This was a fun read and more or less what one might expect from a Jules Verne novel. I read it aloud to my son who is 2 months old, so really just so he could listen to my voice and odd words rather than plot obviously. It is however quite a good book for an adolescent though. Like other Verne novels it does extol the master subject relationship a bit more than I like, but never in a mean way and always praising the servant at least.

Each chapter is nice and short, self contained, and each has some action at least, though each is headed by a chapter title that will immediately be a giant spoiler. This was seemingly the style at the time but 140 years later it's still annoying. I'll carry on reading Jules Verne but for this one it feels more aimed towards young adult readers in which case I think books by Robert Louis Stevenson from a similar time are a little more fun.