The Lost World

An enjoyable romp of a story. Published in 1912, set in 1907 it still does pretty well today. Easy to imagine the Britishness of the characters - the larger than life ‘Brian-Blessed-esque' professor Challenger, the cool calm and collected Lord John Roxton and more typical aged professor Summerlee, and rounding out the team, Irish rugby-playing Journalist Ed Malone.While the paleontology is significantly outdated - with almost all its ideas dis-proven since publication, it is still a very entertaining read. The form of the story - from Malone (our narrator) and his introduction to Challenger, to the episodic reports he returns from the Amazonian jungle - works well, and was obviously suited to publication as a serial in Strand magazine. I found this very similar to h. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mine, in that it must be read in its context. Consider finding a plateau of undisturbed prehistoric animals, and carrying out some of the actions they did massacring the ape-men & killing dinosaurs, and the fairly minor use of fascist terms. Interestingly it was Brian Blessed that led me to read this novel. In his [b:Quest for the Lost World 6024441 Quest for the Lost World Brian Blessed https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1402677161l/6024441.SX50.jpg 18699] he mentions his love for the Conan Doyle book, and the replication in his own expedition to Venezuela. As other reviews have mentioned, Blessed is a sitter for the role of Challenger.I enjoyed this, and have copies of some further Challenger stories which I expect to read in the future.4 stars.