I really enjoyed this book even though it was a bit cheeky of Haggard to give Allan Quartermain another wife - "oh yeah didn't I mention her? Yeah I married her before Stella - told Stella all about her." Right.
But it's one of his most exciting novels, full of terrific action sequences - the initial siege of the farmhouse, Quatermain's trek to join the starving Voortrekkers, visiting the Zulu chief's kraal, the final massacre of the Boers, two shooting competitions (one ho-hum, the other very exciting with life and death stakes) Quatermain's court martial and escape.
The character of Marie is sketchily drawn (she's young and pretty and that's it) - there's a villainous rival in her lecherous cousin and further complications provided by her half-mad father. Both these things feel like they are straight out of Victorian stage melodramas (complete with a very unconvincing death bed confession with exonerates the hero) and the villain is so naughty you're surprised he's allowed to get away with what he does, but its provides for effective structure. The English-Boer clash adds to the drama (Marie is a Boer and her father is opposed to Quatermain).
Like a lot of Quatermain books it has a melancholy quality because you know that the hero is going to be widowed.
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