The Desert of Ice [Hardcover]

Jules Verne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 2007

Translated from the French, with 126 illustrations.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wildside Press (November 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1434496384
• ISBN-13: 978-1434496386
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Better Of The Two Volumes, March 1, 2005

By 

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

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This review is from: Desert of Ice (Hardcover)

This is the second of two volumes of the "Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras". 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 "At The North Pole" it forms the second adventure story by Jules Verne.

This book does not stand on its own, you need to read "At The North Pole" first. This book picks up right after the cliff-hanging ending of the first book. Where the first book was fairly repetitive, this book has a much better variety of difficulties for the characters to overcome. Obviously the cold is still a significant obstacle as is food, but to these are added predatory bears, and the mutinous crew is replaced by a rivalry between Captain Hattaras and the American Captain Altamont.

For me, this book had a much better pace than the first book. The characters are not just sitting around waiting for things to happen as much as they were in the prior volume. Despite some glaring factual errors which date the book, and a somewhat anti-climactic ending, I found this to be more entertaining than "At The North Pole", and I give it the higher rating of the two volumes.