chalkletters's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
King Solomon’s Mines was the ‘colonial’ half of a post/colonial literature module that I studied at university, and there’s certainly a lot to say about the colonialism and the treatment of race in the novel. At the time, I was surprised to find that, despite that, it’s a very easy book to read. The beautiful descriptions of the landscape reminded me of Island, though King Solomon’s Mines is a great deal more violent. Brief, brutal moments really make an impact, despite the fact that they’re not dwelt upon by any of the surviving characters. Before the war was even declared, I numbered the body count at 108.
H Rider Haggard’s characters are enjoyable, but none of them really has an arc of development throughout the novel. The three British men are much the same at the end of King Solomon’s Mines as they were at the beginning, despite having undergone a unique adventure. Even Umbopa, whose circumstances change the most, is essentially the same person throughout. I haven’t read enough adventure stories to know whether this is typical, but I didn’t feel disappointed by it. King Solomon’s Mines is driven by plot, not character, and H Rider Haggard certainly delivers on the adventure premise.
The thing that most surprised me was how interested I was in the tactics of the battles. This isn’t something that I usually look for in books; as someone who struggles to visualise in much detail, overly complicated fight sequences can leave me confused and disorientated. But H Rider Haggard makes everything very simple and clear, and is thus able to establish the stakes in a way that might otherwise have gone over my head.
I don’t know if anything from King Solomon’s Mines will really stay with me over time, but it was interesting to revisit it! It’s made me curious about adding more classic adventure stories to my TBR, simply because it’s not a genre that I have a lot of history with.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Racism
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