Reviews

Review: 1.5 / 5 stars
It's important to remember that this book was written in 1870. Novels were just written differently and details and how they were described was different.

However, with that being said, my all time favorite book is the Count of Monte Cristo.

To me, I really struggled with the enormity of the details in sections of the book that felt..... irrelevant. I firmly believe this could have been a novella with 1/4th less content and it would have been much better overall.

Without giving anything away, that's all I will get into detail on.

Why was it given more than 1 star? Because I listened to the audio version and I felt Frederick Davidson did a great job with the narration, the different characters and really did a great job capturing the main character. I also felt that the overall story of Captain Nimo and his adventures were interesting; but if I had to read this book I would definitely not finished.

Classics I find are always hit and miss, but this one just really scraped by.

michaelesch's review against another edition

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adventurous informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I understand why this is a classic and considered a must read. I can see how many modern science fiction novels and series have taken their queues from this story. The writing was sophisticated. I honestly feel bad rating this book so low, but it was just not for me. I did not feel interested in the story. I am not giving away spoilers, but they end up on an advanced submarine and they travel the planet. They get to see the depths of the sea, hunt different types of sea monsters, discover lost cities and islands, while seeing the world from the ship. There is a small amount of tension amongst some of the people that don't want to be on the ship and are not allowed to leave for a particular reason. But besides that I felt like the story was pretty mellow for an adventure book.

The more I think of it though, this is probably the archetypal adventure story. Men go around to dangerous places, fight mighty beasts, discover new lands, claim discoveries and territories for themselves. I feel like I should like that type of story, but I was just not that into this story.