from Meredy

Six-word review: Well-crafted but dated adventure yarn. Extended review: Despite my convictions about not judging older literature by today's standards, I find that a century of social change imposes a heavy moral burden on this work. Colonialism and racism in South Africa are impossible to overl...

from Mikalina

As fine a yarn of adventure as can be expected when Buchan is the storyteller. Action, dialogue (scottish, africaan) and a keen grasp on facts (political, geographical, engineering, the art of climbing etc. etc. which is never idly put in for lecture or showmanship or simply to flesh out the stor...

from antiquary

i read this in my early teens, which I think was the right time -- I can still visualize it on the shelf in the Bowling Green Junior High School library, and I own the same edition I read there. It involves an young Englishman who gets caught up in an African rebellion against British colonial ru...

from RTS1942

A gripping adventure story of an African minister who claims to be the successor to Prester John and leads his people, of all tribes, in an uprising against the whites. John Crawfurd, newly out from Scotland, is the shop-keeper who foils his plans.

from brone

Buchan at his best