Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Lost World review

My first intention was to read this for my dissertation. As it includes a comic which is practically based on Conan Doyle's Lost World, it would be a good idea to know the original piece.
Then I got stuck into book's world.

The story is written in 1912 and it's about a group of two scientists, a newspaper man and an adventurer, who take a journey to the wild, unknown regions of the Amazon in search of a mysterious valley. The rumour tells there are creatures which should not exist, not anymore.
The group finds the place eventually, but after getting in the valley it's a whole other matter of getting out of there...

What thrills me about this piece of work is the good old time adventure tale. In these days, the world has been travelled up and down and practically there aren't any white spots on the map. To find a hidden valley from the jungle with creatures ceased to exist is old-time science fiction / fantasy on its best.
The other thing I really enjoyed was the old language. In Finnish translation there were words which are no longer in use and many of them were almost directly taken from English, only modified a bit. It was interesting and even funny to read.

I strongly recommend this book for any science fiction and fantasy fan, who is not afraid of old language. And for those who think Michael Chrichton's Jurassic Park was original.

(And read Forbidden Valley by Carl Barks and Escape from Forbidden Valley by Don Rosa - direct references!)

/ [Caterin S.]

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