A review by lbrex
Ayesha: The Return of She, by H. Rider Haggard

3.0

I'm adding an extra star here. This book has an unpardonably slow beginning. If you thought Job, Holly, and Leo's adventures through Africa in _She_ lagged a bit, the travels through Tibet in this book and the resulting arrival in Kaloon are a rough go. Yet this book improves drastically when Ayesha finally returns in all of her glory. True, there is something less transgressive about her, but the fluidity of her identity and the scope of her plans for global domination are fascinating. She's going to marry Leo, appear to the people of Peking, slowly gain control over China, and then defeat all of the other nations of the world (including the diminutive continent of Europe). She is also a alchemist, she can turn iron into gold, and she will flood the global economy with her new gold, in effect destroying capitalism. Who, though, is Ayesha? Haggard may not be sure himself, but Haggard introduces a variety of possibilities. Perhaps she is an angel who fell in love with a human, perhaps she is the instrument of Isis, perhaps she believes in all religions, perhaps she is a Buddhist who cannot give up the idea of erotic love? It's more or less unclear, but it's fun to move through the possibilities.

I can't in good conscience recommend this to everyone, but if you want to read more Haggard, you can do far worse than this volume.