The sequel to King Solomon's Mines, this novel offers an adventure of similar quality, and the worst thing I can say about it is that it's perhaps a bit too similar to the first. No, there are no Indiana-Jones-like exploration of an archaeological site with hidden treasure, but there's a similar hidden civilization, a big battle (visits by Quatermain & Co always seem to bring havoc) and it's another adventure with the same main characters: Allan Quatermain, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, accompanied by a different but equally noble and brave indigenous warrior.

I was sorry that the story revealed that Harry, Allan's beloved son, had died, dealing our hero a strong blow.

I quite enjoy Quatermain's narration, his philosophical reflections and how his modesty leads him to present his accomplishments as lesser than they really are. Goodbye Allan! ( )

Well that was unexpected..... ( )

2 thumbs up. One if my favorite books ( )

I always imagine that the novels of Sir Rider Haggard are a kind of literary precursor of the Indiana Jones films. In fact, with Robert Louis Stevenson, Haggard was part of the literary reaction against domestic realism that has been called a romance revival. While Stevenson listened to the throbbing drums in the South Seas, Haggard painted a romantic picture of valiant Victorian heroes and innocent, blonde maidens threatened by hordes of un-Christian and blood-thirsty Africans.

King Solomon’s Mines (1885), She (1887) and Allan Quatermain (1887) are African adventure stories. It is a bit strange that while King Solomon’s Mines is clearly situated in South Africa, with frequent references to Zulus, the Transvaal and Boers, Allan Quatermain is supposedly set in Kenya, but the description is still mostly like South Africa, and the introduction of the Masai is clearly through literary sources. In fact, at the end of the novel Haggard includes a page of "Authorities" to fend of criticism for plagiarism.

Unlike King Solomon’s Mines and She, which presented a fairly unified story, Allan Quatermain consists of two story elements which are only loosely connected as they happen along their journey. As in later Victorian stories, such as Conan Doyle's The lost world the lost civilization is discovered after travelling through a screening setting.

The reason we still read the novels of Sir Rider Haggard is that they were not as offensive about white supremacy and denigrating about the native Africans as some of his contemporaries. One may wonder how long we can bear them in the literary canon before they are scrubbed as products of the colonial mind and white supremacy. However, in the meantime they are highly entertaining, romantics adventure stories. ( )

Having read King solomons mines as a kid i hated Haggard and Quartermain, but i eventually gave She a go and found it surprisingly good. So i decided to give another Quartermain story a try and pick this because i heard he dies in it so thought i'd at least have a happy ending if nothing else. So thoughts.. well it ain't bad at all. Trying hard to remember the details now though, read it some months back. A number of african adventure incidents before they finally reach a lost civilisation then a war breaks out for some reason but i do recall thinking it was quite decent and now i can enjoy my league of extraordinary comics without my old hatred of quartermain spoiling things. ( )