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    King Solomon's Mines
    King Solomon's Mines
    King Solomon's Mines
    Audiobook9 hours

    King Solomon's Mines

    Written by H. Rider Haggard

    Narrated by Patrick Tull

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    With all the adventure and suspense of an Indiana Jones movie, this 1885 novel recounts the journey of four men-three Englishmen and a regal native named Umbopa-who enter Africa's dark interior in search of the original site of King Solomon's Mines, reputed to be the location for a great stockpile of diamonds. Who and what these unlikely companions encounter along the way is the stuff of high adventure, one of the great jungle epics of all time.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 28, 2014
    ISBN9781490636399
    Author

    H. Rider Haggard

    H. Rider Haggard (1856–1925) was an English adventure novelist. Haggard studied law, but rather than pursuing a legal career took a secretarial position in what is now South Africa. His time there provided the inspiration for some of his most popular novels, including She (1887), an early classic of the lost world fantasy genre and one of the bestselling books of all time.

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    Reviews for King Solomon's Mines

    4/5

    65 ratings50 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This is, I think, the longest I have gone between re-reading of books -- more than 25 years ago I first read Haggard at a (horrible) sleep-away camp. (I think I also read "Starman Jones" while I was there, and I know I borrowed the "Pelman the Powershaper" series from one of the counselors). Some very small things I remembered: the chain-mail, the hag's trap. Almost all else had passed. A vivid adventure, and with a prose style so much better than we expect from genre fiction now. "A sharp spear," runs the Kukuana saying, "needs no polish"
    • 5/5
      It is seldom that a book, even a classic, grabs me like this one. I am in love!Story construction, narrator's voice, elegant turn of phrase, wonderful characters. It's all there. I'm sorry it took me so long to find it.
    • 4/5
      A rattling adventure story that, if anything, I found rather too fast to read. It lacked some of the depth of the author's other classic, She. Quite a dramatic final section.
    • 5/5
      Classic adventure story. Without Haggard's Alan Quartermain, we would not have Indiana Jones!
    • 4/5
      This is an old fashioned adventure yarn and its hero, Alan Quatermain, is a direct ancestor of Indiana Jones. I'm not going to claim that Haggard even at his best is the same order of classic as the best by Charles Dickens, the Brontes, George Eliot or Thomas Hardy. But like fellow Victorians Arthur Conan Doyle or Robert Louis Stevenson or Rudyard Kipling, Haggard really could spin a good yarn. Ten of his books are on my bookshelves. I gobbled those up in my teens and most I remember very, very well even decades later. My favorite of his novels involved Ayesha, known as She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, especially the book Wisdom's Daughter. King Solomon's Mines is his most famous novel though, probably helped by the film of that title. It does have humor, some unforgettable scenes and images, and lots of adventure and daring do. Yet I could list several novels by Haggard I liked better. And I think that has to do with Quatermain himself, the epitome of the "Great White Hunter" with the kind of casual racism of the age and glory in bagging game you might expect. I prefer Haggard's Eric, the Viking from Eric Brighteyes. Or Olaf from The Wanderer's Necklace. Or his Odysseus from his Homer homage written with Andrew Lang, The World's Desire. And above all his indomitable Ayesha, one of the great heroines of Victorian literature. So while this is Haggard's best known work, I don't think it's necessarily his best or the one a contemporary reader would enjoy the most.
    • 5/5
      By common consent one of the greatest adventure novels ever written. Much better than the very silly racist movie with Sharon Stone. Haggard knew Africa and shows real respect for his African characters, notably Ignosi --in fact, in some ways Ignosi seems to maneuver European explorers into taking him back to claim his thron.
    • 5/5
      Themes: Exploration and conquest, hunting, long lost heirs, missing brothers, starcrossed lovers, witchcraft, raceSetting: South Africa about 1890 maybe?Yes, this has some graphic descriptions of an elephant hunt. In fact, the main character, Allan Quartermain is a hunter. That's how he makes his living, killing animals, especially elephants, for their hides and their ivory. Yes, there is a lot of racism in the book. Some racial epithets, but even more a feeling of white man's superiority that permeates the whole book. By the end of the book, I think that the white folks are more tolerant of the black, but there is still a gap. So if that is going to keep you from enjoying the book, I'm warning you now not to pick it up.But I loved it. I'm not sure what it says about me that I could overlook that, if that means there are some deep hidden character flaws or if it means that I am more shallow than the rest or what, but I stinking loved this book. It was a kick butt adventure yarn. Elephant stampedes, Sheba's Breasts (that made me giggle), treasure maps, missing brothers, diamond mines, evil witch doctor ladies, it totally has it all. And I got it for free for my Kindle. You absolutely can't beat that. Now I'm going to find more by this author and save them for when I'm having a really rotten day and need something absorbing and fun to make me feel better. 5 stars.
    • 5/5
      In a nutshell, this is a proper old-fashioned adventure yarn. It is narrated by the now-iconic Allan Quatermain, an English hunter making his living shooting game in South Africa. He is on a boat returning to his home in Durban when he meets Sir Henry Curtis and his friend, naval officer Captain John Good. Sir Henry is attempting to find his brother, last seen heading out on a suicidal mission across the desert in search of King Solomon's legendary diamond mines. He enlists Quatermain's (rather reluctant) help and the three set out for the mountains, aided by a crudely-drawn map left to Quatermain by the last fool to attempt the journey.What follows is a real Indiana Jones story that had me completely absorbed from start to finish. First the desert must be navigated, then there are mountains to cross, only for the exhausted trio to find themselves embroiled in a bitter tribal war on the other side. It could have been so dull, but Quatermain's plentiful dry humour and beautiful flights of description proved irresistable. The excitement and suspense is genuinely riveting - there are a couple of deliciously gruesome moments that sent me mentally diving behind my sofa cushion - and when I reached the last page I felt utterly bereft. Having been so completely immersed in the trio's African exploits, I wasn't quite sure what I could read next that could POSSIBLY compare (always the sign of a great book!).The characters are exquisite creations, each and every one of them. Sir Henry, the