Review: Exciting story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 9, 2014
When I was younger, my mother got me the abridged version of King Solomon's Mine, which I still have, but I recently remembered the story and wanted to read the original. Of course, as it is with a lot of classical books written in the late 1800s to early 1900s, certain offensive words were used and I had to learn to overlook it as times were different back then.The story itself was extraordinary. Allan Quartermain is approached by Henry Curtis and Captain Good about Sir Henry's brother George aka Neville, who had made Allan's acquaintance two years prior. Quartermain tells them about Neville's plan to find King Solomon's Mine and after some convincing and a contract that benefits his son should he die while accompanying them on their journey, Quartermain agrees to help Sir Henry find his missing brother. They join with some natives including a Zulu named Umbopa who act a  their servants during the journey. The journey takes them across a vast desert, up steep snow covered slopes to the land of the Kukuanas. While there, they meet the terrible King Twala and the evil witch Gagool. Quartermain and his companions are forced to convince the Kukuanas that they are from the stars in order to save themselves from being executed. They quickly realize that the Twala was an evil, murderous man and they conspired to fight against him and return the rightful King to the throne.The story is exciting and fast paced, especially when they get to their destination. If you are looking for a book for a young reader, I recommend getting the abridged version, which leaves out certain words.Please note that the N word is used twice early in the book, although the second time it was used, the writer (writing from Quartermain's perspective) said he did not like the word and decides to use the word Natives instead.