Within the pages of this novel is a tale of legend, treasure, adventure, friendship and warfare. H. Ridder Haggard twines all these components together in an intriguing fashion. Making it so close to reality that it seems likely to have happend long ago. The character, Alan Quatermain retells the journey taken in deep Africa with his comrades, reflecting on the irony of their many precarious situations. What I liked most was his observations of life and the matter-of-fact truth in it. How the characters were drawn to contemplate the value of life and what makes it worth living. Their quest does turn gruesome at points. But the author provides some very clever solutions to their perils, which sometimes are quite humorous.

The last five chapters are the highlight of the book. These climaxes are expertly written and will keep you reading till the very end. The first few pages might seem confusing, but it makes perfect sense when reading it thru the second time. King Solomon's Mines is a novel with riveting, good vs. evil character development and it is a worthwhile read. I recommend it to anyone who likes a first-rate adventure.

Out of all the different publications to choose from, I say consider a copy from Regnery Publishing, Inc. ... 1999. For it has an easy to read layout and print. It also has numerous typos and makes me wonder if that isn't directly from the 1885 original. Other than that, the book has a nice introduction to the author and his works. Giving some Hollywood film history of King Solomon's Mines along with other interesting notes. This really opens up the story to the reader, and makes it a memorable one.

I was required to read King Solomon's Mines at school (about three thousand years ago), and was delighted to see that there's a new edition in the Oxford World's Classics series. And indeed this is a true classic adventure, somewhere between Treasure Island and Around The World in Eighty Days. Though some of the language may now seem a little stereotyped and cliched, it was certainly not that way when it was written over 100 years ago, and the real cliches are resident with modern imitations, like Indiana Jones. However, since imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, I guess we shouldn't complain.

Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925) is best known for his African adventure novels, notably King Solomon's Mines and She (1886). Their strengths are that they are not only undeniably amongst the most exciting and thrilling adventures ever written, but that they capture the very essence of the colonial empires - an attitude that is stubbornly maintained today by American imperialism - of treating the natives fondly, but with a certain superiority and disdain.

The essence of the story is the adventure of an elephant hunter as his safari heads into the interior of South Africa in search of a fabled diamond mine, and to rescue the missing brother of an English gentleman who accompanies him. They are aided by an enigmatic native guide who is more than he seems. As they stumble into Zulu territory, they are drawn into the local politics and discover that their European methods are less effective here, and that they need to learn new tricks. Quickly, they find themselves in deadly peril from a merciless king and a malevolence sorceress who conspires against them.

In the end, King Solomon's Mines is more than just the sum of all its parts because Haggard's intelligent and observant characterizations give him the opportunity to put together a revealing social commentary about race and class, while still telling a captivating story. Against the conventional wisdom of the time, Haggard treats his black characters sympathetically, and even dares to suggest that English society might be less than perfect (an audacious heresy in Victoria's reign). So, like Gulliver's Travels, King Solomon's Mines not only tells a great adventure story, it leaves the reader with something more robust to think about.

Reading "King Solomon's Mines" reminded me of the joke about the guy who sees his first Shakespere play, and when asked what he thought of it, said, "real good, but so many cliches". So it is with this classic adventure story: so much of the action and plot devices were similar to what I remembered from other adventure stories (and comic books and movies), yet Rider Haggard came decades earlier. Here is one of the prototypes (along with Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island", written just a few years earlier) of the modern adventure-action story. There is lots to admire in this well crafted story: great action, excitement, characters, and exotic locations. If there's a kid you know that only wants to watch television or play video games, read this book with him or her. It shows what words on a page can do in the imagination of the reader.

It is also interesting to see the book in its historical perspective. "King Solomon's Mines", 1885, records European ignorance of and fascination with Africa, which was still partly (as Joseph Conrad later called it in "Heart of Darkness") a blank area on the map: The source of the Nile had been discovered only two decades earlier; Henry Stanley and Richard Burton were still living, the memories of David Livingstone and John Speke were still fresh; and the Berlin Africa Conference was taking place just as the novel was going into print. If that's not of interest to you, skip it. Want to curl up with a good book? Here's one for you and your kids.