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jbarr5's review against another edition
4.0
Campbell's kingdom by Innes Hammond
About the oil fields in Canada with background of all the intricate details.
His grandfather had formed a company in Canada and he's now the holder of all of the company as his grandfather has died.
Early 1900's He had never given up on finding oil...hydroelectric production and plans...
Bruce travels to Canada and meets many of his grandfathers associates. The lawyers are trying to pressure Bruce to sign the deed over to them...
Lots of mysteries await him as he starts to solve what is going on..the survey reports were false and he has the real ones...could it be there is oil under the land?
Building of the dam and the sale of the land is a plan that is up for controversy.
Loved hearing of the land and the pure nature still there as the men climb up to the land.
When he first arrived in Canada he knew he only had a few short months of his life left but something happens to complicate it all.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
About the oil fields in Canada with background of all the intricate details.
His grandfather had formed a company in Canada and he's now the holder of all of the company as his grandfather has died.
Early 1900's He had never given up on finding oil...hydroelectric production and plans...
Bruce travels to Canada and meets many of his grandfathers associates. The lawyers are trying to pressure Bruce to sign the deed over to them...
Lots of mysteries await him as he starts to solve what is going on..the survey reports were false and he has the real ones...could it be there is oil under the land?
Building of the dam and the sale of the land is a plan that is up for controversy.
Loved hearing of the land and the pure nature still there as the men climb up to the land.
When he first arrived in Canada he knew he only had a few short months of his life left but something happens to complicate it all.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
sandin954's review against another edition
3.0
Published back in 1952 this was a classic adventure/suspense featuring a young English WW2 veteran who inherits a plot of land in the Rocky Mountain region in Canada. Listened to the audio version which was well narrated by Mark Elstob.
paul_cornelius's review against another edition
5.0
Hammond Innes did his best writing, I think, in the 1950s and 1960s. Campbell's Kingdom is a quintessential product of that era. It has all the Innes hallmarks, exotic locations, protagonists ripped from their secure world into nature's harsh and unrelenting environment, a commentary on man's perspective and relationship to his wider cosmos, and recurring patterns of urgency and tension. It is with the latter aspect that Innes excels perhaps more than usually in Campbell's Kingdom. I think this may have been the first time that I had to stop reading, because the tension was so keen. Not just once, but several times.
There was a bit of a surprise in this novel as well. Before reading it, I hardly imagined the Canadian wilderness as much of a landscape for an adventure novel. Canada has always seemed, well, sort of boring. But Innes brought it to life, along with its inhabitants and their lusts, greed, and mostly suppressed violence, which is just waiting to bust through.
The novel, meanwhile, is another in the series of books that Innes would devote to contrasting the wilderness to its exploitation. This time, it was oil drilling and mining under his microscope. The people who do this work come out looking pretty good, however, even as they spoil the forests, mountains, and meadows around them. Later on, Innes would take a much harsher tone towards this destruction.
There was a bit of a surprise in this novel as well. Before reading it, I hardly imagined the Canadian wilderness as much of a landscape for an adventure novel. Canada has always seemed, well, sort of boring. But Innes brought it to life, along with its inhabitants and their lusts, greed, and mostly suppressed violence, which is just waiting to bust through.
The novel, meanwhile, is another in the series of books that Innes would devote to contrasting the wilderness to its exploitation. This time, it was oil drilling and mining under his microscope. The people who do this work come out looking pretty good, however, even as they spoil the forests, mountains, and meadows around them. Later on, Innes would take a much harsher tone towards this destruction.
ellenturnbull94's review against another edition
3.0
This book was much better than I expected! When I first got this book I had no urge to read it, I only picked it up because it was cheap and the edition matched my other classics, and I didn’t even read the blurb on the back so it was definitely an impulse buy!
