At the North Pole [Hardcover]

Jules Verne (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Amereon Ltd (June 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 088411905X
• ISBN-13: 978-0884119050
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,529,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top Ten of All Time, January 24, 2001

By 

John Fulginiti (Elkins Park, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: At the North Pole (Hardcover)

This is one of my top ten of all time favorite books. It is pure Jules Verne. If you liked From The Earth To The Moon or The Mysterious Island, you will like this, if not love it. The characters are so well portrayed, you will feel strong attachments and by the end of the book their success and failure will be perfect. Don't pass this up.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Characters, But Repetative, January 28, 2005

By 

Dave_42 "Dave_42" (Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: At the North Pole (Hardcover)

This is the first of two volumes of the "Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras". Sometimes it is called "The English at the North Pole". It was first published in magazine form between March 20th, 1864 and December 5th of 1865, and in Book form on May 4th, 1866. Together with "The Desert of Ice" it forms the second adventure story by Jules Verne.

This book does not stand on its own. The start is very good, as a mysterious person arranges for a boat to be built and a crew to be assembled with himself as captain. Orders are given to set sail before the Captain appears, and the crew are left wondering if the Captain will ever appear. Eventually that issue is resolved, and at that point the story becomes fairly repetitive. The crew is left to face the same challenges over and over. Some issues, such as mirages, and the discussion of wintering appear several times. The latter even occurs in June or earlier, which seems absurdly early in the year.

There are some major issues which appear over and over as well, such as the need for fuel to battle the cold, potential mutiny, and the health of the crew. Unfortunately, the root cause for all the issues is the same in every case, and that is attempting to survive in the arctic region. As a result, the story seems to bog down for quite a while. Near the end of this book it picks up again, as the crew is driven to attempt a desperate trip across the ice to find coal for fuel. It ends in a cliff hanger, which makes reading the second volume a must.

There are some entertaining parts of this book, and some wonderful characters. However, overall this does not measure up to some of Verne's other books.