If Haggard–one of the greatest adventure writers of all time–is remembered now, it is for his novels featuring Allan Quatermain, a hero whose exploits form the most important sequence of his books. Quatermains life is chronicled in such novels as King Solomons Mines, Allan Quaterman, She, and many others. However, despite the importance of the Quaterman books, many of Haggards other novels are interesting in their own right. Nada the Lily is the first of four books about the Zulus, all of which are excellent. Eric Brighteyes is rich, fantasy-laden Icelandic saga. The Worlds Desire (written with Andrew Lang) is a fantasy about the characters in The Odyssey. And there are numerous other titles (many of them reprinted by Wildside Press as part of the Wildside Fantasy Classics series) which bring undeservingly lost Haggard books back into print. The Yellow Idol, originally published in 1908, is another of Haggards African novels, and it features many elements of the fantastic, such as a magic mask and fetish objects, a lost race, reincarnation, and an immortal woman whose many husbands she has preserved as mummies! It certainly deserved a place alongside Haggards other African novels and more than stands its own as a thrilling adventure novel. (less)