Basically, this book follows the character of Bruce Wetheral, an English man, who finds out his Grandfather has died and left him some land called Campbell’s Kingdom. This land was in the Rocky Mountains and Bruce’s Grandfather was convinced that the land had oil, but because of financial difficulties, he had been unable to find out. So Bruce goes to the town, to discover more about his grandfather and the potential oil in Campbell’s kingdom.
The book is split into three parts and all of them are beautifully written; there is no denying that Innes is a good writer. The first part was very interesting, we get to know the characters who were all unique and very relatable. I was worried I would get confused, as there are a number of characters, but I ended up finding them quite easy to distinguish. The scene was also beautifully set by Innes, I had a real picture of the Campbell’s Kingdom and Come Lucky in my mind, I had never read a book set in this area before and it was interesting to read.
However, for me, the second part dragged a lot. This book is very slow going, I did like the plot and the suspense of whether oil would be found or not, but Innes is very descriptive and there would often be one or two pages of description of the Rocky Mountains, which I personally felt was too much. I sometimes felt myself losing concentration and having to have a break from this book to regain concentration. Also, this part of the book is around 150 pages and there is only two chapters with one chapter being 100 pages long. This didn’t deter from the book, but if you are finicky like me and prefer to finish at the end of a chapter, that is one very long sitting.
The third and final part of the book was short, but quite a bit happened and there was a lot of action compared to the rest of the book. I won’t go into a lot of detail because I don’t want to spoil but this for me was the best part of the book. I did like the ending, however there were some details which I felt maybe weren’t as plausible as the rest of the book and it did slightly annoy me, however overall it was a good book.
I am going to give this book three stars. I liked it but I didn’t love it. I am very character driven reader and I loved all the characters and how the book was set out, but it was hard going sometimes to read and I sometimes felt like the plot wasn’t moving forward. I would read more Innes and I recommend this book to people who do enjoy classics and their sometimes slow-moving plots. However if you like a lot of action, I do believe you may have some difficulty with this book.
Basically, this book follows the character of Bruce Wetheral, an English man, who finds out his Grandfather has died and left him some land called Campbell’s Kingdom. This land was in the Rocky Mountains and Bruce’s Grandfather was convinced that the land had oil, but because of financial difficulties, he had been unable to find out. So Bruce goes to the town, to discover more about his grandfather and the potential oil in Campbell’s kingdom.
The book is split into three parts and all of them are beautifully written; there is no denying that Innes is a good writer. The first part was very interesting, we get to know the characters who were all unique and very relatable. I was worried I would get confused, as there are a number of characters, but I ended up finding them quite easy to distinguish. The scene was also beautifully set by Innes, I had a real picture of the Campbell’s Kingdom and Come Lucky in my mind, I had never read a book set in this area before and it was interesting to read.
However, for me, the second part dragged a lot. This book is very slow going, I did like the plot and the suspense of whether oil would be found or not, but Innes is very descriptive and there would often be one or two pages of description of the Rocky Mountains, which I personally felt was too much. I sometimes felt myself losing concentration and having to have a break from this book to regain concentration. Also, this part of the book is around 150 pages and there is only two chapters with one chapter being 100 pages long. This didn’t deter from the book, but if you are finicky like me and prefer to finish at the end of a chapter, that is one very long sitting.
The third and final part of the book was short, but quite a bit happened and there was a lot of action compared to the rest of the book. I won’t go into a lot of detail because I don’t want to spoil but this for me was the best part of the book. I did like the ending, however there were some details which I felt maybe weren’t as plausible as the rest of the book and it did slightly annoy me, however overall it was a good book.
I am going to give this book three stars. I liked it but I didn’t love it. I am very character driven reader and I loved all the characters and how the book was set out, but it was hard going sometimes to read and I sometimes felt like the plot wasn’t moving forward. I would read more Innes and I recommend this book to people who do enjoy classics and their sometimes slow-moving plots. However if you like a lot of action, I do believe you may have some difficulty with this book.
bplache's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
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