I wonder whether you have the complete book. Verne's English translators were notorious and a disgrace; in France, he is regarded as a minor classic of the language.
NOnetheless, I agree that Master of the World is not one of Verne's best. The plot device of having the heroes - so to speak - captured by the villain was something he carried out earlier and a lot better in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, when the investigators are taken by Captain Nemo and taken in an astounding journey across the planet and as far as the ruins of ancient Atlantis. The invention is richer, the characters more interesting, and the villain - so to speak - much better motivated: Nemo is an Indian prince who found himself on the losing side in the Great Mutiny and decided to continue his war on the English by other means. In and of itself, I don't think it's a bad device: to the contrary, it strikes me as very expressive of Verne's fear of the unstoppable and threatening quality of technological progress. The bravest and best-meaning people can
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NOnetheless, I agree that Master of the World is not one of Verne's best. The plot device of having the heroes - so to speak - captured by the villain was something he carried out earlier and a lot better in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, when the investigators are taken by Captain Nemo and taken in an astounding journey across the planet and as far as the ruins of ancient Atlantis. The invention is richer, the characters more interesting, and the villain - so to speak - much better motivated: Nemo is an Indian prince who found himself on the losing side in the Great Mutiny and decided to continue his war on the English by other means. In and of itself, I don't think it's a bad device: to the contrary, it strikes me as very expressive of Verne's fear of the unstoppable and threatening quality of technological progress. The bravest and best-meaning people can ( ... )
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