King Solomon's Mines

After Quartermain's appearance in League of Extraordianry Gentleman, I decided to go back and read (hear) the orriginal. I was delighted. Yes many of the points of view are dated, but his is the grandfather of all the Indiana Jones "go find the treasure" stories. Marvelous details, epic battles, evil ancient sorceress, noble exile reclaiming his heritage, and being saved by the eclipse. A tale to charm a cold winter night, or a hot summer one. I'm off to hear the next one!

I loved every minute of this book. It was transporting. What else could you hope for - dashing hunters, desert adventures, a fortune in gems, a tyrranical king, a noble battle for justice, an evil ancient sorceress, and tragic true love.

Patrick Tull is one of my favorite narrators and I would listen to almost anything he does. His rendition of the sorceress Gagool is nothing short of fabulous. I will never, ever forget the wicked "ha ha! hee hee!" as done by Tull. Delightfully evil.

Do not expect 21st century values from this book, as they are not there. It has the capability to offend on many levels due to racism, sexism, and shocking environmental attitudes. But if you can get past that and accept it on its own terms, you are in for a treat.

I had a lot of fun with this book. It is, of course, somewhat dated in its style and attitudes, but these lend, in my opinion, a kind of antiquated charm to a solid story of high adventure. Patrick Tull's narration seems to me to be a perfect fit with the material, and I would enjoy hearing more of his work. I highly recommend this book.

What a great audiobook. The story is classic and the narration is superb. I'll listen to all Patrick Tull's audios. The writing is very dated in terms of racism, classism, sexism and nationalism. As you would expect for 1886 and and for Haggard, the quintessential insular Englishman.

The other reviewer thought it got off to a slow start but I loved the detail. Haggard, or rather Quartermain, describes, provisions, rounds of ammunition and other gear like a true hunter and I loved his details about the colt revolvers and the winchester repeating rifles taking the same caliber ammo and how important that is in a survival situation. Great stuff! Contrast that to our modern weapons where every piece of equipment takes a different ammunition.

Yes, it's racist. But that's merely a reflection of the time and culture in which this splendid book was written. I loved this book as a boy. Encountering it again is like finding a long-lost friend. The reader is most engaging.

Top five

Great battle scene

Takes on narrator' character splendidly

Loved the presentation

I think Tull's reading made this one of my new favs

King Solomon's Mines is a fun adventure story, and while I was listening to it I enjoyed the plot very much, but I did not enjoy the narrator. He read everything very dry, whether it was an exciting part or mundane part, and it took me out of the adventure a few times. It kind of felt like Grandpa Simpson just kept talking. That might be due to the writing as well, because the book is quite dated. The story itself is wonderful, and it would be great if someone revamped it for a modern version.

Loved this narrator. Perfect for this book. Each character came to life.

Yes. The narrator made it a joy to listen to.

I am actually disappointed thus far with this book the story is just dragging on and on and on, less than two hours to go and they are hardly near the mine yet.

The Narrator is good, and I think he may be my only reason for being able to stick it out this far.

Patrick Tull is a master narrator, in a league of his own, and I think I would pay to hear him read the yellow pages. Having been spellbound by his narration of the Aubrey/Maturin series, I decided to try King Solomon's Mines. Written in the height of the Victorian era, it is a jumble of stereotypes, many of which are fairly disgusting (wholesale slaughter of elephants for sheer pleasure, degrading remarks about some physical features of African natives, women, etc.). The story line is hardly better than that of an average comic book, utterly predictable at every turn. The characters are shallow, fake, and uninteresting at best. For all the hype about how the book was written to satisfy a bet, that is exactly what you get, a second rate novel written by an amateur.