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A review by paul_cornelius
Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard
5.0
Zululand prepares for a civil war in this tale of Allan Quatermain's adventures in southern Africa. It's an odd, but ensnaring, tale that is sometimes part anthropology, other times history, and full time mystery rooted in mysticism. Haggard goes to great detail at first in equating and then comparing the moral and ethical system of the Zulus with Western Europe. Of one thing he is sure, Zulus are but little different from Englishmen of times past in the motivations, cruelty, aspirations, jealousy, loves, and friendships that animate their lives.
Child of Storm is built around the actual conflict for succession between the sons of Zulu Chief Panda, Prince Umbelazi and Prince Cetewayo. But Haggard introduces the fictional characters of Saduko, Quatermain's socially ambitious friend, and Mameena, a witch working under the influence of the wizard, Zikali, who has ambitions that stretch even beyond those of Saduko. What plays out is almost Shakespearean in its drama. Mameena is an iconic beauty, a Zulu Helen of Troy whose physical features seem a cross between African and European. But her character doesn't end there. She uses her sexuality to advance herself like a Cleopatra of the Zulu veld, going from one powerful man to another to gain influence. Meanwhile, she is also a schemer of diabolic proportions, an African Lady Macbeth, who fails in her mission to become the ultimate power behind the throne only by the slimmest of margins.
One of the better novels in the Quatermain series.
Child of Storm is built around the actual conflict for succession between the sons of Zulu Chief Panda, Prince Umbelazi and Prince Cetewayo. But Haggard introduces the fictional characters of Saduko, Quatermain's socially ambitious friend, and Mameena, a witch working under the influence of the wizard, Zikali, who has ambitions that stretch even beyond those of Saduko. What plays out is almost Shakespearean in its drama. Mameena is an iconic beauty, a Zulu Helen of Troy whose physical features seem a cross between African and European. But her character doesn't end there. She uses her sexuality to advance herself like a Cleopatra of the Zulu veld, going from one powerful man to another to gain influence. Meanwhile, she is also a schemer of diabolic proportions, an African Lady Macbeth, who fails in her mission to become the ultimate power behind the throne only by the slimmest of margins.
One of the better novels in the Quatermain series.