Customer Reviews

The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician (Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy library ; Volume XI )

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...in that I think of ancient Phoenicia, while in fact this plays in only in the main character's background. Essentially a victorian romantic novel, ala Sir Walter Scott, this instead chronicles several generations of English history through the eyes of the eponymous hero. The story is somewhat convoluted, with unresolved threads and underdeveloped characters. Nevertheless, there are portions that are real gems--and the illustrations alone are almost worth the price of the book.

"The Wonderful Adventures of Phra The Phoenician" is the first fictional book from Edwin Lester Lindon Arnold (1857 - March 1, 1935). He wrote several non-fictional works prior to it, but this was his first attempt at escapist literature, and though it is often ignored, this work, as well as others by Arnold are likely influences on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series. Many people consider Phra to be the inspiration for John Carter, and others believe that Arnold's "Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation" was the inspiration behind the setting.

When judged on its own, this book is not a great one. Arnold's style is much too slow for the genre. What another would state in one paragraph, Arnold takes three or four to tell, if not more. Yet, all the elements of escapist literature are here: the young virile hero; the women; the adventure; the battles; the glories; and the failures. Though a Phoenician, the adventures take place almost exclusively in Britain. Phra comes there in his first life, taking the beautiful Blodwen (whom he rescued from the slave trade) back to her native home. Each of Phra's lives ends with an invasion. His first death occurs during the time of Caesar's invasion of Britain. Next comes the Saxons chasing the Romans out, and then the Norman invasion, and then the invasion of France followed by the Elizabethan age. Each episode has its own unique twist, and each one a love interest.

Too often, Arnold is obvious in where he is going with the story, and takes too long in getting there. This leaves the reader waiting for the story to catch up with them. This is especially true in his love triangle episode where Phra becomes a knight and heads off to fight the French, and it is very apparent when he wakes in Elizabethan times to everyone other than Phra, who should have already been well aware of the feelings associated with his long periods of rest. Those are two examples, though the predictability and slow realization in the story is not limited to those episodes.

Nothing can save this narrative though, it is simply too much for a casual reader or even someone who is interested in adventure stories to wade through. Even looking at it from a influence perspective, one is better off reading about it than they are actually reading it. Phra is better relegated to the past; though ordinarily a work like this would be interesting from a historical perspective, this one fails to be worthwhile even as that. I cannot recommend it.