I really liked the story but for some reason the pacing felt really slow for an action book.

This is a classic lost race fantasy novel, first published serially, then in book form in October, 1894.

It's the tale of a British adventurer seeking wealth in the wilds of Africa, finding romance, and discovering a lost race and its monstrous god.

The penniless Leonard Outram attempts to redress the undeserved loss of his family estates and his fiancee by seeking his fortune in Africa. In the course of his adventures, he and his Zulu companion Otter save a young Portuguese woman, Juanna Rodd, together with her nursemaid Soa, from slavery. Leonard and Juanna are plainly attracted to each other, but prone to bickering, and their romance is impeded by the watchful and jealous Soa. The protagonists seek the legendary People of the Mist, said to possess a fabulous hoard of jewels. On finding them, they immediately become embroiled in the turbulent political affairs of the lost race, which is riven by a power-struggle between its king and the priests of its giant crocodile god. The heroic Outram can do little more than react to events. The action climaxes in a hair-raising escape by tobogganning a large flat stone down a steep glacier.

The action set pieces are exciting and very well told. The romance is handled less well adroitly. The first few chapters could have been left out entirely; we could have learned all we needed to know about Outram's motivations through flashbacks or even a few simple expositions. Some of the class and race stereotypes don't age well, but the characters are definitely unique and interesting. Overall, a very enjoyable romp.

Pure classic. I love the "lost race" tales so this filled in my attention for a lots of time while on the subway on the way to school or home. It is a very good book.

ভাগ্যের ফেরে সকল ধন-সম্পদ হারিয়ে দিশেহারা হওয়ার পর ঘুরে দাড়ানোর শপথ নিয়ে লিওনার্ড অট্রাম আর টম অট্রাম পাড়ি দেয় আফ্রিকা মহাদেশে। পথিমধ্যে যোগ দেয় জুয়ানা রড়। ঘটনাক্রমে শুনতে পায় এক অদ্ভুত সভ্যতার কথা। তারপর আফ্রিকার গহীন অরণ্যে হারানো সেই সভ্যতা খুঁজে বেড়ায় তারা। হাজারো বিপদ, প্রাণী, আর শত্রুকে মোকাবেলা করার এক চমৎকার কাহিনী । উপভোগ না করে পারবেন না!

A fun and surprising adventure novel. Just an overall good listen.

Oh man. This book was a bit too old to enjoy. The adventure plot would have been fine but the dialogue was so old-fashioned and silly. Plus, it was racist. The mean slaver used the "n" word. The good guys had black friends but most of the black natives around them were expendable. They were considered stupid and cowardly, etc.

A fun, romantic jaunt into central Africa. An adventure among savages and human sacrifice and big rubies and even bigger reptiles. Racist, but riveting.

Welp. There was my first H. Rider Haggard novel. Standard 19th cent. tropes abounded, of course. The noble savage, the savage savage, the fiery (but fainting) woman. Exoticism (orientalism), colonialism, it's all here. Oh, and adventure too, I suppose. Juanna was a frustrating character for me, sometimes bold & quick-thinking, sometimes frail & timorous. "I couldn't *bear* to see this danger! You must blindfold me!" Oh, please!

But it's H. Rider Haggard. What did I expect?

"King Solomon's Mines" was a childhood favorite of mine, an all-out action/adventure spectacular that I enjoyed unreservedly long before I had an awareness of postcolonial or feminist theories. No doubt about it, H. Rider Haggard and his virtuous (and fictional) white supermen are a firm product of their time. Awareness of historical context is important, but I'm not one to get hung up on the shortcomings of previous generations. Every era has its blind spots, but good writing is good writing, and an author's work doesn't last over a century for no reason.

Nevertheless, those blind spots are certainly well in view of the modern reader of "The People of the Mist," another novel of high adventure in which the white male protagonist (WMP) pursues a fantastic treasure across the "Dark Continent" and finds a lost tribe. The following sentence, though wrenched from context, should give some idea of a few of the author's prejudices and assumptions: "Over her stood her lord and master, [her husband], his left hand twisted in her long hair, while with his right, in which he grasped a leather thong, despite her screams and entreaties, he administered to her one of the soundest and, be it added, best deserved thrashings that ever fell to the lot of erring woman."

The surprising thing about "The People of the Mist," however, is that this sort of overt misogyny is not necessarily typical of the book as a whole. Though obviously, to some extent, a sexist text, and far more a racist text, I was consistently surprised, particularly during the first half, by how the other characters consistently undercut the apparent supremacy of the story's WMP, Leonard Outram. Outram, through no fault of his own, is turned out of his ancient family manor in England and journeys to Africa hoping to either find a fortune that will restore his home and honor, or die trying. After kicking around the continent for awhile, opportunity knocks in the form of an old crone named Soa, who offers him a high-quality ruby to attempt to free her mistress, Juanna, from slavers, and many more should he succeed.

Naturally he does, though the adventure of taking on a secret fort full of slavers almost single-handed is not so much a subplot as a major portion of the action and adventure the novel has to offer. That accomplished, Soa undertakes to guide him to the land of her birth, where a fantastic tribe of lost people use a kingly treasure of rubies and sapphires in the worship of their terrible deity. Accompanying them are Juanna (for the will-they or won't-they romantic tension), and Francisco, a Catholic priest who was also rescued from the slavers. And I haven't even mentioned the most important character of all: Otter, Outram's African servant, who is described as a very ugly dwarf, but who acts as a superman in the story.

Outram has got to be the most passive protagonist I've ever encountered in an adventure story. He never acts, but is only acted upon, over and over from beginning to end. As a white man, he is the de facto leader of the ragged band, but Soa is the mastermind, Otter accomplishes every unbelievable feat of physical prowess, and even Juanna has an integral role to play in the plan. Surely even readers 118 years ago must have noticed that Outram does little more than wander dazedly through the plot and profit immeasurably from the skill of his friends and some disbelief-stretching good luck.

It's hard to believe that Haggard is being deliberately subversive, though I'm not sure how else to explain the incredible blandness of his main character (perhaps his lack of personality makes him a more successful surrogate for the reader). Still readers of "King Solomon's Mines" will recognize the stock nature of the Soa character, and Haggard appears to believe that, despite his obvious superiority in every way, Otter's best qualities are his unwavering loyalty and total subservience to his white master (his devotion has him on the brink of suicide multiple times).

This is certainly a lesser work, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't either a Haggard fan, or interested in the British colonial literature of the 1890s, but within either of those subgroups, there is much here that is interesting and worthwhile.

One of the most memorable adventures I've read to date. From the proud Briton in a forgotten land filled with traps, tribal superstition and hidden wealth.

I felt a great desire to explore the world after reading this tale, yet, in the same train of thought, I was comforted by my surroundings of spearless men who are not cannibals or mythical gods who desire the blood of the innocent.

This was Indiana Jones before Indiana became a thing. I loved the story and highly recommend it.