrote. I have read it several times and it is still fresh and exciting.
Rating: 5 / 5
For me, most classic writers aren’t really that interesting. But with this book, I’ve found a “new” author that I really like. I’ll definitely be buying his collected works on the Kindle.
Rating: 5 / 5
What a great story! Haggard wrote adventure fiction like no one else. His pace is slow but it feels right. He isn’t in any hurry. He sometimes spends a paragraph or two with stunning descriptions, painting a picture in the mind. But the unfolding plot is totally gripping, and I don’t mind the time it takes to make it through.
Haggard’s characters are lovable. It is what makes his stories so effective. If you don’t genuinely care about the characters, then you won’t care about all the dangers they encounter. Watching Leonard, Juanna, and Otter face death over and over is gripping because you like them.
Haggard’s settings are fantastic! He really knew how to create a vivid fantasy world. His descriptions are carefully integrated into the plot too. At one point in the novel, Leonard (a “guest” of the People of the Mist) is led by natives through a dark tunnel to a wide-open space in pitch blackness. Leonard can hear the sound of water rushing as if far below. He can hear the murmuring of crowds of natives as though from afar. Leonard waits the coming dawn when the natives will perform a ritual. How Haggard slowly doles out information as the dawn slowly breaks is amazing. While it is still dark, Leonard probes around with his foot. He discovers that about 2 feet in front of him is a drop-off. Then as the light begins to dawn, he can see that he is suspended far above the ground with snow capped mountains all around. Then as the light increases, he realizes he is standing on the outstretched palm of a huge monstrous idol he had seen from far off. The palm isn’t nearly large enough for comfort, and a hundred feet below him is a river and a crowd of natives. He looks up to discover that his love, Juanna, whom the natives think is a goddess, has been placed a hundred feet above him, on the head of the idol. Once this weird stage is set, the action is ready to begin, and its action you’ll never forget.
Haggard was also a thoughtful man. He often has poignant insights into the human condition: desire for love, the nobility of sacrificing yourself for a friend, loyalty, and the impossibility of complete happiness in this life, to name a few.
I have read 5 or 6 Haggard novels now, and People of the Mist may be the best yet. If you like adventure, fantasy, romance, with a touch of philosophy and humor thrown in, you’ll love Haggard. My question is, why don’t people write like this anymore? And another question, Why hasn’t anyone done a film of this story? It would beat out “Indiana Jones” any day of the week.
Rating: 5 / 5