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    Ayesha: The Return of She
    Ayesha: The Return of She
    Ayesha: The Return of She
    Ebook398 pages20 hours

    Ayesha: The Return of She

    By H. Rider Haggard

    3.5/5

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    Ayesha, Reincarnated

    “Think then what it is to live on here eternally and yet be human; to age in soul and see our beloved die and pass to lands whither we may not hope to follow; to wait while drop by drop the curse of the long centuries falls upon our imperishable being, like water slow dripping on a diamond that it cannot wear, till they be born anew forgetful of us, and again sink from our helpless arms into the void unknowable.” - H. Rider Haggard, Ayesha: The Return of She

    Horace Holly and Leo Vincey are convinced Ayesha didn’t die in Africa so they embark on a journey to Asia and Tibet where they meet the wife of an evil emperor, Khania Atene who claims to be the descendant of one of Alexander the Great’s Hellenic generals. The two also find out that Atene has a rival, in the mysterious Princess of He's, Hesea. Both Atene and Hesea declare their love for Leo.


    Xist Publishing is a digital-first publisher. Xist Publishing creates books for the touchscreen generation and is dedicated to helping everyone develop a lifetime love of reading, no matter what form it takes

      LanguageEnglish
      PublisherXist Publishing
      Release dateSep 4, 2015
      ISBN9781681952376
      Author

      H. Rider Haggard

      Sir Henry Rider Haggard, (1856-1925) commonly known as H. Rider Haggard was an English author active during the Victorian era. Considered a pioneer of the lost world genre, Haggard was known for his adventure fiction. His work often depicted African settings inspired by the seven years he lived in South Africa with his family. In 1880, Haggard married Marianna Louisa Margitson and together they had four children, one of which followed her father’s footsteps and became an author. Haggard is still widely read today, and is celebrated for his imaginative wit and impact on 19th century adventure literature.

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      Reviews for Ayesha

      3.5/5

      66 ratings5 reviews

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      • 3/5
        This is the sequel to "She," which Haggard published in 1905, 18 years after the first book.
        Although the title character seemed pretty definitively dead after the first book, still, she had vowed to return with her dying words, and, since then the characters of the beautiful young Leo and his mentor Dr. Horace Holly, have been wandering through Asia, seeking spiritual enlightenment, knowledge - and the return of that supernaturally beautiful immortal woman.
        It wouldn't be much of a story if she didn't come back in some form - and, of course, she does.
        The book is relatively free of the overtly offensive stereotypes and racial issues that were rather obtrusive in the first book, although it is still decidedly non-feminist, from a modern perspective - but in my perception, the Buddhist monks of "Ayesha" get a fairer (and more respectful) shake than the African cannibals of "She."
        Overall, an entertaining adventure story, mixed with a deal of philosophy that ranges from interesting to annoying, depending...
        Still, definitely worth reading... it was funny, because although some of the writing in this book did feel dated at times, it reminded me more of adventure-fantasy from the 70's than something more than half a century older.
      • 4/5
        The less well known and less successful sequel to Rider Haggard's classic. There is not much here that is new in terms of plot, though Ayesha is depicted even more eloquently as a divine (or satanic?) being with potential mastery over not just the whole world, but seemingly the whole universe. The book is very well written and the author's command of language is superb. Worth looking out for if you have read and liked the original (though I HATE the cover of the Pulp Fictions edition).
      • 3/5
        Haggard published this sequel to She in 1905 eighteen years after the original and it follows a fairly similar format. The editor (the man responsible for getting She published receives another mystery package: It is a manuscript written by Mr Horace Holly about the further adventures of himself and his ward Leo Vincey. Both men are obsessed by their previous encounter with She-who-must-be-obeyed and even though they saw her reduced to a hideous monkey like creature after bathing in the flame of eternal youth in the previous novel, they have been searching for her ever since. Leo Vincey the ward and lover of She has had a vision that induces the two men to search for her in the mountains of Tibet. We pick up the story when the two men at last start picking up rumours of a powerful queen that lives in the unexplored lands beyond the furthest peaks of the Himalayan mountains.It is not until halfway through the book that we meet She, but in the meantime Leo and Holly become virtual prisoners of the Khania yet another beautiful queen who falls in love with Leo. The Khania is a mortal enemy of the priestess of the mountain who is reputed to have supernatural powers and who seems to foot the bill for She-who-must-be-obeyed. Haggard does an excellent job of relating the adventures of Leo and Holly as they battle through a hostile environment in search of what they believe to be their destiny. A hair- raising climb down an icy precipice, a pitched battle with a savage tribe and a fight to the finish with the death-hounds make this first part of the novel read like an adventure story. There is a change of pace when Ayesha appears and the pageantry and ritual that featured in the first novel are given full rein here, as Haggard describes the betrothal ceremony of She and Leo against the backdrop of a live volcanic crater. The portentousness of the scene is matched by some of Haggard's most portentous writing and this tends to get a little repetitive and overblown. She-who-must-be-obeyed has become even more powerful as she threatens to rule the world, but she does not lose her sense of being a woman in love, even if some of the eroticism of the first book has been lost. There is some discussion of how an absolute monarch might rule her subjects fairly and utopian ideals are broached, however the cruel and vindictive nature of She always seems to bubble just below the surface and this is what makes Haggard's creation something special, the continuous battle of wills between herself and the somewhat priggish Leo creates the tension that drives this story. There is of course a showdown with Khania and Leo once again finds himself having to make impossible choices. There is less science fiction in this sequel than in the original novel, as less stress is given to the "land that time forgot" elements of the story and although there is the making of a radioactive material in Ayesha's laboratory, one gets the feeling from Haggard that he did not quite know what to do with this idea and it soon drifts out of the main story line. I enjoyed the novel, but it does not have quite the same thrill as the original and this is because of the similarity of the two tales. A three star read then for lovers of Ayesha.
      • 4/5
        Ayesha, known as She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, first appeared in serial form from 1896 to 1897 in the novel She. Along with King Solomon's Mines, She is Haggard's most popular and famous novel. Ayesha is one of the awesome, kick-ass woman characters in Victorian literature, and I rated Wisdom's Daughter, the later written prequel set in Ancient Egypt five stars. I loved that book even more than the original She. However, I do not think The Return of She is as entrancing as those two books. It's a lot better than the third book She and Allan though (where Ayesha encountered Allan Quartermain of King Solomon's Mines. If you're a fan of Ayesha, and I am, this is enjoyable though. Great adventure, great fantasy--a genre that owes a great debt to Haggard. I'm not going to claim that Haggard even at his best is the same order of classic as the best by Charles Dickens, the Brontes, George Eliot or Thomas Hardy. But like Arthur Conan Doyle or Robert Louis Stevenson or Rudyard Kipling, Haggard really could spin a good yarn.
      • 3/5
        I read this long ago, so my recollection is vague, but I believe I found it less satisfying than the first volume in the "She" series. It has Ayesha reborn in Central Asia, which Haggard did not, I think, know so well as he did Africa from personal experience.

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      Ayesha - H. Rider Haggard

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