Book review – “The Prisoner of Zenda” by Anthony Hope

Marvellous adventure tale which still holds up well just like King Solomon’s Mines, primarily because of its central idea (man impersonates king), plus the creation of Ruritania, some clever plotting, galaxy of support characters (especially the great villain Rupert of Hentzau, beautiful Flavia and the devoted Sapt), brisk pace, dash of romance and royalty. Re-reading it I was surprised that Rupert doesn’t appear til halfway through (though he makes up for lost time); also it would be better to have one attack on the castle instead of two and have Rupert duel Randolf at the end (an error the excellent 1937 film version rectified). Still, glorious romantic fun.