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King Solomon's Mines

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King Solomon's Mines

By: H. Rider Haggard
Narrated by: Toby Stephens
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About this listen

Exclusively from Audible

On board a ship bound for Natal, adventurer Allan Quatermain meets Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good. His new friends have set out to find Sir Henry's younger brother, who vanished while seeking King Solomon's legendary diamond mines in the African interior. By strange chance, Quatermain has a map to the mines, drawn in blood, and agrees to join the others on their perilous journey.

The travellers face many dangers on their quest - the baking desert heat, the hostile lost tribe they discover and the evil 'wise woman' who holds the secret of the diamond mines. King Solomon's Mines is an exciting adventure that has gripped generations.

It is the first English story set in Africa and is considered to be the origin of the Lost World literary genre that inspired others such as Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King and HP Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.

Haggard wrote the novel as a result of a five-shilling wager with his brother to see whether he could write a novel half as good as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1883). The novel ended up becoming the best seller of 1885.

Narrator Biography

Toby Stephens is an award winning actor who has an extensive array of credits over stage, film, television and audiobooks. He narrated Ian Fleming's Bond, From Russia with Love, along with Jeffery Deaver's Carte Blanche: A James Bond Novel. Throughout his stage appearances he has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company appearing in a number of their productions; Theatre Royal Haymarket, The Almeida, The Donmar Warehouse and The Old Vic.

Toby Stephens film credits include the James Bond film, Die Another Day where he plays the villain Gustav Graves, All Things To All Men, Believe, The Journey and the Oscar-nominated film 13 Hours. He is well known for his role of Captain Flint in the Starz series Black Sails, other notable television credits include, And Then There Were None, the role of Edward Fairfax Rochester in a BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre, Walking The Dead, Robin Hood and Wired. In 2018 he will appear as John Robinson in the Netflix remake of the 1965 TV Series, Lost In Space.

©1951 H. Rider Haggard (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction King Fiction Royalty Funny Adventure British Legends

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All stars
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Many things have changed in the 140 years since this was written and some of the terms and phrases used jar with the modern ear but, that to one side, it’s a great story and well read.

Dated but a fine story

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3 upper class English men imperiously romp across southern Africa dominating the landscape, shooting the wildlife, enacting regime change amongst the locals, being generally patronising to the Black people they meet and looting diamonds. If this offends you or triggers you then this book definitely isn't for you. That aside I found it a great swashbuckling adventure not to be taken too seriously that was a quick listen with a fast paced plot and in places actually rather funny. The 19th Century imperialist viewpoint is central here and whilst very jarring with our modern world and our rightly held post colonial views it is interesting non the less as a piece of literature of its time.

The narration was brilliant and really captures the essence of the story and of the period in which it is set.

A classic 19 century action adventure

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What did you like most about King Solomon's Mines?

Apparently Africa was largely undiscovered at the time of this books publication, so this novel captured the imagination of the public. It is a fantastic African adventure story, perhaps written for buys. There is much travel and adventure, hunting of large game and war with warriors. Mystical tribes, black magic and Indiana Jones style exploration of ancient mines.

Not for the faint hearted, scenes of hunting and war are graphically explained.

By today's standards it also has more than its fair share of racism and sexism.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I quite liked the real Villian of the story, the mother of all witch doctors, Gagool. She adds a certain interest to the story by her total cruelty.

What about Toby Stephens’s performance did you like?

Toby Stephens performs this brilliantly. The middle of the book got a bit tedious at times and he kept me engaged.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Well I drove home listening to the last two hours and got so engrossed I missed my junction turn off on the motorway! The start and ending is brilliant, the middle is not so great but stick with it, the end is well worth the wait.

Any additional comments?

Read and enjoy keeping its historical context and time in mind.

Great African Adventure Story Of Its Time.....

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well read, thank you for bringing another classic to life.
look forward to more please.

just lovely.

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Bought for my husband who usually enjoys a good ripping yarn but sadly this failed to hold his attention. Partly because we forgot when it was written and the descriptive paragraphs of the elephant hunt. He has enjoyed other novels written by this author and he would listen to other books narrated by Toby Stephens.

So,so and dated...

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Just love the style of old fashioned writing. Great storyline and excellent reading. Romps along with such great use of the language.

Lovely language

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What an amazing book. You keep thinking, “cliche, cliche, cliche” but you then realise, this is the genesis of a whole genre. They arent cliche when its the first time they are written. The masculine ideal in the late 19th century had so much room for appreciation of fellow males form and character. Makes me wonder when we lost this and called our rejection of all compliments towards each other “old school masculinity” when it clearly wasnt. Glad that is changing. What a thought provoking read.

Where the cliche start!

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Not very politically correct but is a 'ripping yarn'. More blood than a blood bank but still a good tale.

OF ITS TIME

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It was a bit too slow-paced for for an adventure story and the writing is quite old-fashioned (the book was indeed written in 1885). It is still a nice listen and a good change of atmosphere: elephant hunters and diamond searchers in a wild South Africa.

Interesting but old-fashioned

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It has been a while since I've come across such a captivating book. A book so rich and vivid description of even the small details.

I highly recommend reading or listening to this book. It is well worth your time and will, perhaps, help awaken the adventurer in you or at least enrich your vocabulary.

I have throughly enjoyed this book

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