Review: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

4 stars for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.

I am glad to have finished reading this book in time to review post it before the year is out.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is another classic novel by Jules Verne that I have always wanted to read. It has been on my list of to-be-read for so many years that I cannot remember when it was being added. I started on this book soon after I have read his other book, Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

The story of Twenty Thousand Leagues is totally not what I have expected and this is what makes it different and an interest to read. As I read, I will wonder about the sea, about how deep the sea really is and what kind of creatures lurk in the depths of the ocean.

This book about the mystery of the great ocean depths is not exactly an easy read as it is more scientific fiction than science fiction. Speaking for the general readers, I feel that the book has way too much basic facts and details. Though good to know, these nitty-gritty overload is oft unnecessary and makes for many a dry, boring science lecture. In my opinion, this is a book that will appeal more to naturalists, or more specifically, ichthyologists who specialize in the study of fish and conchologists who study mollusc shells.

The above said, there are still pieces of the story that make reading this book enjoyable. I have a great time exploring the underwater wonders with the characters as they go about their submarine adventure: the hunting trip in the (underwater) forests of Crespo island, the running aground in the Torres Strait, the facing off against the savages of Papua, the Coral cemetery, the pearl fisheries of Ceylon, the Cretan diver, the Arabian tunnel, the Suez passageway, the fires of Santorini, the boundless wealth in the Bay of Vigo, Atlantis, the Ice Bank, the memories of the South Pole, the imprisonment in the ice, the battle with the devil fish, and the storm in the Gulf Stream and more.

Are you ready to go on a 20,0000 leagues underwater tour of the world? It is one guaranteed to bring you many wonders across the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Southernmost and Northernmost seas.


Publisher: Macmillan Collector's Library
Publication date: 23 Mar 2017

*** Favourite Quote ***

..."Sir, just what is a pearl exactly?"

"My gallant Ned," I replied, "for poets a pearl is a tear from the sea; for Orientals it's a drop of solidified dew; for the ladies it's a jewel they can wear on their fingers, necks and ears that's oblong in shape, glassy in lustre, and formed from mother-of-pearl; for chemists it's a mixture of calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate with a little gelatin protein; and finally, for naturalists it's a simple festering secretion from the organ that produces mother-of-pearl in certain bi-valves."

~ Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Jules Verne

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Science and adventure are electrifying accomplices in Jules Verne's classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. This epic and enduring tale anticipates not just wonders such as electric light and submarine navigation, but the obsession with technology and travel that today so shapes our lives. It is Verne's inspired foresight, combined with his extraordinary talent for storytelling, that continue to make this novel such a compelling read. The excitement this adventure caused around the world when it was first published 150 years ago can still be very easily imagined indeed in the 21st century.

Illustrated by Edouard Riou, with an Afterword by David Stuart Davies.

Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautifully bound gift editions of much loved classic titles. Bound in real cloth, printed on high quality paper, and featuring ribbon markers and gilt edges, Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

*Blurb from Goodreads*

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