Reviews for The Cruel Sky

The average rating for The Cruel Sky based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-12-28 00:00:00 Phil Leach This is a story about Allan's first love and first wife. Despite the title of the previous book (Allan's Wife) Stella was his second wife despite the fact that Marie is first mentioned here. After reading this story the reason becomes obvious. Young Allan fell in love with Marie Marais, a daughter of a French expat. The said love was tragic and the outcome is revealed right in the beginning. However Haggard's mastery makes reader wonder how the heroes reach the tragic point. Other than a love story the book is also great old-fashioned adventure where good people were good and worth rooting for, the bad people were bad invoking desire to reach across the pages and strangle them with bare hands (or just hit some of them with a clue stick, in not too hopeless cases). Speaking about adventure, the framing event was slaughtering of Boers by Zulus led by Treacherous king Dingaan. This was a tragedy for all involved, so if you expect any kind of humor in the story, forget it. As I mentioned the book is very easy read (like a page-turner, not in subject) making it hard to put down; one of the great examples of classic adventure genre. It is not exactly like Tarzan where disbelieve must be suspended, but some supernatural events present and I found them to be intriguing. One more point worth mentioning. Both H. Rider Haggard and his hero Allan Quartermain had progressive views on black people for their time. From the modern point of view there are some mild racist undertones, but whose that make their purpose of life to be offended on behalf of somebody else would have a field day with the book. Please keep an open mind and do not judge the book written more than 100 years ago with modern morals.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-08-23 00:00:00 Eli Villegas This is one of the best works by H. Rider Haggard that I've read, and I've read a good number of them. This is the tale of how Allan Quatermain, hero of 14 of Haggard's books, including "King Solomon's Mines," met his first wife. It is set against the time of the Great Trek in the 1830s, and is jammed with action, adventure and romance. There are two terrific villains, Dingaan (brother of Chaka) and a Portuguese who's trying to not only kill our hero, but rob him of his wife in the bargain. The book starts out with a thrilling battle scene, and ends with a scene of tremendous emotional intensity. In between there is so much colorful action and movement that you find yourself zipping through the chapters as quickly as you can. The book is a true "page turner," with great sweep and drive. The supporting characters are either colorful, comedic or memorable. Hans--Quatermain's Hottentot sidekick from many of the other books--is featured here, too, and his is always a welcome presence. What a shame that this book has been out of print for so many years, along with the great preponderance of the other works of this wonderful writer. Haggard has been called the greatest adventure fantasist of all time, and I would tend to agree with that assessment. So do yourself a favor and go to the trouble of seeking this book out. It will reward your efforts!