great fair Viking with his deep integrity and ferocious strength as a warrior. Captain Good, with his eye glass, impressive swearing abilities (never rendered here, by the way!) and determination to dress like a gentleman despite the harsh conditions. Even foul old Gagool, the ancient and evil Kukuana witch doctress, was so brilliantly drawn that I felt a wave of revulsion every time she graced the page with her presence. The biggest thing I'll take away from the book, the element that will stick with me the most, is the incredible set-piece imagery, some of which wouldn't seem out of place in a Lord of the Rings film. I think certain 'snapshots' from the book are forever imprinted on my memory, they're so unforgettable. The great twin mountain peaks at sunrise. A wounded bull elephant charging through the trees. Key moments from the tribal war. The moment when the trio first enter the Kukuana Place of Death (that was perhaps the most memorable scene of all for me). I mean... wow. I'm actually glad that no decent film adaptation of the book has ever been made, because now I'm not tempted to watch it. It'd take a damn fine movie to match up to the pictures in my mind! Perhaps I should write to Peter Jackson...
    • 4/5
      I listened to an audiobook version of this from Librivox. Being a story about a bunch of white guys wandering around Africa in the 19th century, it's unsurprisingly quite amazingly racist in parts, but the whole epic-quest aspect was fun. I liked the bit when they were trapped in a cave full of diamonds, and sat around going "lol irony! you can't eat diamonds! woe."
    • 4/5
      This book is a light and easy read. It's fairly fast-paced, although it does get a bit bogged down in the middle with the struggle between the rival Kukuana kings. It's got a bit of a potboiler feel to it, with plenty of things thrown into the mix.Overall, it's a good read as long as you don't take it seriously and you're not looking for great literature.
    • 3/5
      Written in slightly old-fashioned prose, it is the story of a search for a lost brother. It will take them through the desert, through cold mountain reaches, to meet the evil King on the other side of the mountain, and to involve themselves in a war. It is one desperate adventure after another. Shockingly for the modern day reader, the ideas of the time period are highlighted, and the reader will probably recoil from the hunting of elephants, and the deaths of so many characters during the course of the story. It has parts that are bloody, gruesome, and unsavory.If nothing else, however, it's a good, classic story to have under the belt for all those references to it in other stories, shows, and movies.
    • 4/5
      Great white hunter and guide Allan Quartermaine has been hired by Sir Henry Curtis to aid in the search for his missing brother who disappeared in a remote region of Africa. There, it is rumored, that the source of King Solomon's legendary wealth can be found. Curtis and Quartermaine are joined by Captain Good.This, of course, is the tale of their journey, and the hazards and wonders they experienced.King Solomon's Mines was the prototype of Indiana Jones type adventure stories, and was great fun to read!
    • 3/5
      King Solomon's Mines was reputedly written on a wager, with H. Rider Haggard betting a friend that he could write a better adventure novel than Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. It's a classic adventure novel, with three stiff upper lip Englishmen venturing into the South African veldt in search of a lost brother and the fabled treasures of King Solomon's mines.I haven't read Treasure Island, but if it's anything like Stevenson's Kidnapped, which I read and enjoyed a few weeks ago, I would personally say that Haggard failed his bet. King Solomon's Mines contains all the elements of a proper adventure novel - kitting up for an expedition, nearly dying in the wilderness, uncovering a Lost World kingdom, huge battles, restoring a rightful king, beiing trapped in a treasure chamber etc. - it's almost as though he's following a recipe. I found myself quite bored throughout, particularly during the wooden and lifeless battle scenes. This is fairly typical of 19th century novels, as far as I'm concerned, and it was more that Kidnapped pleasantly surprised me than that King Solomon's Mines let me down. But Stevenson is certainly the better writer; he has a wit and a charm about him that is wholly lacking in Haggard, which is unsurprising, given that the latter wrote a formulaic novel just to win five pounds.
    • 4/5
      This was a great read and I would reconment it to any teen that enjoys quest and adventure stories. Just because it is old (classic) does not mean its not great!
    • 2/5
      For such a short story, this tiny book took an awfully long time to read.
    • 4/5
      Before reading A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen I’d never heard of Allan Quatermain. So I went into this with low expectations and was more than pleasantly surprised at what I found. This adventure story is more about friendship than treasure. Sir Henry Curtis (Incubu) is searching for his last brother who was last scene on his way to find the illusive King Solomon’s Mines, which are allegedly filled with diamonds. Curtis hires Quatermain (Macumazahn) to travel with him with the stipulation that if Quatermain dies, which he fully expects to, Curtis will provide for his son. Curtis’ friend Captain John Good (Bougwan) will also embark on the quest. As the three men begin their journey they have no idea what’s in store for them; harsh desserts, elephant hunting, a war between tribes and so much more. Though parts of the story were predictable, they were still entertaining and the plot never lags. The adventure story had real heart, which made it stand apart from more generic versions. I loved Quatermain’s honesty. There are moments when he says he doesn’t want to fight because it’s senseless, courage be damned. He’s honorable and sincere, a true friend to the end. I absolutely thing he deserves a spot in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
    • 5/5
      A classic adventure story that still has the power to grab you. Chocked full of humour, Alan and his friends battle across the desert hunting elephants, dying of hunger, duping the natives and getting themselves in scrapes. Complete with happy ending. Marvellous.
    • 3/5
      This book started out OK for me but was then sunk by racist references and appalling animal slaughter. Even if I were willing to give those drawbacks a pass as merely a time capsule of the views at the time the book was written, I couldn't forgive the lengthy and incredibly boring time spent on battles in the middle of the book. I kept listening to the audio book in the hope that the protagonists would eventually reach the mines. When they finally got to the mines, the story picked up for me, but I still wish that I had skipped this book.
    • 4/5
      Classic adventure story although the Victorian attitude towards the native 'savages' of Africa was a bit much in a few places. A word of warning to the squeamish, there are some pretty grisly parts although not too graphic by today's standards.

