Master of the World Book

'The Master of the World', originally published in French as 'Maître du monde', by Jules Verne is a sequel to his science fiction novel 'Robur the Conqueror'. This is the 53rd book in the 'Extraordinary Voyages' series and as a reader I have mixed feelings about this book.

The story is narrated by 'John Strock', a head Inspector in the federal police department at Washington, who is investigating some strange occurrences and sightings - like some seismic activities and a threat of imminent volcanic eruption happening in North Carolina; sightings of some kind of super fast vehicle on the major highways; some underwater object terrifying vessels on major waterways - happening all around United States. Through 'John Strock' and his pursuit in unraveling the mystery surrounding these strange sightings, Verne drafts a mystery science fiction, featuring the main protagonist of his 1886 novel 'Robur the Conqueror'.

One of the first thoughts of relief that came to my mind after finishing the book, as an ardent fan of these 'tales of imaginations' by Verne, was the absence of any racial slurs in 'The Master of the World'; in the prequel to this novel Verne went an extra mile in being extremely racial to the point of being unpleasant at times.

Written in 1904, just an year before Verne's death, we can detect traces of his anxieties about the societies and human life being dominated by the state and the dangers of technology being used as weapon systems in 'The Master of the World'; we can also detect a tired master story teller trying his best to hold the imagination of the reader, but by getting vague, repetitive and at times by being dull in his narrative, failing to connect with the reader. This could have been a thrilling story if it was written at the peak of his physical health, but 'The Master of the World' in my humble opinion is not a story that will make any impact with a non-Verne fan. Even for a Verne devotee like me it was not an entirely satisfying experience as the story was not at all going any where for the major part of the book.

We can find Verne as a scientific visionary even in this novel with his depictions of vehicles that are amphibious; groundbreaking innovations in locomotion; vehicles that transform in to multi-terrain transportation mediums; submarines capable of eluding their enemies; an infinite source of energy for the purpose of locomotion etc, but unlike his other stories Verne is too vague here. He is usually very clear in giving his own ideas and solutions of scientific problems through the descriptions of his hypothetical machines and scientific ideas - which can be detected throughout his other books -, but in 'The Master of the World', Verne just presents the reader scenarios like 'this machine will fly', 'this machine will transform into a submarine', 'this machine can traverse at land speeds in excess of 150 mph' etc without getting into the science and rationality behind these inventions; which makes the story un-Verne like and leaving the reader not satisfied at all.

While reading 'The Master of the world', a reference made by Verne within the book about the 1902 Mt. Pelee volcanic disaster, which happened on the Caribbean island of Martinique, came as a startling coincidence as at that moment I was also going through a volume by 'Gordon Thomas' which chronicles the horrors of this 'worst volcanic disaster of twentieth century' in epic detail. Apart from this coincidence there was not much of that intriguing factor that is usually associated with Verne's other volumes.

Actual rating: 2.5 /5