Halloween Bingo 2025
This is one of the definitive books of my adolescence. There was a copy in my high school library that I borrowed repetitively and when it was close to falling apart, the school librarian offered it to me since I was the one who read it to death. I lost it at some point, which I now regret immensely. Part of the allure, I think, was the presence of a woman of substance. I had spent my time until this book having to try to identify with male characters and it was so delightful to find a feminine figure so central to the action.
The third chapter, with all its Greek and Latin documents, actually inspired me to take a number of Classical history courses in university, including 3 half courses in Ancient Greek translation. It was a challenging language for me and very little of it remains in my brain forty years later. I do, however, remember the first sentence that I ever translated: The boat is in Byzantium. Not dreadfully useful in regular life and I have no doubt that my parents secretly thought I was a loony, but I have never regretted it.
The lost civilization of Kor has lingered in my mind all these years. So many questions! Why did they build in such a difficult location? How did Ayesha end up there and what brought Kallikrates and Amenartas to the same remote, swampy location? And then Leo and Holly were drawn there by the writings of Leo's ancestress and her descendants. What in the world possessed Ayesha to remain in this god-forsaken location for hundreds of years? Why did she not return to her own people in Arabia?
Ayesha's confident faith in reincarnation has also stuck with me. Where did this certainty originate? She tells Holly that she has seen religions born and dying, but how could she while remaining isolated in Kor? She claims great wisdom, but where did she acquire it? Just living a long time doesn't guarantee wisdom. Holly and Leo are educated men, but Haggard uses Job as a contrast to them—he is much more conventional and religious and much more frightened than the other men. The Amahaggar people, too, are a contrast to Western values. They are gloomy, silent people with few redeeming features, cannibals when the opportunity arises. Holly espouses Christianity, but is not particularly devout. All have their vices and their virtues. Haggard seems to be exploring his characters’ relationships to religion, not blindly extolling the virtues of his colonial country.
I had forgotten a great many details—forty years will do that. As a young adult, I had no idea that Haggard had written a follow up novel. I know that I have read the next volume, but not so many times as the first and I remember even less. I think I own it too and I may track it down soon. My ranking at 5 stars will remain unchanged for old times sake.
I read this book for the Here Be Dragons square of my Halloween Bingo card.
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