      Some significant differences from the Stewart Granger movie - most notably the fact that, instead of a wife searching for her lost husband, it is a brother which eliminates all the romantic aspects. I found Alan Quatermain a more interesting character as a widower & self-confessed coward than Granger's he-man (although I adore Stewart Granger). Overall, a better story than you might expect.
    • 3/5
      An exciting fast paced book; but the reader should beware that the book was published in 1885 and does reflect the racist attitudes of the time. Lovers of animals might also be offended by the wholesale slaughter of elephants etc within. That said however, the work is well written,with a good plot and plenty of interesting dialogue.
    • 5/5
      Classic adventure story, a secret map and hidden treasure, only involving a trek across the desert to become fabulously rich. Told with a, at the time reasonable, white man's view of black africans. It comes across very perculiar to modern tastes. However later chapters when the tribesmen are found do rectify the balance somewhat.
    • 3/5
      Classic adventure book, great for young boys or anyone that likes a straight forward adventure.
    • 5/5
      Great adventure story. Am already collecting all the other Allan Quatermain books to read - and other books by H Rider Haggard too. Love finding a 'new' author to collect... :)
    • 3/5
      Great adventure story, one of the first of its genre. Lost diamonds, biblical legendary, forgotten peoples, war, and the restoration of a king. A search for lost diamonds turns into an amazing adventure. My modern day sensibilities had trouble with what was acceptable over 100 years ago (elephant hunters and they even eat Giraffe steaks!) Even from this adventure novel there are great life lessons:"What is life? Tell me, O white men, who awise, who know the secrets of the world, and the world of the stars, and the world that lies above and around the stars; who flash your words from afar without a voice: tell me, white men, the secret of our life--whither it goes and whence it comes!You cannot answer me: you know not, Listen, I will answer. Out of the dark we came, into the dark we go. Like a storm-driven bird at night we fly out of Nowhere; for a moment our wings are sen in the light of the fire, and lo we are gone again into the Nowhere. Life is nothing. Life is all. It is the Hand with which we hold off Death. It is the glow-worm that shines in the night-time and is black in the morning. It is the white breath of the oxen in winter; it is the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself at sunset." p 65
    • 4/5
      King Solomon’s Mines is a one of the first books considered a young man’s novel, one of the late Victorian classics of that genre and introduces us to Allan Quartermain. The novel starts with a party of three in search of adventure as well as locating one of the adventurer’s brothers, who had been estranged across long distances due to some brotherly rivalry. Part of the novel is a travelogue of their trek into ever more remote African territory. Then the novel takes an interesting political turn and shows a civil war among an ancient people related to the Zulu before going into the mines themselves.

