Customer Reviews

She and Allan

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Haggard combines his two most bankable stars-- Ayesha and Quartermain-- and it ought to be twice as much fun. The problem ultimately is that we know from page one that nothing is going to happen that might conflict with any of the history established for these characters in their other books. Particularly in Ayesha's case that's mighty limiting-- we know that Allan is going to pass through her life without making any particular mark, because all the significant people in her life are already accounted for. Consequently, the work doesn't really show anything new about either character, and instead of two great prizefighters duking it out, we get a couple of characters dancing around trying not to make a mark on each other. Still the basic two-fisted Anglo-Saxon hambone adventure that Haggard does so well, but there's a little less zip in this outing.

Allan quatermain is the iconic white hunter. He can and has tracked his way across Africa into lands unknown to most white men.
She (also known as "She Who Must be Obeyed) is the eternal seductress, the half goddess/half woman who cannot die. SHE is the ultimate in the spirit world.
Allan, perhaps, can be seen as the ultimate in the world we call reality.
She and Allan plays out this conflict between the material and spirit against the backdrop of the adventure of pushing into unknown darkest Africa.
Not as well known, or as well done as "King Solomon's Mines" or "She" -
then of course few books are-this is a worthwhile sequel to both.

She and Allan was an almost obligatory novel for Haggard. Since Allan Quatermain and Ayesha are his absolute best characters it stood to reason that he would combine them for a single adventure. Unfortunately, it reads as if written from an outline for a "typical Haggard novel". There is the feel that Haggard himself just couldn't get excited about the book. Still, it IS Haggard, and worth a read. It only fails in comparison to works like King Solomon's Mines or She. In fact, if you are looking for another rousing Haggard novel, try Nada the Lily or The People of the Mist. They are both superior to this book. If you can't get enough of Haggard (like me) then She and Allan is worth a read.

In She and Allan, we see the coming together of three of the most exciting characters in all of H. Rider Haggard's novels. The ever intrepid Allan meets the great and grim Umslopogaas of the Axe, son of Chaka, and there is born an interesting and in some ways touching friendship between them, as they have both dealt with many of the same troubles and loss over the years. And of course they meet with the immortal SHE, Ayesha, whom they seek in order to see their loved ones that have passed the realm of death. Many of the same elements from much of the Allan Quatermain body of work is here. But it serves to tie the many things from the different novels together. Such as the friendship between Umslopogaas and Allan that we see in the novel Allan Quatermain. It also offers further insight into the origin's of Umslopogaas's great axe, Inkosikaas, which is in a way a Zulu version of Excalibur. A fantastic novel for anyone who enjoys Haggard's body of work. Great to read especially after reading Haggard's novel of the early life of Umslopogaas, Nada the Lily.

The past was a time of mysteries and fantasy. 'SHE' is a wonderful book that really stretches the imagination in creating another world I would have loved to enter.

I'm over 70 yrs old & have never seen such horrible type as was used in this book. The font used will make it extremely difficult to read. Might have to use a ruler to keep the lines straight. Will never again buy a book by this publishing firm.