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A review by rui_leite
The Land of Mist by Arthur Conan Doyle
2.0
So… why two stars?
Well, I gave three stars to “The Lost World” and “The Poison Belt” and I cannot, in full conscience, rate “The Land Of Mist” as highly as those two.
You see, Challenger helped those books a lot (in fact I very much defend he was the only reason why “The Poison Belt” actually worked), but here… well… Challenger is not only almost absent, presented as a side character, his nature is also very much changed to suit Doyle’s needs. That is a big no-no. In fact his characterization directly contradicts what we learn in the other books, where he is the passionate proponent of very unorthodox theories, including a very definite and amusing argument in “The Poison Belt” about the limitations of materialism. Suddenly, a few years later, he appears as a fully-fledged materialist? For no given reason? I don’t get it. My hypothesis is that he was possessed by Sumerlee’s ghost or something, because the Challenger I know is a brilliant scientist, yes, stubborn as everything, all right, but also remarkably open-minded and willing to embrace the most farfetched views you can imagine… Challenger as the voice of “conventional science” simply does not work.
And then there is the panfletist side of it all. Yes Doyle, I get it, you are a spiritualist now… good for you. But stop bashing me over the head with it and write a good, proper story, all right? With something at stake? Anything? Please? You may hide spiritualist propaganda in it if you must, I won’t mind, but PLEASE LET US HAVE A STORY! And no, a string of descriptions of séances and debates, no matter how well written and interesting they might be at times, does not make for a very compelling read. I’m sorry, sir, but this simply does not cut the ethereal mustard.
Well, I gave three stars to “The Lost World” and “The Poison Belt” and I cannot, in full conscience, rate “The Land Of Mist” as highly as those two.
You see, Challenger helped those books a lot (in fact I very much defend he was the only reason why “The Poison Belt” actually worked), but here… well… Challenger is not only almost absent, presented as a side character, his nature is also very much changed to suit Doyle’s needs. That is a big no-no. In fact his characterization directly contradicts what we learn in the other books, where he is the passionate proponent of very unorthodox theories, including a very definite and amusing argument in “The Poison Belt” about the limitations of materialism. Suddenly, a few years later, he appears as a fully-fledged materialist? For no given reason? I don’t get it. My hypothesis is that he was possessed by Sumerlee’s ghost or something, because the Challenger I know is a brilliant scientist, yes, stubborn as everything, all right, but also remarkably open-minded and willing to embrace the most farfetched views you can imagine… Challenger as the voice of “conventional science” simply does not work.
And then there is the panfletist side of it all. Yes Doyle, I get it, you are a spiritualist now… good for you. But stop bashing me over the head with it and write a good, proper story, all right? With something at stake? Anything? Please? You may hide spiritualist propaganda in it if you must, I won’t mind, but PLEASE LET US HAVE A STORY! And no, a string of descriptions of séances and debates, no matter how well written and interesting they might be at times, does not make for a very compelling read. I’m sorry, sir, but this simply does not cut the ethereal mustard.