Following the death of his son, veteran hunter Allan Quatermain grows weary of the civilised comforts in England. He reunites with his companions, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good, to navigate the Tana River into the unmapped interior of East Africa. Their goal is a legendary white race living in seclusion. After surviving a massacre by Masai warriors and navigating a subterranean river, they discover Zu-Vendis, a hidden kingdom governed by the rival sisters Nyleptha and Sorais. The arrival of the foreigners triggers a violent civil war over royal succession and religious dominance.
This novel serves readers interested in Victorian lost-world fiction and the mechanics of colonial adventure. Historians and enthusiasts of the genre read it to observe the 19th-century fascination with forgotten civilizations and the rigid codes of masculine camaraderie. The reader finishes the book with a technical understanding of period weaponry, a glimpse into late-Victorian perspectives on racial hierarchy, and a detailed chronicle of a fictional military campaign within an isolated African geography.
Practical, outward-looking, clear-cut and escapist; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Curious Generalist. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1887
- Language
- EN
