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A review by marleysclassics
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Why Jules Verne's stories have been thrilling their readers for more than a hundred years, I have to admit that compared to other books that tell of adventures and voyages, this one wasn't my favorite. Of course there might be a lot about this which I didn't get that the initial readers were enthralled by. But as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was written as captivating entertainment, I have to admit that for me, it worked only in parts. While long descriptions of fish and geographical data are included to inform the reader, to educate and entertain them at once, these parts were rather boring most of the time. I just couldn't get into it. Maybe that would have been different if I understood all the scientific terminology that is used, which would probably have been the case had I read a translation in my mother tongue. Still, I don't regret reading the English version as the writing style is quite captivating and comfortable to read. Thus, the scenes that actually describe events and exciting plotpoints were able to gain my interest and finally get me invested in the story. Unfortunately, this was only the case for about half of the book.
What normally works as a counterbalance for lows in the plot are, of course, a book's characters. Unfortunately, the ones in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea felt quite flat most of the time. Captain Nemo has a lot of potential, so why can't we look deeper inside this person? Our protagonist Mr Aronnax on the other hand doesn't seem to have any character traits at all but solely plays the role of a moderately scientific observer, judging everthing and everyone around him while being rather boring himself. His companions Conseil and Ned Land are flat as well but they surely bring a little humor into the story from time to time which I enjoyed. Can't there be a tiny bit more?
In conclusion: Yes, premise, setting, plot and characters have potential but they aren't what I think they could be. Still, I mostly had a good time with the book, except for the pagelong enumerations of species, longitudes and latitudes which I sometimes only skimmed. I can recommend it for today's readers, but maybe you shouldn't expect the most thrilling experience that will capture your attention from the beginning to the last page.
PS: And maybe there could have been a little less slaughter of animals??
What normally works as a counterbalance for lows in the plot are, of course, a book's characters. Unfortunately, the ones in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea felt quite flat most of the time. Captain Nemo has a lot of potential, so why can't we look deeper inside this person? Our protagonist Mr Aronnax on the other hand doesn't seem to have any character traits at all but solely plays the role of a moderately scientific observer, judging everthing and everyone around him while being rather boring himself. His companions Conseil and Ned Land are flat as well but they surely bring a little humor into the story from time to time which I enjoyed. Can't there be a tiny bit more?
In conclusion: Yes, premise, setting, plot and characters have potential but they aren't what I think they could be. Still, I mostly had a good time with the book, except for the pagelong enumerations of species, longitudes and latitudes which I sometimes only skimmed. I can recommend it for today's readers, but maybe you shouldn't expect the most thrilling experience that will capture your attention from the beginning to the last page.
PS: And maybe there could have been a little less slaughter of animals??