'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea' by Jules Verne
'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea' by Jules Verne

The good

  • An imaginative and original tale, especially for its time.

  • Some of the adventures are especially fun and memorable, especially (WARNING, minor spoiler alert) the battle with the giant squid, hiding in the volcano lair, and discovering Atlantis.

  • Captain Nemo is a fascinating character, who has decided to abandon all of humanity and terrestrial affairs, and instead live under the sea.

  • The Nautilus is more or less a character too, and also fascinating, with its metal double hull, ramming prow, electric/battery power, powerful lights, window gallery, and fully-decked out 19th century interior, featuring a massive library and grand salon with its piano and collection of arts & underwater riches.

The not so good

  • The writing is often wooden and formal. The action scenes are not told particularly well and there’s a lot more “tell” rather than “show.” Perhaps I’ve been too spoiled by the writing style of modern novels.

  • The book spends a huge amount of time in each chapter merely listing the sea life the Nautilus comes across while under the water. Not sea life they interacted with or sea life that matters to the story, but just a plain, dull list full of latin names, almost as if Verne copied it out of some fisherman’s handbook or atlas. It felt like pure filler material. Perhaps Verne was paid by the page?

  • Some of the references did not age well: e.g., old shipwrecks they came across.

  • Other than Nemo, none of the other characters are flushed out much. Professor Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land are all completely 2 dimensional; and the rest of the crew of the Nautilus is nameless, faceless, and merely background decoration.

Rating: 3 stars