The Lost World

I recently went to North Carolina to stay with some friends, and whilst there my friend Omayra took me to a wonderful shop that sold books for as little as 10 cents each. This little beauty cost me 50 cents, but that was still very good value for money.

I have already read one novel called The Lost World, the Michael Crichton sequel to Jurassic Park. I think, on the whole, I prefer this. I had never heard of Professor Challenge before, so I was a little skeptical of the print on the back advertising him as second to only Sherlock Holmes in creations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But after reading this, I shall be eventually be seeking out more adventures of the professor.

At the risk of banging the same drum until it breaks, this really is what Twenty Thousand Leagues... should have been. Clocking in at under half the size, The Lost World packs twists and turns and adventures galore, whereas Verne had a bit of adventure, a long twist and then nothing much. Drama and tension and excitement abound in The Lost World and I really enjoyed it, reading most of it on the flight back from Raleigh to New York. It doesn't just focus upon dinosaurs either. I shan't ruin it for anyone, but there's more than you'd expect and it goes to show that Conan Doyle was a master storyteller. That's not to say that this story is perfect, as the last few chapters before the ending seemed a little rushed and vague, but I would recommend this tale as you probably would enjoy it.

Notable quotes that tickled my fancy:

• Better be a repulsed lover than an accepted brother.
• "That's done it! Stool of penance! said he. To my amazement he stooped, picked her up, and placed her sitting upon a pedestal of black marble in the angle of the hall. It was at least seven feet high, and so thin that she could hardly balance upon it.
• Last night, Challenger said he never cared to walk on the Thames Embankment and look up the river, as it was always sad to see one's own eventual goal. He is convinced, of course, that he is destined for Westminster Abbey. Summerlee retorted, however, with a sour smile, by saying that he understood that Millbank Prison has been pulled down.
• It was that foolish, irresitable Latin impulse to be dramatic which brought his own downfall.