Round 2 - Bulalio the Slaughterer vs. Field Punishment

[Bugsda]

Hey, was it me you sold it to? It might have been.

No, mine went to the states.

I think my brother's still got one, I'm going to try and weedle it out of him 

[Captain Blood]

Well I read Nada the Lily. Very good. Considering it was written in 1892, the writing feels very fresh. Haggard obviously had a very deep knowledge and appreciation of Zulu culture and mythology. It reminds me of something from the Arabian Nights, tales within tales, which seem to mix history, myth and legend, and fantastic semi supernatural tall tales with the all too real. Thanks for the tip Plynkes 

[Plynkes]

Glad you liked it. I was a bit worried, actually, because Rider Haggard isn't for everyone. Some people don't care for the somewhat old-fashioned style of writing.

It's also kind of remarkable that a novel written by an Englishman at that time has a cast of characters who are all black Africans (apart from some bit-part Boers who play a very peripheral role in the story - if not in history), and doesn't feel the need to insert a white point-of-view character. I do like Quatermain, but in some of his books you get the feeling RH only has him there because he has to, and it's the Africans he's interested in. In those stories Quatermain isn't much more than a glorified narrator watching the action. I'm glad he finally found the courage to do without him, even if only for one book, as he really wasn't needed for this story.

Nada herself is a bit of a let-down, though. She's very much a plot macguffin and near permanent damsel-in-distress. Haggard would refine his African Princess archetype in later books, coming up with the Kick-ass Maiwa, and the scheming Mameema, who are both much more interesting and less passive characters with a lot more agency. A good start, though.