      This is a satisfying novel on many levels. It has intriguing historical speculations, great plots and characters, and a worldview that manages to defend the importance of family, loyalty, honesty and decency while also showing respect and providing dignity to men and women of a wide variety of ethnic origins. It's a novel, that for its time, was quite enlightened. The action scenes are intense and the reader feels like a spectator desperate for our three heroes to be come out victorious.

      This is an action packed novel with excellent characters, a good prose style that avoids too many extraneous details. The views expressed in King Solomon's Mines may seem politically incorrect to our modern eyes but were typical of the era. If you are looking for a reasonably brisk and worthwhile work of classic adventure novel, this is a very satisfying read for readers of all ages.
    • 4/5
      Sometimes a classic is a classic just because it provides so much entertainment to readers over the years. This is just a good fun read. Don't look for any deep social comment. Just take it as a fun entertaining story in which every guy can think " I am Allan Quartermain." This has obviously been the inspiration for so many of the adventure stories that have been written since King Solomon's Mines publications in the late 19th century. Just read it and have fun.
    • 4/5
      This is the first Rider Haggard novel I've read, and it was a hoot. Ripping adventure in the fictional wilds of Africa, leavened by some surprisingly lyrical descriptive and even contemplative passages. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      I love classic adventure stories, and this one did not disappoint! It wasn't an epic, like Count of Monte Cristo, but it offered the reader plenty of continuous excitement and action on par with an Indiana Jones movie. The novel tells of Allan Quartermain, a 19th century elephant hunter in Southern Africa, who is convinced by two English men (Curtis & Good) to help search for Curtis's brother and hopefully find overflowing riches at the elusive mines of King Solomon on the way. The group is joined by Umbopa, an African porter who, as it turns out, has a surprising secret. Many challenges hinder their road to fortune ... witches, tribal warfare, desert dehydration, angry elephants... the thrills just don't stop. Can they find the elusive diamonds and still have their lives to show for it?
    • 3/5
      An enjoyable 'lost world' adventure story that was a touch more progressive about the 'natives' than I expected.
    • 3/5
      I came across this for the first time when I was only in the second year of secondary school, and is one of the few books I've actually read twice - I think.There are still echoes of Britain's imperial past on every page of this adventure story; it is a document of the time in which it was written, and as such is very enlightening, if a little disturbing.The adventure itself is quite the exotic one - Africa, in the time of real exploration and the English gentleman abroad; treasure; tribes; guns and so forth.